VMware Workstation 16 Player doesn't auto-adjust screen size

[Bart13]

Hi,

The problem I'm having is when I open a Windows 10 virtual machine on VMware Workstation 16 Player, it doesn't auto-adjust the screen size. It did work before though, but since mid-March when I updated the player it fails to do so. Today I deinstalled it completely and installed the latest version from the website (VMware-player-full-16.2.3-19376536) but the problem persists.

It's really annoying and I can't seem to figure it out why it suddenly acts like this. The VMware Tools I also already reinstalled countless times, that doesn't help either. So now I'm stuck with 2 scroll bars unless I opt for "Enter full screen mode" which I don't want to. The display resolution in the VM is 1920x1080 which is the same as my monitor; I can make it smaller but then I have black boxes around my VM-screen which I don't want. It just has to fill out the window I made automatically.

In the Virtual Machine Settings section, it has "Auto detect" for the Display device, I can't change anything here because all is greyed-out except for "Display scaling - Automatically adjust user interface in the virtual machine" which is checked but unchecking doesn't help either. Can this please be fixed again so it adjusts automatically?

PS: when going to Player > Help > Support > Online Community it redirects to http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/player with error "The page you are trying to access was not found. Please check your URL for typos and try again." ... very convenient! Also, when going to https://customerconnect.vmware.com/support/create-request/technical I can't even click NEXT because of the errors "We cannot find any VMware Products that match your description." and "The selected Entitlement Account has no products associated with it. Try selecting a different Entitlement Account to see the products you are entitled to."

Best regards,
Bart

[Bart13]

Any feedback on this issue perhaps?

[Bart13]

Still waiting though... What a easy way to get help fast and reliably!

[scott28tt]

These forums are for users to help other users, where they have encountered the same issue or heard of it and can help, not sure what you were expecting.

[Bart13]

Yeah well, since you're an employee you could perhaps pass it on to the devs since it's still an issue? Or maybe make it possible to select the VMware Workstation Player as Product when creating a technical support request / ticket. Shouldn't be that hard though to ask for help!

[b3hr3ns]

Just started happening to me too. I like to resize my vmware workstation and I like to have the guest OS resize too instead of just shrinking everything, making only usable in full screen.  Haven't even tried unity yet.  Options in drop-down are grayed-out, but options in preferences are there and do not make a difference. 

(16.2.4 build-20089737)

(Windows10Enterprise Version 22H2)

Would love to share some log files to help correct this, and NO, not upgrading to 17 just to hope to resolve this issue. cmon, thank you please 

[RDPetruska]

Have you happened to try 16.2.5?

[b3hr3ns]

I just updated to 16.2.5, and issue still occurs.  Complete desktop shrinks when host window is scaled down.  Drop-down menu options still grayed-out.  Bouncing these options via preferences menu appears to have no affect for auto-sizing. 

Removed vmware tools, restarted windows, reinstalled vmware tools (complete install), restarted windows again.  

vmware tools for windows version: 11.3.5, build 18557794

host video adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

host video driver version: 27.21.14.6089 

[b3hr3ns]

Very quick to ask if I've updated-

-updates, issue still happening, provide more information

*Crickets* 

[RDPetruska]

Sorry about that.  Realize that nearly all users here on the forums are just that - users like you.  Asking if you had updated to the latest minor version in your major version of Player was a troubleshooting step.  If most of us aren't having the issue you are experiencing, then it's difficult to offer suggestions.

[b3hr3ns]

So this forum is for users to help users... why are there employees posting, -not helping? 

I'd just rather they not post and clutter up our conversations about your defective software

It's likely that others have just upgraded to your new version (17) and assumed that the old stuff is getting archived. 

It's also likely that they did run into this and knew the kind of responses they would get if they posted.

Has VMWare even tried this on a local system of their own?? 

You're going to tell me this is a microsquash problem next.. or graphics, or pfft 

edit:

PS. I have one windows VM that does work properly when resizing, it runs with vmware tools version: 11.3.5 build-18557794, same as the one that doesn't work. both same versions of windows, same updates. 

[mrmonteith]

 I'm having this issue too.  It's annoying, especially since my laptop screen isn't that large to begin with.  I tried matching my display settings on the laptop and the virtual machine.   At this point it's unusable.

[virpanther]

2024 and still the same issue.

I have to restart each time i resize the Window of the VMware Workstation Player. At least fullscreen is working fine.

Tools are up to date.

My recomendation to you guys is: Just get used to it 🙂 🙂 🙂 

[mrmonteith]

  I won't win any popularity contests here. lol But I switched to using WSL for Windows and love it.