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vmxmr
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Linux Guest Display Resolution Fails in Full Screen

(Pre-apologies to the group: I have the feeling that this topic was covered in a previous thread, but I searched quite a bit and could not find it.)

I have a 21.5 inch (1920 x 1080) iMac host. It is running OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan. For some reason, the newest VMware 8.1 cannot display Linux desktops correctly in full screen mode. It stays in the initial low res mode, scaled up to fit the screen. This never used to happen under earlier versions of OS X (host) and earlier versions of VMware Fusion. What adds to the frustration is that the Linux distros do not have 1920 x 1080 available as a pre-installed resolution in the display settings.

It may be related to VMware Tools. Some of the distros have open-vm-tools pre-installed. If I try to install the VMware Tools that come with VMware Fusion 8.1, I get a warning that open-vm-tools is pre-installed and I should be using open-vm-tools.

- -> How are people working around the issue?

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SvenGus
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‌You could try this, in the guest's Terminal:

sudo apt-get update


sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop

... reboot the guest, and see if it now works.

Here is a related KB article:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=207380...

... and another article here:

Open-VM-Tools: VMware Tools Future for Linux - VMware Blogs

(IIRC, the Desktop component of the Open-VM-Tools isn't always installed by default...)

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vmxmr
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Clarification:


I am seeing this problem with fresh installs of Ubuntu MATE 15.04 from the .iso file. I have also seen it with a fresh install Linux Mint MATE 17.3. I have also had problems with full screen in older Linux installations, mostly Ubuntu. They worked with full screen mode in earlier versions of Fusion, but not in the current version 8, so I deleted the virtual machines and tried to start over with the same results. I remember trying to get Ubuntu 14.04 to work as a previous virtual machine (from Fusion 7, maybe 6 too) as well as new installations.

In all cases, the screen would show an enlarged view of a lower resolution screen. I could change resolution from within Linux, but none of the distros I have tried offers a native 1920 x 1080 screen that matches my iMac 21.5 inch. I could work from within Linux to add the new resolution, but it is a pain to do, and full screen mode always used to work when I was running OS X Mavericks with Fusion 7.

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SvenGus
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‌You could try this, in the guest's Terminal:

sudo apt-get update


sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop

... reboot the guest, and see if it now works.

Here is a related KB article:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=207380...

... and another article here:

Open-VM-Tools: VMware Tools Future for Linux - VMware Blogs

(IIRC, the Desktop component of the Open-VM-Tools isn't always installed by default...)

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wila
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Hi,

For Ubuntu 15.10 there are some known issues in Fusion 8.0.2, as it wasn't listed in Fusion 8.1 release notes to be fixed, I'm assuming this is still an issue:

VMware Fusion 8.0.2 Release Notes

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Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
vmxmr
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@SvenGus 's reply gave me the information I needed to get it working. His suggestions were great. I was unaware of the open-vm-tools-desktop, nor was I aware that it was not always preinstalled. I can't explain why I didn't have display issues in the past, but it is working now, and that is what counts.

I read the articles as well. Both the Knowledgebase entry and the blog were helpful and informative. I don't know why they did not turn up in my searches.

Thanks very much to SvenGus and to Wil for their input and suggestions.

P.S. On first reboot, there was an open-vm-tools bug which I reported (but was previously known), but it did not appear on subsequent reboots and all is well.

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wila
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Thanks Sven, had seen the -desktop package, never realized that vmware moved the "desktop" integration part into that one and that it is -indeed- not always installed by default.

Great tip!

FYI, I have published this info as a small blog post down here: http://planetvm.net/blog/?p=2941

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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SvenGus
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‌Good to know it worked! :smileycool:

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SvenGus
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It would probably be a good thing if, when installing the VMware Tools for a desktop Linux distro from the host's menu, the user were also explicitly warned that the open-vm-tools-desktop package is required for the full functionality of the Open VM Tools in a desktop environment; or - even better! - the package should come pre-installed with the distro itself (if possible?)... :smileyinfo:


(Sadly, the VMware host-guest file system (vmhgfs, for shared folders) still seems to require additionally installing the "traditional" VMware Tools, with their cumbersome install process: but, on the positive side, they should not interfere with the Open VM Tools, if these are already installed.)

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wila
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Hi Sven,

When you install from the host menu it will try to install the traditional VMware Tools, so no need for the warning then.

It would be a good tip for the open-vm-tools package though to add a few lines on highlighting that a user might want to install the -desktop package as well.

As for the vmhgfs driver for having shared folders work "out of the box" is apparently also an inbox driver nowadays for Linux hosts.

See these notes:

open-vm-tools / Mailing Lists

If it isn't in your distributions specific version yet, then they aren't up to date with what has been upstream already for a bit. Earlier versions for a 4.x kernel had a broken driver, which -at least until a week or so ago- are still installed in for example Ubuntu 15.10.

It can take some time to resolve itself and there's certainly a chance that some of the current Linux distribution versions will not get that part working until you update to the next version.

Trying to install VMware Tools when open-vm-tools is already installed on several new distributions is cancelled unless you force it to install.

So things are a bit in a state of flux atm.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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