How do I unmaximize full screen view in virt-manager?

Question

After activating full screen view for a virtual machine in virt-manager there is no obvious way to un-full screen. Any ideas?

score 92 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 17 '12 at 18:01

92

Neither of the existing answers worked for me when running a VM in fullscreen using 12.04.

If you look at the top center of the screen, you can see a little sliver of white. Hover the mouse over that sliver and it will reveal two icons: an "unfullscreen" on the left, and a "send key combo" on the right. You may have to ungrab by pressing Ctrl-Alt momentarily before it will come up. Click the "unfullscreen" to get back to a windowed view.

edited Sep 17 '12 at 18:01

John S Gruber

13,336

answered May 09 '12 at 15:47

bstpierre

2,086

In 16.04 the problem with the invisible/unreachable "unfullscreen" icon can be solved by switching the display to spice. This fixes the bug for me. – jerico Jun 11 '17 at 16:44
1

pkill virt-manager helps me not having to remember the shortcat. – pevik Jan 12 '22 at 13:09
In case the host OS is also accessed by VNC, then the VNC also has a white line/menu at the top middle exactly at the same place where the KVM is placing the 2 icons. Move the mouse on the are while pressing the Ctrl+Alt. – Gabor Jul 13 '23 at 06:35

score 49 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 10 '13 at 19:12

49

Ctrl+Alt+F Is the toggle switch for the top center menu bar.

If you see no menu bar in the top center after a slight over

Toggle it on with

Ctrl+Alt+F

And try again

edited Feb 10 '13 at 19:12

Seth

58,122

answered Feb 10 '13 at 18:34

blitherbla

491

2

I tried every "solution" and this is the only one that works for me. The key combo toggles fullscreen mode outright, not the menu bar. I'm using raw qemu v2.10.50 (git) with the built-in gtk3 GUI and -vga virtio -display gtk,gl=on. – CR. Oct 27 '17 at 12:54
2

confirmed for qemu (it's actually hinted on View menu items) – Jul 02 '18 at 06:24

score 37 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:51

37

When in full screen mode, hit Ctrl+Alt to 'unhinge' the mouse and move the mouse to the top-middle of the screen. A little applet drops down to allow you to leave full screen and send key-combinations.

edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:51

hmayag

2,246
5
21
23

answered Jan 10 '14 at 21:05

kvm-user420

597
5
5

It also works on RedHat 6. – Ivan Chau Apr 24 '14 at 03:44
1

Also try [Ctrl] + [Alt], then [Alt] + [spacebar], then select 'Leave Fullscreen' either with keyboard arrow keys or mouse. Works in XFCE4. – maratbn Feb 07 '23 at 05:43

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 09 '11 at 22:37

12

Alt+F10 or Alt+drag down with your mouse.

edited Jun 09 '11 at 22:37

Jorge Castro

71,754

answered Jun 09 '11 at 21:28

boxo

184

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 11 '16 at 08:17

4

Had the same problem with osx today. I found out that if you hover the mouse in the top middle of the screen where the white bar is supposed to be, even though it doesn't show up long enough to actually click on it, you can use ctrl+alt+arrow keys to move to other workspaces while the mouse is there.

answered Feb 11 '16 at 08:17

Izak

41

1

Same for Ubuntu 16.04 with Compiz and Multi Screens. The small bar does not show up, sometimes only some white flash can be spotted for a microsecond, if contrast permits. The sad thing is: It only pops out when the mouse hits the border. However the buttons are a bit lower, so moving the mouse along the top while clicking does not work. So you have to: Find the middle. Bump the mouse against the top border. Move the mouse down at least 2 pixels. Click there, blindly. If you hit the invisible left button you leave fullscreen, on the right one a dropdown with the special keys is shown. – Tino Aug 07 '16 at 09:34
In 16.04 this problem is solved in the spice viewer. – jerico Jun 11 '17 at 16:45

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 10 '16 at 03:46

3

I just put the mouse in the top centre to of the screen and a toolbar with exit fullscreen appears. Running fedora 23 with gnome

Hope tis helps.

answered Apr 10 '16 at 03:46

Dean

31

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 05 '23 at 02:06

2023 Update :

Running Virtual Machine Manager ( v4.0.0 ) with qemu ( v6.2 ) and kernel 6.0.12 on a Pop!_OS 22.04 Box.

DID NOT WORK -> The Key Combos mentioned above

WORKING -> To exit fullscreen, move the mouse to the top-center of the screen and a small menu drops out and there is an icon to exit fullscreen.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 16 '13 at 09:56

It don't seems there is any keywords set for this action and on Kubuntu 12.04 (KDE 4.9.5), none of given keyboard shortcuts worked for me.

Trick to make the Thin-bar pop-out

If you struggle to make the tiny toolbar pop-out, here is a how to do it :

focus another windows (click it) ;
then hover the thin-toolbar ;
click when it pop-out

If virt-manager has the focus, I can't get the toolbar to show up.

Roadmap

The full-screen issue should be addressed in the coming release as state on the project roadmap :

Proper fullscreen mode -- Currently the VNC fullscreen mode leaves a menu bar at the top of the screen which sucks for numerous reasons. It would be great if we could use the hiding toolbar 'autoshelf' widget in use by apps like eog and vinagre. Not sure how to best integrate it, maybe a port to python?

In Ubuntu 17.04, I can press my trigger key to escape the guest OS, then press the left alt key, and then type in + search the menu that I can't click on for the "fullscreen" option. This makes it exit fullscreen for me with SPICE. — starbeamrainbowlabs, Jul 02 '17 at 14:41

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Oct 23 '13 at 12:36

1

I use Fluxbox window manager when dealing with VMs on my workstation. In order to keep things simple, I run one VM per virtual desktop. Now with a Ctrl+Alt to leave vm focus, and a Ctrl+F1 through F12 I can switch desktops. From here I can close things and reopen things as needed. I don't run Compiz.

edited Oct 23 '13 at 12:36

karel

114,770

answered Oct 22 '13 at 20:48

jeremy anderson

11

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 24 '13 at 15:32

If compiz settings include the grid plugin settings, then the white bar doesn't slide down. So what I had to do was use one of the "grid plugin" hotkeys like "<Alt><NumKP3>" to get a smaller window. Then, hovering over the bar allowed me to use the bar to click the button to exit fullscreen.

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 03 '15 at 14:51

0

Shift + F11 work for me I use spicec

answered Jun 03 '15 at 14:51

pazel1374

659
6
16

1

Thanks! Shift+F12 worked for me (i3 and spicy) – Neil Stockbridge Aug 31 '20 at 21:27

How do I unmaximize full screen view in virt-manager?

11 Answers11

Trick to make the Thin-bar pop-out

Roadmap

Linked