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After installing Ubuntu 14.04 guest on VirtualBox running on a Max OSX host, I am stuck with 640x480 screen resolution. Adding guest additions again doesn't help. Previous Ubuntu installations are fine with bigger resolution. The 'Detect Displays' button on the 'Display Settings' Settings screen is not reachable, because 640x480 is too small. I could not find a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to configure manually.

Wilf
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user271956
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    Could the persons marking questions as duplicate indicate a duplicate of what so that we can click to the answer instead of starting a new search. – Papou May 20 '16 at 00:40
  • in VirtualBox, click View>Scaled Mode... – T.Todua Jan 17 '17 at 13:30

2 Answers2

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Independently of your installed version of VirtualBox you should install the latest version of the VirtualBox Guest Additions into your Ubuntu-Guest. You can get it from the Ubuntu-Software-Repository.

Startup your guest and hit Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal session. Type

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms

to install the latest package. Restart the VM and enjoy screen-size.

hmayag
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shylynx
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    Thanks so much for Ctrl-Alt-T - I couldn't even get a window up! – Casebash May 07 '14 at 03:38
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    This solution worked for me. I am using Windows 7 64bits as host. – Ricidleiv Tondatto Jul 23 '14 at 20:09
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    so awesome! I downloaded the guest additions .iso and it didn't work, but installing from command line worked like a charm. Thanks so much! – carter Jul 25 '14 at 02:51
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    You should install the guest additions shipped with the VirtualBox in Tools/Install Guest additions. – Calmarius Aug 20 '14 at 13:57
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    @Calmarius: No, you shouldn't use the shipped additions in Linux guests, because they may have incompatiblities with your guest. Thats why you should always use the latest additions, that are offered by the software repository of your guest system. – shylynx Aug 21 '14 at 10:50
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    For me, Ctrl+Alt+T didn't work so I had to change the tty to get command line access: Right Ctrl (Host key) + F2 – allejo Mar 18 '15 at 15:23
  • This is the stuff I forget after not installing a virtual machine for five or so years. Win 7 was fairly new then and I now remember the 4X3 display before installing the guest additions. On the other hand, my USB devices are seen with none of the fuss I went through last year. – Christopher Apr 10 '15 at 16:37
  • After running that command on a fresh Ubuntu 14.04 install and rebooting my VM I get a distorted screen (http://i67.tinypic.com/2dgvt37.png). Any ideas? – pbond Nov 10 '15 at 18:49
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    Remember that you would need to run " sudo apt-get update" before you are able to run "sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms". – Anders Larsen Dec 07 '15 at 09:56
  • Thank you very much now i have a useless installation with the host guest package instead of just a useless installation – user2436758 Mar 23 '16 at 11:39
  • If you can't get to Ctrl+Alt+T, you can also drop to TTY via Ctrl+Alt+F1. Log in again on the command line, and proceed as in a normal terminal. – CodeMouse92 Apr 23 '16 at 15:41
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    This didn't work for me at all. Ubuntu 14.04 on Ubuntu 14.04 VirtualBox. – Rafael_Espericueta May 15 '16 at 17:20
  • As @Calmarius said, you shouldn't use the Ubuntu repository Guest additions, as they may not work with VirtualBox. Use the guest additions supplied from VB itself. –  May 04 '17 at 13:08
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Just had exaclty the same problem with Ubuntu 14.04 on Windows 7 VirtualBox. I've updated to latest version of Virtualbox (4.3.10 r93012) and it now works correctly. Make sure to install the latest version of Guest Additions (v4.3.10 at the moment).

Stéphane
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