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23 Replies Last post: Jan 25, 2008 9:37 AM by Jae Ellers
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VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5

Apr 25, 2007 8:40 AM

Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
Hello,
I'm new to Linux and I am trying to get a CentOS 5 server running. The server seems to be up with no problems, and I ran the VMware tools install and configuration. It said that it was not compatible with the kernel, but offered to recompile, and it seems to have worked. After that, it initially had a problem starting X, then reconfigured and X runs, but I can only run the screen in 800x600 or less. This makes it tough to work with some of the graphical boxes.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 25, 2007 2:26 PM
Click to view KevinG's profile Guru KevinG 16,898 posts since
Jan 8, 2004 VMware Moderator
Post your xorg.conf file
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 26, 2007 7:15 AM
in response to: KevinG
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
Post your xorg.conf file

Thanks! Here is the text from the file:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vmware"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 27, 2007 4:36 AM
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
Anyone have any ideas?
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 27, 2007 5:24 AM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
Yes. That config file looks WAY too short. There are no modelines at all. Search the forum for a (about 2 page long) xorg.conf file KevinG has posted numerous times.
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 7:03 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
After going through all the steps you listed here and that I found elsewhere, and not having any luck, it looks like I found the answer, and it was a really simple one...

From within X, I went to System > Administration > Display > Hardware tab > Configure button. Then I used the drop arrow to see what other monitors were available, chose Generic LCD 1024x768 and restarted X.

Worked like a charm! I'm really a Linux newb...

I still have an issue with VMware tools, though: Even though mouse and video seems to be fine, I can not cut and paste between the XP host and the Linux guest. Also, I constantly have to hit Ctrl-Alt to get the mouse cursor out of the Linux guest window and back to my XP host desktop. Is this normal, or is there a way to fix that?

Thanks for all the help!
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 7:35 AM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
Some versions of X seem to require that the vmware-toolbox applet be running for the mouse grab/ungrab and clipboard sharing to work.
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 8:43 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
How can I tell if it's running? Is it separate from the video driver part? It's possible to make it run at startup, correct?
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 8:57 AM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
When you are logged in and have an X session running, open a new terminal and type 'vmware-toolbox &'. This will launch the toolbox in a separate process, so that you can close the terminal. Yes, you can add this command to your X startup (how will depend on your distro, version of X, and window manager).
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 10:26 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
I ran that, and it works, except for one thing:

When I run it, a window opens that says "VMware Tools Properties" opens. It has stuff in it that I really don't need, but I don't have to Ctrl-Alt to release the mouse.

However, if I close that properties box, the effect goes away. I can't figure out how to make it work without the box open (or minimized). Also, if I close the command window, it also goes away. I did the SU thing before running it, and without SU. Same effect both times.

Thanks!

null
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 11:01 AM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
You can minimize the window, but you can't close it or the applet is unloaded.
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 11:14 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
This is normal?
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 12:03 PM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
This is normal?

Normal for what? If you want the toolbox process to be running, it must be running. On Windows guests, you will see an icon for the toolbox process running in the system tray of the guest. On Linux guests, you can minimize/iconify the toolbox... but I don't think too many (if any) Linux window managers understand the concept of the system tray.
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 Apr 30, 2007 12:22 PM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view spdivr's profile Novice spdivr 17 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
Ah, I see the difference now. Thanks!
Reply Re: VMware Tools problem - Screen resolution only 800x600 - CentOS 5 May 1, 2007 7:26 AM
in response to: spdivr
Click to view KevinG's profile Guru KevinG 16,898 posts since
Jan 8, 2004 VMware Moderator
My mouse moves freely between the host(Windows XP) and (CentOS 5)guest OS and NO vmware-toolbox is running.
The real solution is to use a correctly modified xorg.conf file and the correct mouse driver loaded.
It's the mouse driver that handles the grab & ungrab, the vmware-toolbox process handles the copy / paste

[code]
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "XWorkAround"
InputDevice "Mouse[0]" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse[0]"
Driver "vmmouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Name" "VMware Point Device"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "XWorkAround"
Driver "void"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "vmware"
VendorName "VMware, Inc"
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
HorizSync 1.0 - 10000.0
VertRefresh 1.0 - 10000.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "VMware SVGA"
Driver "vmware"
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Don't specify DefaultColorDepth unless you know what you're
# doing. It will override the driver's preferences which can
# cause the X server not to run if the host doesn't support the
# depth.
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "VMware SVGA"
Monitor "vmware"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"

# VGA mode: better left untouched
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
Modes "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "640x400" "640x350"
EndSubSection
EndSection

[/code]

Message was edited by:
KevinG

Message was edited by:
KevinG

Message was edited by:
KevinG

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