VirtualBox 2.0.4 through 2.2beta1 don't support xserver 1.6 in Jaunty

[Fred]

[Problem]
VirtualBox 2.2beta2 was updated to work with the xserver 1.6 API, included in Jaunty. Prior versions of VirtualBox won't work with Jaunty's xserver and will lead to various problems due to the incompatibility.

Solution is to upgrade to VirtualBox 2.2beta2 or newer.

[Original Report]
I am running VirtualBox OSE 2.0.4.
When I run Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" (alpha 1) -- (jaunty-alternate-i386.iso).

The only options for screen resolutions I have is 800x600 and 640x480.
When I run Windows 2008 Server through VirtualBox, I can select higher resolutions without problem.

[Dave Stroud (bigdavesr)]

I also cant find screens and graphics anywhere in the menues.

[Jayson Rowe (jayson.rowe)]

I can confirm that when installing virtulbox-ose-guest-utils on 9.04 the kernel module fails to build and this limits the graphics capabilities of the VM.

[Fred (eldmannen+launchpad)]

Dave Stroud,
I think "Screen and Graphics" were removed in Intrepid Ibex. There is still "Screen resolution" and "Screensaver though".

JaysonRowe,
I didn't need no virtualbox-ose-guest-utils to use higher resolutions in Windows Server 2008, it "just worked".

[wannes (wannes)]

I'm using Virtualbox 2.1 (non OSE version!) and have the same prolem.
 - Host: Ubuntu Intrepid (fully updated) 32bit
 - Virtualbox 2.1 non-ose edition
 - Guest: Jaunty (Intrepid had the same problem) 64bit (last updates)

I tried installing virtualbox-ose-guest-utils and virtualbox-ose-guest-source but both failed.
I'll provide more info when I'm back on my pc.

[Bernd Schlapsi (bernd-sch)]

I'm also using Virtualbox 2.1 (non OSE version!) and have the same prolem.
 - Host: Ubuntu Intrepid (fully updated) 32bit
 - Virtualbox 2.1 non-ose edition
 - Guest: Jaunty 32bit (last updates)

The only options for screen resolutions I have is 800x600 and 640x480.
After installing the VBoxGuestAdditions for Jaunty Guest GDM or KDM doesn't start.

[Bernd Schlapsi (bernd-sch)]

yesterday I installed VirtualBox 2.1.2 and now it's possible to install the VBoxGuestAdditions in Ubuntu/Kubuntu 9.04. So now it's possible for me to work fullscreen with the guest-system.

[Ulrich Hobelmann (u-hobelmann)]

I'm running a 8.10 host and installed VirtualBox 2.1.2 (download from that site, uninstalled the Universe VirtualBox first).

A 9.04 Kubuntu (the latest alpha) successfully installs the guest additions and gains mouse pointer integration, but I cannot select screen resolutions higher than 800x600 - they're not available in the System Settings / Display.

[Bernd Schlapsi (bernd-sch)]

In my case I couldn't select a screen resolution higher than 800x600, but I choose the auto setting and this works fine for me. This means I can increase the window size and virtualbox automatically fit the screen resolution to my window size. There is also a menu-entry which says: "fit guest to window size" (or something like that)

[Ulrich Hobelmann (u-hobelmann)]

In the guest environment, I cannot choose auto, just 800x600 and 640x480. VirtualBox has a "auto-resize guest display" menu entry, but it's grayed out for me.

[Bernd Schlapsi (bernd-sch)]

you need to install the VBoxGuestAdditions. After the installation you must reboot the guest system

[Ulrich Hobelmann (u-hobelmann)]

Thanks Bernd, but I already did that. Mouse pointer integration works great, but the screen resolution could not be changed. Well, it's not that important, and I guess future Vbox releases, kernels, and X servers will work better...

[Ulrich Hobelmann (u-hobelmann)]

I forgot to mention this, but with the current state of Ubuntu 9.04, installing the guest additions does not allow me to choose a different screen resolution in the guest system, but it allows me to auto-resize the guest display via VirtualBox (for instance HOSTKEY + g when in fullscreen mode resizes the guest desktop up to screen size (which for my laptop happens to be 1024x768)).

[John Hawthorne (johnfhawthorne)]

I get the following message when install VBoxGuestAdditions on a Jaunty VM:
-----------
Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel module...
Building the shared folder support kernel module...
Installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions...

Warning: unknown version of the X Window System installed. Not installing
X Window System drivers.
Successfully installed the VirtualBox Guest Additions.
You must restart your guest system in order to complete the installation.
-----------

After a restart GDM fails to start except in safe graphics mode. I'm using VirtualBox 2.1.4 and the host is Intrepid 64 bit.

Is VirtualBox compatible with the new Xorg version (1.6) in Jaunty?

Thanks!

[Alain Kalker (miki4242)]

I can confirm the problem, using today's fully updated Jaunty + virtualbox-ose-guest-utilities 2.1.4-dfsg-1ubuntu3 in guest, so it is still a problem with the newer vboxvideo driver.

Additional info: when I run 'xrandr' in the guest, I get:

miki@miki-virtualbox:~$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 64 x 64, current 800 x 600, maximum 32000 x 32000
VBOX1 connected 800x600+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   800x600 60.0*+
   640x480 59.9

so it seems that the supported resolution range is huge, but only those 2 modes are actually defined.

[Alain Kalker (miki4242)]

Ok, after some searching, I think I've found the source of the problem: VBoxClient failed to start at login, probably because it couldn't access /dev/vboxadd, which is only accessible by root:root.

From the VirtualBox site and changelog.Debian.gz I gathered that VirtualBox 2.0.0 and up are built with 'hardening' enabled by default[1]. which requires all binaries to be setuid root. Changing the VBoxClient to be setuid root and restarting the guest solved my problem.

[1]: See configure, lines 68, 2131-2149
...

[Alain Kalker (miki4242)]

After making the above change, xrandr in the guest now returns video modes with resolutions up to the size of the VirtualBox window, and when I go to full-screen, I can use up to the maximum resolution possible with my monitor.

[Max-Ulrich Farber (maxulrichfarber)]

I suppose that the workaround of Alain Keller does only work with the OSE version. I could not yet make higher resolutions work in the *non OSE* version 2.1.4 !

I still do get the following error message by installing the VBoxGuestAdditions in a Jaunty Client:

Warning: unknown version of the X Window System installed. Not installing
X Window System drivers.

For an Intrepid Client there is no problem.

[John Hawthorne (johnfhawthorne)]

There seems to be more than one cause for this same behaviour as the problem I found was to do with the installation script for the Guest Additions not correctly testing the Xorg version number. A bug in install.sh in GA was testing for version 1.6 rather than 1.6.* and was not matching the returned version of 1.6.0. Once I fixed that, I had full mouse integration as well as full screen resolution.

To fix it, extract the VB Guest Additions installer with something like:
VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86/amd46.run --target ~/ga
and then edit install.sh (around line 415) to change the version test from 1.6 to 1.6.*
Then just run the install script: sudo ./install.sh

[Christoph Langner (chrissss)]

That's probably not an issue with ubuntu, but with VirtualBox. VirtualBox 2.1.4 doesn't know about Xserver 1.6. To run Jaunty within VirtualBox and to be able to choose the resolution, you've got to wait until sun releases the next version or try the Beta of VirtualBox 2.2. With VirtualBox 2.2 it's possible to compile the kernel modules. It's even possible to run Compiz inside a virtual machine ;) http://christoph-langner.de/en/2009/03/compiz-und-3d-beschleunigung-in-virtualbox/

[Max-Ulrich Farber (maxulrichfarber)]

Obviously it's an issue with VirtualBox. After changing line 415 in the installation file of the GuestAdditions of VirtualBox 2.1.4 from 1.6 to 1.6.* , everything works fine now.

The problems with VirtualBox 2.0.0 Beta mentionned above seemes to be quite an other issue.

[Guthrie (jzsaxpc)]

I got the new vbox Guest additions version 2.2 BETA 2, and it fixed the problem.

I was using the 2.1.4 GA