... A VMware Fusion 11 problem, or an open-vm-tools-desktop package problem, or both?
Hello,
I had a similar issue with Ubuntu 18.10 and VMware Fusion where resize wouldn't work despite having open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop installed.
It appeard to be a race condition where the service open-vm-tools would start before the display manager.
I delayed the service open-vm-tools to start after the display manager and it seems to work now.
~$ sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service
Add under [Unit] the following line:
After=display-manager.service
Save the file and reboot. The screen should be able to fit as needed.
Explained a little better: after installing the Open VM Tools and rebooting the VM, the resolution remains the default one (800x600, IIRC); and in order to get the right resolution (for example, 1440x900), one must first select it in the Ubuntu display settings: while instead this window resizing should be automatic (by clicking or option-clicking the green button of the VM window), with the Tools installed...
... In other words, it behaves almost as if this part of the Tools (window resolution and scaling) weren't installed.
Could you try the bundled VMware tools to see whether has the same issue
Yes, the bundled VMware Tools behave similarly: no automatic window resizing; and the default resolution still shows as 800x600 in the Ubuntu display settings, also with Retina resolution enabled in the VM settings...
I tried bundled tools on ubuntu 18.10, it works. could you check the tools version on your OS, run 'vmware-toolbox-cmd -v' in terminal. (The version of bundled tools is 10.3.2.6765.)
Should remove all of open-vm-tools components before installing bundled tools.
Yes, the VMware Tools version is the same as yours, but it still doesn't work (I even tried to set the Ubuntu system language to English, uninstalled the Tools, rebooted, and reinstalled: but nothing changes, and automatic window resizing doesn't work)...
Here is the reproducer to the problem:
After the reboot, you can no longer resize the Ubuntu window.
Well, that's certainly better than i have, 10 was fine. Going to 11, it simply won't allow me to select any common resolution, no 1080p, no 1440p, 4k, no 3440x1440, instead it has only really strange resolutions you've never really seen, of course aside from 800x600 which, is quite useful seeing 1/2 a browser or terminal window on the screen. I can't use fullscreen at all either- well rather i can, but instead of actually being the resolution of the screen it's has black sections on the side and keeps the same perspective as 800x600 so it looks ridiculous. Unlike a few people here, I CAN resize automatically, but it always keeps the same aspect ration, given that can't set it to a common resolution resizing just makes it look ridiculous. Imagine 3440x1440 maximized at the same aspect ratio as 800x600. Anyone here try on other distros with any luck? I did go from Ubuntu 18.04 to 18.10 which was fine, upgrading to fusion 11, i tried literally every suggestion on any site I could find, i reinstalled twice, nothing. To note I also own workstation 14 pro, which i bootcamp to windows on the Mac, try using workstation 14 pro on Ubuntu 18.10, same issue. At this point I've no clue what's going on.
That's certainly true, so long as you never restart or shutdown the vm, ever, it works fine. I assume the QA on this product was essentially seeing if you could install the vm.
Can you please open a bug report using my reproducer. Fusion 11/11.0.1 and Ubuntu 18.10 as guest does not work with screen stretching after a reboot.
Seems if you've updated from 10 to 11:
- Update OSX to Mojave ( there also seems to be a few minor updates after that)
- Update to Fusion 11.0 => 11.0.1.
- Purge the open-vm-tools with apt ( --purge option).
- Reinstall the tools from the Fusion menu option while in Ubuntu.
You should be able to resize the screen properly now. At first it won't look that way at the login screen, but if you login to Gnome Desktop it will correct itself. Going forward it always seems to work on startup now, so for me this is resolved.
After some tests with Fusion 11.0.2, it seems to work only with Easy Install (which however is not so convenient for non-US English users); while it still doesn't work with a normal, or custom install, both with the Open VM Tools and the VMware Tools.
Why, is the question...?
... BTW, a graphical Linux (Open VM/VMware) Tools installer would perhaps be a good thing...
Hello,
I had a similar issue with Ubuntu 18.10 and VMware Fusion where resize wouldn't work despite having open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop installed.
It appeard to be a race condition where the service open-vm-tools would start before the display manager.
I delayed the service open-vm-tools to start after the display manager and it seems to work now.
~$ sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service
Add under [Unit] the following line:
After=display-manager.service
Save the file and reboot. The screen should be able to fit as needed.
This solution worked for me. I used nano instead of vi, which IMO is more user-friendly:
Drop to terminal and enter
sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service
In the document that opens, add under [Unit] the following line:
After=display-manager.service
Save, then reboot. Thank you j2clerck!!
Yes, this works! :smileycool::smileyinfo:
Definitely easier with nano, indeed... :smileycool::smileyinfo:
BTW, Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS now has the same problem, after the latest updates, thus requiring the same workaround.
NB: I reported this problem (and proposed the solution in this thread) to the pkg-open-vm-tools project in ensure open-vm-tools starts after display-manager by mykmelez · Pull Request #19 · bzed/pkg-open-vm-.... After conversation in Service starts too early to find resolutionKMS in Debian Testing · Issue #214 · vmware/open-vm-tools... , a different solution was landed in Load vmwgfx module before vmtoolsd starts. · bzed/pkg-open-vm-tools@dc4e1ce · GitHub .
Thanks for your response with respect to the service start up race condition. Seems to have solved the problem I just ran into (after some time of it working just fine) with Ubuntu 18.04 guest on VMware Workstation 14.