1440 X 900 Resolution on XP in Virtual Box. Sovled with thanks.

[Jeddaboy]

Hi Gang,
           In Win Xp running in VBox, in display>resolution, for some reason 1440 X 900 is not listed. I have checked in advanced for all displays possible but not there either. I am on an LG Widescreen 1440 X 900. The settings available are as follows, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. If i go to highest 1600x1024, the screen is filled but the task bar is out of sight. Largest i can run at present is 1152x864 but that leaves about an inch either side and a little top and bottom unfilled. PClos is set at 1440x900 refresh of 60htz. Anyone got a fix? Thanks.

[T6]

in the virtual machine, you have the drivers installed, the virtualbox addons?

also, how did you set up the screen in xp?

does it identify it as a plug and play or as a specific model?

[Jeddaboy]

Thanks mate. It identifies as a plug and play default monitor. vid memory set to 128mb, 3d enabled as for drivers bit unsure to your meaning. Display settings in xp says card is vga. I did task-virtual box in synaptic, every thing to do with VBox is installed in there as far as i can see.

[T6]

virtualbox comes with a iso that can be loaded, it comes with sound card driver, video card driver, ethernet controller and some extra things used to integrate both systems, did you installed virtual box addon is the xp?

it is a option in the virtual box window

[Jeddaboy]

I can see no addons option in the virtual box window at all. Also i have not looked into guest additions as i dont fully understand what thats all about. I installed on PCLos through Synaptic. This is the OSE. I must be missing something! Checked again insynaptic, everything relevant to virtual box is installed.The video card is Nvidia 9600GT 1.0Gig. During the setup i just followed the wizard. I changed the graphics allocation to 128mb. So where do i get this iso with the drivers?, or access it? Is it something to do with these Guest Accounts? Maybe someone can lead me in the right direction, a link. The Sun Java Virtual Box user manual won't open for me so at a bit of a loss. Thanks for your help thus far T6. Other than this issue its running really nice, all updated to SP3 etc. All i want for Christmas is full screen 1440X900 Res ! Thanks.

[menotu]

he video card is Nvidia 9600GT 1.0Gig. During the setup i just followed the wizard. I changed the graphics allocation to 128mb. So where do i get this iso with the drivers?

You have to use VBox's drivers - installing the NVidia won't work inside the Virtual Machine - remember this is a "virtual system" thus is just doesn't have the capabilities of a "normal" setup (especially graphics-wise)

Guest Additions give the VM extra functions such as changing screen resolution size.

One way of installing the guest additions is to select (from the menu) "Media" > Install Guest Additions

Alternatively, open the VBox Virtual Machine you have created,  run Synaptic  and install Guest Additions from within....

Plus the virtualbox.org web site has loads of info on guests (both for windows and linux)

[Jeddaboy]

Thanks Menatu. All to do with guest additions. I have full screen now. With the XP machine running, from the drop down menu which i opted for TOP OF SCREEN, i clicked on "install guest additions". Had a link there to download and install. Then the CDROM tray popped out and its switched to full 1440x900 resolution. Shutdown and restarted but only had XP Task bar. Seems i have to start seemless mode after XP is up and running. This is a dual core AMD Athon 4600 with 3Gig of RAM. Should i enable Nested Paging in System Acceleration? Base memory i have set at 512MB. If i increase this to say 1Gig that will improve performance i take it? I have 3d acceleration enabled. I notice it says there this option is experimental. Should i disable composite rendering on PCLos kde4 you think? Anyway, i can get full screen seamless up and running, that's the main thing. Many thanks to you both.

[menotu]

Hi Jeddaboy,

Should i enable Nested Paging in System Acceleration

Whenever I enable nested paging it doesn't seem to increase/decrease performance so you may want to try it to see if it gives you any benefits being enabled.

Base memory i have set at 512MB. If i increase this to say 1Gig that will improve performance i take it?

I personally would increase it to 1Gb, especially if you are not constantly switching between guest and host as having more memory at your disposal inside VBox will help (when you close VBox down it will "release" it back to the main system.)

You can see the memory usage in a "before and after" screen by opening Konsole and entering the command:

free -m  (this will show memory inside the Konsole window)

To get a "graphical view" enter the command:

kinfocenter

If you use those two commands whilst VBox is running and then again after you have closed it....

Should i disable composite rendering on PCLos kde4 you think?

I'm not sure one way or t'other - if its not causing you any issues you may want to leave it as it is BUT someone more knowledgeable than myself may give you better guidance.


 

[Jeddaboy]

Thanks again mate. It won't let me enable nested paging so won't bother with it. I upped the base memory to 1024 MB, a little quicker now. Will take your advice and leave composite enabled. Installed a couple of old windows games just out of interest, ZUMA and Bejewled. Gives a message saying that resolution needs to be set at highest on the host machine(something to that effect). Both will only run in a small window and will say the system does not support 3d acceleration. Not worried about it, just experimental stuff. Might give adobe photoshop a try in it later on. I am using a rewritable CD to copy exe programs into XP as getting usb flash dives is pretty complicated from what i've been reading. I am using Avira antivirus free, have installed adobe reader and Java. All good thus far. I have Gkrellm on my desktop and can watch the memory usage. PCLos (host) still has about 1500MB free to it as i write in xp now. So i could up the base quite a bit more i suppose. Many thanks again mate for your replies and help. I have already fooled my wife that i have ditched PCLos and gone back to ----Windows XP ! Better mark the post as solved now as the original issue has been dealt with successfully. Hope to see ya about.

Bye.