Ubuntu Server 10.10 command window not resizing in Virtualbox

rbrachmann · 02-06-2011, 05:45 PM

I've been all over the web and can't seem to get this to work. I'm a newbie, so bear with me. I also hope I'm in the right forum.

I've just installed Ubuntu Server 10.10 in Oracle Virtualbox 4.0.0 r69151 running in Windows 7. I've installed the latest Guest Additions and my X.org server is 1.9, so I think I have everything I need.

When I startup the Ubuntu server, the command window will not auto-resize. Under the Machine menu, both Auto-resize Guest Display and Switch to seamless mode are greyed out. I can use the Scale Mode, but the font is huge and not what I really want.

I also have Ubuntu 10.04 running in virtual box on this machine and I have no problem with the resizing. Is this something not supported by Ubuntu Server?

Thank you.

r_hartman · 02-07-2011, 12:23 PM

Looks like you haven't installed the Guest Additions. Once you install those, you should be OK.

rbrachmann · 02-08-2011, 09:53 AM

Actually, I installed it twice. After the first time, I realized I needed to include the latest X.org, so after I did that, I did a 2nd install of quest additions. I didn't see any errors. Is there an easy way to see if they installed and what version I have?

r_hartman · 02-09-2011, 01:27 AM

You can easily check whether they are loaded:

Code:

$ dmesg | grep -i vboxguest
[   37.724102] vboxguest: major 0, IRQ 20, I/O port d040, MMIO at 00000000f0400000 (size 0x400000)
[   37.757528] vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 3.2.12 (interface 0x00010004)

I'm actually running 10.04 in VBox 3.2.12 on CentOS 5, so I cannot really reproduce your setup, but the symptoms just seemed to indicate that the GuestAdditions did not install properly.

Amother indication of GuestAdditions being there is the MI-icon (mouse integration).

Sorry I cannot be more specific.

EDIT: I just noticed VBox is at version 4.0.2 r69518. You may want to upgrade.

EDIT2: If you upgrade, you'll need to upgrade the VirtualBox Extension Pack as well, AND download GuestAdditions 4.0.3 ("updated version of 4.0.2"), as 4.0.2 has issues.

Come to think of it: the server edition will not have/need X. The command window is text, not graphics. So the resizing options may not apply unless you actually start X, as the window size will depend on the font size. I'm not that familiar with Ubuntu, as I use RHEL and CentOS, sometimes Fedora.

Not sure if Ubuntu supports resolution specifications on the kernel options in grub, like "VGA=775", but that might affect your window size as a different (smaller) font will be chosen.