Considerations for Resizing Displays in Linux Virtual Machines

Certain considerations apply to resizing displays in Linux virtual machines.

• If you have virtual machines that were suspended under a version of VMware Tools earlier than version 5.5, display resizing does not work until the virtual machines are powered off and powered on again. Rebooting the guest operating system is not sufficient.
• To use the resizing options, you must update VMware Tools to the latest version in the guest operating system.
• You cannot use the Autofit Guest and Fit Guest Now options unless VMware Tools is running in the guest operating system.

• The resizing restrictions that the X11 Windows system imposes on physical host systems also apply to guest operating systems.

  • You cannot resize to a mode that is not defined. The VMware Tools configuration script can add a large number of mode lines, but you cannot resize in 1-pixel increments as you can in Windows. VMware Tools adds modelines in 100-pixel increments. This means that you cannot resize a guest larger than the largest mode defined in the X11 configuration file. If you attempt to resize larger than that mode, a black border appears and the guest operating system size stops increasing.
  • The X server always starts up in the largest defined resolution. The XDM/KDM/GDM login screen always appears at the largest size. Because Gnome and KDE allow you to specify your preferred resolution, you can reduce the guest display size after you log in.