Linux guest triple monitors blank

DavidChenware · ‎02-22-2018

Howdy

I have a Windows 10 guest (1607 enterprise) on Workstation 14.1 running RHEL 7.4 and open-vm-tools 10.1.5-3.el7. The host is using 3x4k monitors. When I switch to fullscreen mode on a single monitor, everything works fine, the guest fits and auto resizes, we're good. When I set the monitor layout to 2 monitors, either the center-and-left or the center-and-right, everything also works fine, everything is all full screen and I can drag and drop between, all the resolutions are perfect. However when I set the layout to utilize all 3 monitors, all 3 monitors are black and blank. Nothing is displayed. Actions are still happening behind the scenes because I can try to select things on the desktop in the dark where I think the mouse is, and when I switch back to 2 monitors 1) I get picture back and 2) items are selected on the desktop. I have 2GB video memory and 3d graphics acceleration turned on. A separate Windows guest works just fine on all 3 monitors in full screen mode. I'm using the default Gnome classic, but Gnome regular also fails. I installed KDE and switched to that and surprisingly, all 3 monitors work...some of the time. It seems like maybe some Gnome specific issue? Another thing to note is that I DO see the cursor change in the right places, like the change to a text selection cursor when there's text there. Everything else is just black.

Here is an excerpt from my log file when changing over to use 3 monitors:

2018-02-22T22:15:55.432-08:00| mks| I125: ToolsSetDisplayTopology: Sending rpcMsg = DisplayTopology_Set 3 , 3840 0 3840 2160 , 0 0 3840 2160 , 7680 0 3840 2160

2018-02-22T22:15:55.586-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 3.

2018-02-22T22:15:55.597-08:00| svga| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 0 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 2.

2018-02-22T22:15:55.601-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 2.

2018-02-22T22:15:55.936-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 2 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 3.

2018-02-22T22:15:55.937-08:00| mks| I125: Win32AllowDnDProxyMessages: Registered setProp: 0xC40A

2018-02-22T22:15:55.937-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered removeProp: 0xC40C

2018-02-22T22:15:55.937-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered attachThreadProxy: 0xC41B

2018-02-22T22:15:55.947-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 3 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 4.

2018-02-22T22:15:55.948-08:00| mks| I125: Win32AllowDnDProxyMessages: Registered setProp: 0xC40A

2018-02-22T22:15:55.948-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered removeProp: 0xC40C

2018-02-22T22:15:55.948-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered attachThreadProxy: 0xC41B

I happened to try one more thing, I took out open-vm-tools and swapped in the VMWare tools that came with the software (10.2.x). It still fails, here is that excerpt.

2018-02-22T22:25:14.905-08:00| mks| I125: ToolsSetDisplayTopology: Sending rpcMsg = DisplayTopology_Set 2 , 3840 0 3840 2160 , 0 0 3840 2160

2018-02-22T22:25:15.009-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 2 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 4.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.021-08:00| svga| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 3.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.021-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 4.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.021-08:00| mks| I125: MKS Win32: Failed window creation for MKSWindowId=17: Invalid UI Window

2018-02-22T22:25:15.021-08:00| mks| I125: MKS-HWinMux: Failed PreDefineWindow

2018-02-22T22:25:15.021-08:00| mks| W115: MKS-HWinMux: HWin failed to define mksWindow (id=17).

2018-02-22T22:25:15.025-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 3.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.084-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 0 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 2.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.086-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 1 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 2.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.348-08:00| mks| I125: SWBWindow: Number of MKSWindows changed: 2 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 3.

2018-02-22T22:25:15.348-08:00| mks| I125: Win32AllowDnDProxyMessages: Registered setProp: 0xC40A

2018-02-22T22:25:15.348-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered removeProp: 0xC40C

2018-02-22T22:25:15.348-08:00| mks| I125+ Registered attachThreadProxy: 0xC41B

While in GNOME I can xrandr and get data that shows that monitor is actually connected:

$ xrandr

Screen 0: minimum 1 x 1, current 11520 x 2160, maximum 16384 x 16384

Virtual1 connected primary 3840x2160+3840+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm

3840x2160 60.00*+

2560x1600 59.99

1920x1440 60.00

1856x1392 60.00

1792x1344 60.00

1920x1200 59.88

1600x1200 60.00

1680x1050 59.95

1400x1050 59.98

1280x1024 60.02

1440x900 59.89

1280x960 60.00

1360x768 60.02

1280x800 59.81

1152x864 75.00

1280x768 59.87

1024x768 60.00

800x600 60.32

640x480 59.94

Virtual2 connected 3840x2160+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm

3840x2160 60.00*+

2560x1600 59.99

1920x1440 60.00

1856x1392 60.00

1792x1344 60.00

1920x1200 59.88

1600x1200 60.00

1680x1050 59.95

1400x1050 59.98

1280x1024 60.02

1440x900 59.89

1280x960 60.00

1360x768 60.02

1280x800 59.81

1152x864 75.00

1280x768 59.87

1024x768 60.00

800x600 60.32

640x480 59.94

Virtual3 connected 3840x2160+7680+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm

3840x2160 60.00*+

2560x1600 59.99

1920x1440 60.00

1856x1392 60.00

1792x1344 60.00

1920x1200 59.88

1600x1200 60.00

1680x1050 59.95

1400x1050 59.98

1280x1024 60.02

1440x900 59.89

1280x960 60.00

1360x768 60.02

1280x800 59.81

1152x864 75.00

1280x768 59.87

1024x768 60.00

800x600 60.32

640x480 59.94

Virtual4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Virtual5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Virtual6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Virtual7 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Virtual8 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Thanks in advance for any assistance!