How do I stretch screen image of guest OS in Workstation Player 15?

[Polda18]

Hi. I am using Workstation Player 15, non-commercial licence (free). I know that I can install VMware Tools inside supported guest OS and frankly I did (that one is Windows 98). It stretches the screen so it fills my entire display. However, it doesn't work with fixed display mode (like CGA, EGA and VGA in MS-DOS screen). When I put that screen to full screen, it has black bars around. Can I somehow stretch the screen image so it fits entire screen? Is there any option to fit the guest screen image to host screen stretching it like it really changed the host screen resolution (i.e. faking host screen resolution change)? If there is, I didn't find it.

If you don't know what I mean. If that OS was on a real computer, the screen resolution changes and display actually stretches it to maximize the screen area occupied, so the lower resolution still fills entire screen. CGA and EGA image is in fact also scaling by factor of 2 before it gets stretched to fill the screen, which gives it the characteristic look. I'm not asking for actually changing the resolution of host screen (but it may work anyway, so I wouldn't mind), I'm looking for faking it, so the guest screen image stretches to fit the screen. I'd like to have it preserve its original aspect ratio, because that's how my driver displays lower resolution screen.

For example: DOSBox when set to full screen actually changes the host screen resolution so the screen image fits nicely to the screen, maximized.

[wila · Accepted solution]

Hi,

That's a VMware Workstation Professional feature.

See also:

Re: Is there a way to scale the guest OS window 2x, 4x, etc without changing resolutions?

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Wil

[Polda18]

So in other words it won't work, right? Because I can't afford full Workstation Pro and I don't need all the features inside that software. I was using VirtualBox before VMware, but I was frustrated to find out that onboard PC Speaker emulation doesn't work with VirtualBox (or more clearly, it didn't support PC Speaker emulation to sound card), so I tried out VMware which I knew that it supported onboard PC Speaker emulation. I continue to use that because it works like that, but I miss the screen image stretch that was in VirtualBox, which had it as a basic feature completely for free.

Because I'm trying out old game development and playing old games, I need that onboard PC Speaker emulation, which is frankly missing in VirtualBox. But having a tiny display is frustrating me and it hurts my eyes actually. There really isn't any way to do it? I might need to find a good compromise then... Maybe even code my own PC Speaker emulator driver to forward PC Speaker driver into sound card of host system to see if it works...

Thanks anyway, I didn't know that it isn't basic feature and I need to pay for it full price. I cannot afford that in the moment.

[wila]

Hi,

Did you read what I linked.... ?

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Wil

[Polda18]

Yes, I did. All of it. I don't mind actually, but I'd really prefer to have that feature enabled. However, pay full price and use only few features that I need from the all features that it offers - I really don't intend to use it professionally. It's really too expensive for me, I can't afford it and I really won't ever use the full potential it gives. VirtualBox was working fine, but it has bug that doesn't allow guest OS to use onboard PC Speaker. It doesn't even work with physical host PC with onboard PC Speaker (and I was quite surprised that even today some PCs still have onboard speaker). Some workaround works with Linux, but the issue is I have Windows. Currently there is no fix for Windows users

[wila]

Hi,

Ok, let me say it in another way then.

Using VMware Workstation you can enable the feature you're after.

Then you can use it via VMware Player even after the Workstation Professional license has expired. You just can't change it back.

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Wil

[Polda18]

That's kind of cheating actually. Maybe I'll try it when I get more time. I am quite busy this time, lucky when I have more time for myself. Thanks anyway. Also, do I need to keep the Workstation installed after it expires? I generally don't like to keep expired trial software installed when the trial ends. More space for potential goodies If the feature won't work when I uninstall the Workstation, then I don't want to try it out like that. I'll just use the tiny display. Also, it is quite useful when I need to search for some guides in programming with Assembly language or with BASIC. It leaves more space on my actual host screen for templates. Only playing games is quite difficult with the tiny display. Right now, I don't mind, I can leave it like that and continue working. My Windows 98 supports the guest screen stretching (changing guest resolution to match host resolution), that's convenient when I need to use bigger screen.