VMWare workstation 9.0 multi-display issue

[ArnorBld]

Hi guys,

I have been using VMWare Workstation for the past 5 years and cannot be without it!

Since I upgraded to 9.0 couple of years ago or so, there has been an annoying issue that I have not found any solution to.  I see that others have had similar issue with screensavers and powersettings.  What happens in my case is that if I have a VM extended over both my monitors and I run a program inside the guest that requires UAC elevation, VMWare will revert to the primary monitor only.  This doesn't always happen, about 85-90% of the time.  To restore, I have to click on the "Cycle Multiple Monitors" button twice to restore it to both monitors.  I was previously using 6.x and this did not happen there. 

Any ideas for fixing or testing? 

Best regards,

Arnor Baldvinsson - Icetips Alta LLC   

[ArnorBld]

I posted about this just over a year ago:  Workstation 9 and dual monitors

I forgot to add, that I also have a problem if I have multiple VM's running.  If one or more are using both monitors then I cannot access the host monitor from VM's that are NOT using both screens.  I see the host desktop, but it does not get input focus (mouse clicks don't make it through)  I don't know if that is related, but there seem to be some gremlins on my system when dealing with multiple monitors.  Note that I had VMware 9 installed on another computer for a while and it also showed the same symptoms, despite being completely different configuration.

Best regards

Arnor

[Ethan44]

Hi

Welcome to the communities.

Could you please let us know if Cycle multiple monitors under full screen are enabled or not .

[RogerD7]

I have this problem too. I have to run Visual Studio 2013 with Administrator privileges and without fail running VS2013 will revert me back to a single monitor due to the UAC. Clicking the multi monitor button twice sorts the issue, once presumably to put VMWare back into single monitor and again to go back to dual monitor. This would suggest some part of VMware doesn't know its reverted to single monitor mode.

I run VMWare Workstation 10.0.1 in full screen on 2 monitors and have an NVidia GTX 550Ti with the latest drivers. Both monitors are connected via DVI/HDMI. I've also configured the multi-monitor option under VM->Settings->Hardware->Display-No of monitors to 2 (from 1) but this has no effect.

Probably unrelated, but I did have another issue with VMWare whereby any Office 2013 application would completely crash VMWare after a few seconds (up to a minute). I had to turn off hardware acceleration in Office 2013 to stop this happening. I've had refresh issues with VMware and VS2012/13 in the past too but the latest NVidia drivers seemed to fix this.

[LaurentJ75012]

Hello,

I have the same problem with 3 monitor and 2 GTX 590 cards but only with Windows 2012R2 and Windows 8.1.

With all other OS :

With GTX Card, you can configure surround mode that simulate a big unique screen.

Maximize you Workstation in the unique virtual screen and you will use your both screens.

Best regards,

Laurent

[Ontologic]

I, too, experience this behavior.  Here are the specifics of my configuration:

Host: Dell 6800 Laptop

Video Hardware: Two Graphics Processors; one Intel HD Graphics 4100 and one Quadro K5100M

Monitor Configuration: One external (1200X1920), Laptop Display (1080X1920)

Monitor Settings: All monitors (both virtual and physical) are running at 60 Hz refresh, and 32-bit color

Host OS: Windows 8.1

Guest OS: Windows 7

I experience the issue when I start up (run as administrator) Visual Studio 2013.

If the Guest OS is configured to run on multiple monitors, it will revert to a single monitor.  As explained in other posts, this can be fixed by pressing the multiple-monitor button in the VM Workstation UI twice (once to synchronize VM Workstation's internal logical state back to it's current physical state of one monitor; the second click then puts VM Workstation back into multiple monitor mode).

I also experience the same thing when I start up (run as administrator) Telerik's Test Studio application.

This is a real nuisance because I am typically running multiple applications and have carefully arranged my application windows on the available video monitor space to optimize my productivity.  When VM Workstation unilaterally resets my multi-monitor configuration, it automatically re-positions all of my application windows.  I must reset the multi-monitor configuration, and then re-position all of my application windows.  After about the 400th time of doing this, it is really getting old.

Any help, from any one, to fix / work around this issue would be greatly appreciated.  I have noticed that this question is a very long running thread, so I suspect that the VM guys either don't no what the problem is, or do know, and it is a real bear to fix.   If it is hard to fix, just let us know and we will set our expectations accordingly.

I love the VM Workstation product and it is an indispensable tool in my consulting arsenal.  This is a minor thing, but it is painful to deal with on an on-going basis.

[Ontologic]

I have two things to add to my previous post.

First, I am using VM Workstation 11.1.0.

Second, there is a variant of the behavior that I have observed, and for this variant, I have developed a work-around (of sorts) for this phenomena.

So, under the rubric that we gain power over something once we can name it, I hereby christen this bug the 'VM Workstation multi-display collapse syndrome'.  Given the following conditions:

1) A physical host workstation with multiple monitors (and VM Workstation loaded and running)

2) The host OS is configured to extend the desktop to multiple monitors

3) The VM Workstation is hosting multiple guest OS instances in full screen mode, with all guest's configured to inherit the host screen configuration

4) The host OS enters screen saver mode

5) When the host OS exits screen saver mode, the currently displayed Guest OS will not properly manage its virtual monitor configuration.  One virtual monitor will continue to operate properly with respect to graphics and mouse operations.  The other virtual monitor will not display graphics properly, but strangely, the mouse will continue to operate as though the desktop is extended to the malfunctioning virtual monitor.

6) One can fix this situation by cycling through the VM Workstation multiple monitor control button.  This changes the virtual monitor state from 'multiple monitors' to 'single monitor' and back to 'multiple monitors'.  A side effect of this solution causes the OS to re-position all open windows onto the single monitor while in the 'single monitor' mode of the cycle.

7) This re-positioning side effect can be avoided on a given virtual machine, if the monitor mode cycling is performed on a second, virtual machine.  Suppose that you have two guest machines running (Machine A and B), the screen saver variant of the multi-display collapse syndrome has occurred, and you do not want to disturb the window configuration on Machine A's virtual monitor configuration.  If all of this is the case, then you make Machine B the currently displayed guest OS, then you cycle through the VM Workstation multiple monitor configuration to correct the problem, and then you make Machine A the currently displayed guest.  You will find the Machine A now properly manages all of its virtual monitors, and it's window configuration remains in tact.  Of course, the same cannot be said for Machine B, but if you can live with this, at least you get Machine A back to its proper configuration.

This work-around does nothing for the more destructive variant of the multi-display collapse syndrome where VM Workstation unilaterally decides to change the guest OS multi-display mode back to a single monitor (with extreme prejudice).  In this instance, the damage to your window configuration is done immediately and there is no going back.  Please look into this and get it fixed.  Thank you.