increasing screen size in virtual box

**Tucatts** · February 18th, 2008

I have Gutsy running just fine in a virtualbox setting. It all works fine with one exception. The screen size shown for VirtualBox as it resides on my 22" widescreen (1680x1050 resolution) is a box about 11" or so square. I have used the "install Guest Additions" with no change. So does anyone know how to make VirtualBox utilize more real estate on my LCD screen?
Many thanks,
Tucatts

**randy78** · February 18th, 2008

Originally Posted by Tucatts

I have Gutsy running just fine in a virtualbox setting. It all works fine with one exception. The screen size shown for VirtualBox as it resides on my 22" widescreen (1680x1050 resolution) is a box about 11" or so square. I have used the "install Guest Additions" with no change. So does anyone know how to make VirtualBox utilize more real estate on my LCD screen?
Many thanks,
Tucatts

CTRL+F enables fullscreen...
Try that, then try adjusting your settings in the Guest OS

**kpkeerthi** · February 19th, 2008

1. On your ubuntu guest, install build-essential package using Synaptic
2. Install vbox guest additions
3. Reboot guest. Choose Recovery mode from GRUB
4. Reset resolution by running the command:

Code:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

... and choose 1680x1050, leaving the rest default.
5. Reboot.

**Tucatts** · February 24th, 2008

Hey kpkeerthi, wanted to say Thank you! Your instructions worked like a charm and I have the full 1680x1050 resolution now and it looks great!
Thanks again,
Tucatts

**sbussy89** · March 23rd, 2008

OK, I got my screen resolution set (when I restarted the machine it magically fixed itself) but now every time I click in the window my mouse disappears. It's there, because if I run it over the menu options they get highlighted, but I can't see it otherwise. What can I do to get my mouse back?

**ilari** · March 23rd, 2008

Replace mouse driver "mouse" with "vboxmouse" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf configuration.

You can do this easily without needing your invisible mouse by opening a virtual terminal (press ctrl-alt-F1), logging in and using vi to edit the file. Then restart X with "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart"