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Kandsmerlin
Contributor
Contributor

Stretch Guest display options in WS15 not available for any guest OS after Windows Vista

I'm having a problem with the stretch guest display option not being available for my Windows 7 VM as well as a few Windows 10 VMs. However, it appears to be available with a Windows Vista VM as well as a Windows XP VM. My question is this: Is this a bug or by design? I really don't want to have to use my Win7 or Win10 VMs as "centered (with borders - no resolution change)" The display elements are incredibly small in that mode and the other mode is not appropriate either due to some older applications that don't scale properly and do not function well with windows 10.

If this is not a bug, then how do I enable stretching for said VMs? Any help would be appreciated.

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bkraul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just for reference. I just installed Oracle VirtualBox 5.2.20. One of the most basic features? Stretch mode (both windowed and full-screen) for all VMs, regardless of OS or HDPI setting...

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vyv03354
Contributor
Contributor

VMware is much inferior to VirtualBox for developers who have to test DPI-aware apps. VirtualBox has one window for each virtual monitor. Also it has excellent "Scale Mode" feature.

Leaving that aside, there is another workaround if your host operating system is Windows 10 version 1703 or later.

1. Find vmware.exe (or vmplayer.exe) on your computer.

2. Open [Properties].

3. Select the [Compatibility] tab.

4. (version 1803 or later) Click [Change high DPI settings].

5. Check [Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by:] and select [System (Enhanced)].

With this change, guest operating systems will run at 96 dpi regardless of the host dpi.

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bkraul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks @vyq03354. You are correct on VBox's stretching ability. I just migrated one of my "problem" machines and it works beautifully (once the guest additions are installed). Might consider moving from VMware to VBox in the near future. As far as your workaround, what I am experiencing is that while the dpi and scaling works great for what I need, it seems the mouse coordinate system is not working properly, clicking on a specific part of the screen actually translates to another part of the screen, which makes the workaround unusable.

I am using Windows 10 1809 as my host OS.

djhopps
Contributor
Contributor

Yup - exactly the same issue here, it's as if the mouse is 'misaligned' to the screen when you try and use this workaround. Regardless, this workaround isn't any good for me as you can't scale screens independently in Win7. Sigh. Awaiting v16..... Smiley Happy

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bkraul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

v16? no man, sorry...this is an issue. I don't see the sense of paying an upgrade for something that should already be operating properly. Already did that once.

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Kandsmerlin
Contributor
Contributor

Unfortunately, VirtualBox isn't a solution to this issue in my case. I just spent the last 3 hours trying to import my VMware VM's to VirtualBox with no success. Each and every time I do the import on ANY of my VM's, VirtualBox crashes. It's a shame too as I'm really upset at VMware's direction to mess with something that wasn't really broken in the first place.

As I originally said earlier, the VMware dev's removal of the "Stretch desktop" scaling mode behavior should be considered a step backwards and is therefore unfortunately a downgrade rather than an upgrade. I WILL NOT be purchasing VMware 15 unless this feature is added back in -- and even then, I will have to give serious pause about the future of VMware as a reliable solution for working with VMs.

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bkraul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What method did you use to migrate? I effortlessly migrated with this guide using the OVF tool:

https://www.maketecheasier.com/convert-virtual-machines-vmware-virtualbox/

Just make sure to uninstall vmware tools and install the guest additions for your vbox version.

Hope it helps.

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bkraul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Aaaand that's how customer concerns go die at VMware, being completely ignored by devops.

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jj0999
Contributor
Contributor

Sigh... this is still not fixed in 15.01. Why are they ignoring such an important issue? I would like to run the VMs without needing to install VM tools and this Stretch Guest feature accomplishes this perfectly. They should make it work for all operating systems because the per-monitor dpi is still very problematic.

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gbohn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I would like to add my voice to also request that they return the 'stretch' guest option for Windows 7 and later guests.

It's beyond me as to why this should only be available for earlier OS versions. It's annoying how they seem to keep dropping features with each successive version.

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Lev115
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Please VMware team make Guest Display options work for ALL operating systems!

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Lev115
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

please make Stretch guest in 'vmware workstation PLAYER "

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johnredcorn
Contributor
Contributor

I am not sure if a Vmware employee would read this or not, but if they do:

Unless it is a OS limitation (meaning that Windows 10 has some issues when the screen is stretched, which I doubt), this ought to be available to Windows, too.

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Lev115
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I mean make Stretch Guest for all systems up to vista in " vmware workstation PLAYER"

ssean1
Contributor
Contributor

Are there any options I need to disable in VMWare prior to making this change?

I shut down the VM and edited preferences.ini, but after saving the preferences.ini file and re-booting the VM, it seems to have no affect.

When I re-open preferences.ini, the changes are replaced with the original values.

Thanks,

Sean

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vyv03354
Contributor
Contributor

IMHO, no need to over-complicate the feature. The following options are already visible:

275835_275835.pngpastedImage_0.png

Just make them available for ALL OSes (obviously, the "Automatically adjust user interface..." would only apply to OSes that support HDPI). Let the user have the say on whether stretch is used over HDPI. That would be perfect.

That's exactly what WS 15.1 did. Now the stretch mode is available regardless of the Operating System. Yay!

DodgeDeBoulet
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

That's exactly what WS 15.1 did. Now the stretch mode is available regardless of the Operating System. Yay!

It's there, but so far it seems a bit squirrelly, at least with Win7x64 guests on a Win10 host. At one point one of the guests was unresponsive to user input and could only be paused/stopped via the VMware toolbar controls. I eventually managed to un-wedge it, but will need to experiment a bit to figure out the chain of events.

Stealer0
Contributor
Contributor

Guess 15.6 will finally address stretching for Shared VMs?

I went ahead and tried to use VMRC with high DPI compatibility option.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Remote Console\vmrc.exe" vmrc://Username@IP:PORT/?moid=1 (1st Shared VM = 1)

However, it breaks cursor from interacting with remote VM

Guess I'll try built-in VNC option with 3rd party VNC client. But it's such a mess.

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