Problems after upgrading Whonix - cannot full size Whonix-Workstation screen

Support
1

I have been facing issues after i upgrade my whonix
With apt

  1. I cant full size my workstation screen (tried all methods mentioned in screen troubleshooting )
    2.) My Xfce Display panel not open it crash
1 Like
2

Update
After importing new verified .OVA images
I still have same problem , Not working full screen mode and xfce display setting is crashing when i try to open it and i unable to set any resolution (resize to ) from VM View menu. This is not working at all
My VB version is 6.1.8
And every thing was perfect before this release

3

You followed this: Kicksecure ™ in VirtualBox - Troubleshooting - Kicksecure ™ does not Start?
?

4

Yes i followed it
Still no success
Point is my xfce display setting is not opening and crashing in both upgrade and newly imported images …
All was fine before new update

5
  • What is your host operating system and version?
  • What is VirtualBox version?
6

What’s your host screen resolution? More than 1920 * 1080?

related change:
https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/blob/master/build-steps.d/2600_create-vbox-vm#L142-L151

Would be possible to undo that change. This command needs to be run on host.

VBoxManage setextradata Whonix-Gateway-XFCE GUI/LastGuestSizeHint

VBoxManage setextradata Whonix-Workstation-XFCE GUI/LastGuestSizeHint

On Windows running VBoxManage might be more complicated but should be doable. Search term:

Windows VBoxManage

7

Debian is host
1920 x 1080
Virtual Box 6.1.8

8

Maybe it wouldn’t happen with a lower resolution. Not suggesting this as a permanet fix but for debugging purposes.

I didn’t test that version yet. Maybe specific to that version. How did you install it?
Since that is not exactly trivial as per Missing dependencies on Buster for Virtualbox 6.1.6.

9

i am using 6.1.8 from VirtualBox official repo and before new point release everything was working perfectly smooth and fine on 6.1.8 , i can downgrade to 6.1.6 for testing purpose
now most weird thing for me is that xfce display settings inside VM is crashing and not opening even i tested on newly imported image also VM view resolution is not working and so is auto resize guest display

10

Try run from command line:

xfce4-display-settings

Any error messages?

11

user@host:~$ xfce4-display-settings
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

12

That’s something you can research / report to Debian and/or XFCE.

Meanwhile try xrandr (which is a bit difficult to use). Or try lxrandr

sudo apt install lxrandr

lxrandr
1 Like
13

Alright
And i am sure am not alone with these kind of bugs
Something break these things in new release … i will also test by downgrading guest_dkms to older version
Because newly import images also have same behavior and same happed with VMs i upgraded by APT …
Will report you back if i find something intersting

1 Like
14

Only one workaround yet i discover

In VirtualBox prefrence (not VM settings) set display to hint and add resultion 1920x1080

Boot workstation and it would work perfect in full screen mode (ctrl+f)
But guest auto resize wont work when u close full screen in maximise or any window positiin there would be scroll bar …

2 Likes
15

If we set VboxSvga though full screen resolution not work properly but xfce display setting starts work

16

UPDATE

in new whonix release virtualbox Guest Additions also get updated
virtualbox-guest-utils
virtualbox-guest-x11
virtualbox-guest-dkms
now problem is in 6.1.6* additions
whenever i downgrade to 6.1.4 it work great each and everything
and same when i upgrade to 6.1.8 everything is smooth
so problem is in 6.1.6 additions
@Patrick

2 Likes
17

same issue, the screen can’t be resized anymore (after the latest update)

18

Which same issue? Did you upgrade the VirtualBox host software and not upgrade the VirtualBox guest additions inside the VM?

19

I’ve tested even with virtual box software inside whonix repo, guest additions included in new upgrade are not working out of box for window resize (full screen) , Guest screen auto adjust , and xfce display setting crash , also with vm view menu we cant resize guest to any screen resolution

So concultion IMO is that problem is in guest additions (6.1.6) … so either upgrade guest additions or downgrade guest additions will solve all these problems

20

Guest additions from guest additions CD can cause issues as per: VirtualBox Guest Additions - #3 by anontor //cc @anontor

How did you install VirtualBox version 6.1.8 guest additions? Debian package or ISO / CD?

Creating a Debian backport package of VirtualBox version 6.1.8 guest additions for Debian buster hard as per:
Missing dependencies on Buster for Virtualbox 6.1.6 - #4 by Patrick