[NEARLY-SOLVED] Unusable border in fullscreen with VirtualBox

[Cris70]

Hi all,
I am having a strange problem when VirtualBox is in fullscreen (guest is Windows XP):
The desktop of Windows XP is correctly filling all the screen, but there is a "border" about 50 pixels wide that is not usable. That is: if I click on something that falls in that area (tipically the close button of a maximized window), nothing happens. Also I can see the mouse pointer changing from the standard Windows XP pointer to my Linux mouse pointer, as if the pointer exited the VM window.

I am using VirtualBox 4.1.8 non-OSE, but the problem has been there since a few releases back.
Does it happen to anyone else?

Bye
Cris

[The Chief]

Sounds like Windows thinks the screen is larger than VirtualBox thinks it  is.   Some mismatch in screen settings or resolution?

[kjpetrie]

Have you upgraded the Guest Additions to match the current version of VB?

[Cris70]

The Chief and kjpetrie, thank you for your replies.
However, I was partially wrong in my description: I discovered that the problem only affects my right and upper border. Since I have two auto-hiding panels there (in the PCLOS host) I suspect the problem lies there. I am using KDE.
I am goign to do some tests and then I will report here.

Bye
Cris

[GermanTux]

The Chief and kjpetrie, thank you for your replies.
However, I was partially wrong in my description: I discovered that the problem only affects my right and upper border. Since I have two auto-hiding panels there (in the PCLOS host) I suspect the problem lies there. I am using KDE.
I am goign to do some tests and then I will report here.

Bye
Cris

Cris - other's have run into this problem.  Something about KDE's compisiting interferes with the virtual box full screen mode.  Have you tried disabling KWin's effects in the KDE settings?  Also, make sure Compiz is disabled as well if you have it.  I do not have time to look for the other thread now, but that might fix it. 

[Cris70]

GermanTux, thank you for your reply.

I do not have Compiz enabled, but I do have KWin (KDE's own compositing engine) enabled.

I have found that changing my panels from autohide to one of the other alternatives (e.g. "always show") cures the problem.
BTW, I feel this is something that should be fixed by KWin's developers or by VirtualBox' developers.

Bye
Cris

[GermanTux]

GermanTux, thank you for your reply.

I do not have Compiz enabled, but I do have KWin (KDE's own compositing engine) enabled.

I have found that changing my panels from autohide to one of the other alternatives (e.g. "always show") cures the problem.
BTW, I feel this is something that should be fixed by KWin's developers or by VirtualBox' developers.

Bye
Cris

Kwin is literally developed by three people.  VirtualBox has other issue than dealing with minor KDE window manager bugs. 

That's the price you pay for a really good, free, cross platform virtualizer. 

[pags]

You can toggle KDE's compositing on-the-fly with [ALT]-[SHIFT]-[F12].

Trying that before going fullscreen might help isolate if the problem is associated with it...

[Cris70]

Hi GermanTux!

Kwin is literally developed by three people.

That's not an excuse for not reporting a bug to their bugtracker (assuming they do have one - I still haven't looked into it).

VirtualBox has other issue than dealing with minor KDE window manager bugs. 

If it's a "minor KDE window manager bug", than that's not a problem for which Virtualbox' developers need to worry.

That's the price you pay for a really good, free, cross platform virtualizer. 

...and a really good, free, cross platform (somehow) DE! 

Bye
Cris