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Is there a way to make the Mac OS X guest OS adapt the resolution of the host OS given that there's no guest additions yet as of the moment?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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There is no way for it to automatically adjust, but you can specify a custom resolution for the guest to use.

You can manually edit the VirtualBox configuration, and the boot file in OS X to use a custom resolution. It's a two part (Host VM/Guest) process to enable the resolution.

Here are the steps:

  1. First, make sure VirtualBox is not running. Close it if it is.

  2. Add the following setting to the <ExtraData> section of your VM's XML file (location C:\users\<username>\VirtualBox VMs\<OS_NAME>\<OS_NAME>.vbox-prev):

    <ExtraDataItem name="CustomVideoMode1" value="1680x1050x32"/>

    You can change the value above to your preferred display resolution, e.g. 1280x1024x32.

  3. Save the file and start your VM.

  4. In Mac open the /Extra folder in the Finder.

  5. Drag the com.app.Boot.plist file to the desktop.

  6. Open the file on the desktop in the editor.

  7. Locate the <key>Graphics Mode</key> entry, following that there should be a <string>xxxxxx</string> entry. Edit this entry to match the Custom Video entry from step 2 above. i.e. <string>1680x1050x32</string>

  8. Put file back, Restart your VM and the new display resolution should be effective.

Good Luck!

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    This doesn't work. The only thing that seems to make a difference is using the solution described here: martinml.com/en/…
    – user41270
    Commented Jun 14, 2011 at 7:42
  • This definitely doesn't work, the copy on the desktop is just ignored. See superuser.com/questions/478901/… for a more up-to-date method.
    – Sam Salisbury
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 15:19
  • @T.Todua: (1) Why do you suggest editing <OS_NAME>.vbox-prev instead of <OS_NAME>.vbox? (2) What do you mean by "Put file back"?
    – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 6:37
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That should help solving your problem.

  • open this link
  • go down to Step 7: Make the Screen Bigger

Note: Install Multibeast 4.6.1 first (registration required)

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0

This is a bit late, but none of the other answers helped me. This video helped me. The instructions are very simple:

  1. Power off your VM

  2. Close VirtualBox, and any background processes (if applicable).

  3. In the following code, edit "VM Name" to be your VM name and "N" to be 0 for a screen resolution of 640 x 480, 1 for 800 x 600, 2 for 1024 x 768, 3 for 1280 x 1024, 4 for 1440 x 900, and 5 for 1900 x 1200:

    cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\Virtualbox"

    VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode N

  4. Run the code in command prompt as admin

That should get the job done. If anything is unclear, check out the linked video.

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