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

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

Try run from command line:

xfce4-display-settings

Any error messages?

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

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
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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

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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 …

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am also unable to use fullscreen anymore but more importantly after my first run of the workstation it upgraded my browser which I am now unable to launch. Anyone else?

Edit: Fixed by running update-torbrowser in cli and selecting version.

  • What is your host operating system and version?
  • What is your VirtualBox host software version?
  • What is your VirtualBox inside VM guest additions software version?

See also (written just now):
General VirtualBox Troubleshooting Steps

Thank you for your workaround. With it, I was able to display my workstation in 1920x1080 now. Full screen and Scaled Mode work as expected now. However, I am still unable to run the “Display” app within Whonix workstation. When I click on it, it just flashes very quickly and disappears (crashes)? Because I am able to display the desired resolution already, I don’t have a need to run the “Display” app anymore. But in the future, I am sure I will need it. Anyone knows the cause of the crash of the “Display” app? Thanks. The versions of my software are listed below.

Virtual Box Version 6.1.12 r139181 (Qt5.6.2) running on Windows 10 Version 10.0.19041.388.
Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster), XFCE 4.12 (all came preinstalled with the whonix distribution I downloaded from whonix website today 8/2/2020).

Please refer to this post: Problems after upgrading Whonix - cannot full size Whonix-Workstation screen - #10 by Patrick

Below is the error:

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

I can’t run xrandr either. When I type in the Start menu, I get “Run xrandr” . I click on it and nothing happens. However, lxrandr works.

Same answer applies:
Problems after upgrading Whonix - cannot full size Whonix-Workstation screen - #12 by Patrick

Please report to upstream and post link here for reference.

That’s expected. That’s not how you can start an terminal application.

Simplified: You need to open a terminal emulator. See:
Software Recommendations

A post was split to a new topic: stremio media center does not start

Hello guys;
The Virtualbox issue comes up around here from time to time. I have had exactly the same issues at one time or another with the screen size. Through some experimentation and a deep dive into Virtualbox, these are some common ways to mitigate the screen issues:

  1. have a recent kernel. Whonix takes care of this so just make sure to have a fully updated Whonix system.
  2. Don’t fiddle with the guest additions. It comes already installed in Whonix. If you have a guest additions iso on your host, do not use it.
  3. Graphics. Always try to use VMSVGA. This is the ‘recommended’ choice from virtualbox. The others are really there for systems that cannot accomodate vmsvga.
  4. Ram. Have enough allocated to your workstation. 2gb or more works well.
  5. On your host, please make sure that the version of Virtualbox running is not too far away from the version of the Whonix guest additions. In other words, if guest additions are 6.1.x, do not have your host use 6.0.x.
  6. Keep your host’s Virtualbox up to date. Sometimes small changes are pushed and if you do not update, it will cause a conflict.

For reference, here is what i am running:
Debian Buster Host. kernel 4.19.0-10
Virtualbox version 6.1.12 (from oracle website)
Host graphics are intel. Virtualbox graphics is VMSVGA.
(Sometimes, when the screen would not size correctly in past versions, I would restart the virtual machine and re-size to fullscreen early before it finishes booting. This seemed to fix the issue)
With the current Virtualbox listed above and all the specs and also with a full updated Whonix, I have no problems with screen. (1920x1080 by the way)

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