I am currently using VirtualBox to run a Fedora 15 VM. While changing my settings, I allocated 128MB of video memory, as well as enabling 3D acceleration.
Is there any way to assign more video memory? If not, why is it limited to 128MB?
I am currently using VirtualBox to run a Fedora 15 VM. While changing my settings, I allocated 128MB of video memory, as well as enabling 3D acceleration.
Is there any way to assign more video memory? If not, why is it limited to 128MB?
You can do it from the command line. This example will increase the video memory to 256MB:
<~> $ vbm showvminfo WinXP-SP3 | grep VRAM
VRAM size: 128MB
<~> $ vbm modifyvm WinXP-SP3 --vram 256
<~> $ vbm showvminfo WinXP-SP3 | grep VRAM
VRAM size: 256MB
Note:vbm
is actually an abbreviation for vboxmanage
.
vbm
is an alias for vboxmanage
, so you either need to create this alias or just replace vbm
with vboxmanage
in the above commands.
Apr 21, 2014 at 2:41
The upper limit provided by VirtualBox is 256Mb, regardless of the capability of your host hardware/GPU.
For example running:
vboxmanage modifyvm MyVMBoxName --vram 1024
Gives this error:
VBoxManage: error: Invalid VRAM size: 1024 MB (must be in range [1, 256] MB)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057), component SessionMachine, interface IMachine, callee nsISupports
Context: "COMSETTER(VRAMSize)(ValueUnion.u32)" at line 417 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp
Would be great if there was a way to assign more video memory to a VM as my Win7 use is pretty extensive e.g. for Photoshop.
go to your virtual machine display properties and put monitor count at max; this will also give you the max ceiling for video memory just above it. go on and move your slider for video memory all the way to max and ok it. start your virtual machine. let your virtual machine run for a few minutes then shut it down. go back into the virtual machine display properties and bring monitor count back down to one. video memory will remain at max level from now on.
Alternatively (if you are using mac),
1) in virtualbox, right click on the VM -> showinfinder
2) edit the xxxxxxx.vbox file with an editor
3) scroll down to the line
... Display VRAMSize="128" monitorCount="1" accelerate3D="true" accelerate2DVideo="false"/>
4) change the value to 256
... Display VRAMSize="256" monitorCount="1" accelerate3D="true" accelerate2DVideo="false"/>
and save.
Note: Remember to backup /clone your current image for safety. As above try to set within 256 mb. And finally do not run this while your VM is running. :) good luck.
PC should be similar, you just have to find the vbox file.