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I am running Ubuntu and Linux Mint in VMWare. In the display settings, none of the 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions are available, including the commonly used 1920x1080 resolution. How can I enable this?

li ki
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InvalidBrainException
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6 Answers6

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Enter the following commands in a terminal to enable 1920x1080 resolution:

xrandr --newmode "1920x1080"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode Virtual1 1920x1080
xrandr --output Virtual1 --mode 1920x1080

This will set your display resolution to 1920x1080 and also enable several other 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions in the display settings.

Remember that you may have to enable full screen mode in VMWare before these resolutions become selectable.

InvalidBrainException
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  • I was having this problem and found the solution on this webpage: http://www.techsfo.com/blog/2013/07/1920x1080-ubuntu-vmware/ I'm sharing this question and answer because it seems to be a frequent problem experienced by people running any kind of Linux distribution in a virtual machine. I really don't understand how the command works, so if someone would be willing to explain what the various numbers mean (besides the obvious resolution dimensions) that would be most welcome. – InvalidBrainException May 25 '14 at 05:19
  • Hi Brain, what should be done for 1366x768 resolution ? – Rajasekhar Feb 05 '15 at 06:39
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    Worth noting that you should identify your display first, using `xrandr`. Mine is `VBOX0` instead of `Virtual1`. – Tass May 04 '15 at 20:56
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    It worked! I could kiss you :) – Manu Oct 04 '15 at 11:08
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    Oh. It goes back to a small resolution after a restart :( – Manu Oct 04 '15 at 11:24
  • As Manu mentioned, these changes are lost when you reboot the machine, however, here is a blog post that explains how to update a config file to persist these changes even after a reboot: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/877 – MattSlay Jul 04 '16 at 05:07
  • As tobibeer suggested in another answer, and as an alternative to changing the config files as I commented above, I saved these 3 lines to a shell script (1920x1080.sh), made it executable, and each time I boot up I go to a terminal window and run "sudo bash 1920X1080.sh" and it sets the resolution perfectly. – MattSlay Jul 04 '16 at 06:08
  • I met a `X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist)` error, and according to this: http://stackoverflow.com/a/3414850 , I changed the mode name, 1920x1080 -> 1920*1080, then it works, for example, the first command is `xrandr --newmode "1920*1080" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync` . – simomo Mar 29 '17 at 15:28
  • This worked for me 2020-11-11 on Zorin OS Core 15.3 (Ubuntu base) under VMware Workstation 15. – Dawn Benton Nov 11 '20 at 05:11
  • Above commands failed for me, any tips? X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes) Major opcode of failed request: 141 (RANDR) Minor opcode of failed request: 7 (RRSetScreenSize) Serial number of failed request: 56 Current serial number in output stream: 57 – Piotr Dajlido Apr 17 '23 at 12:44
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@InvalidBrainException's answer is great. In addition, in order to it make it permanent and prevent running commands on each restart, you can write the following configs into file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Virtual1"
    Modeline "p1920x1080"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
    Option "PreferredMode" "p1920x1080"
EndSection
mhsekhavat
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@mhsekhavat Years later... Ubuntu 20.04 on vbox 6.1.

  1. Stick the 10-monitor.conf in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/
  2. Reboot
  3. 1920 x 1080 should now be available in the Ubuntu Settings > Screen Display
  4. Select it and Apply and Keep Changes

Now on reboot it should remember!

kmchmk
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Praz01
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0

Running Ubuntu in VirtualBox, I had this issue, and the issue with the resolution being forgotten on restart (reported elsewhere). Both issues were fixed for me by following method 2 in:

https://linuxhint.com/change-resolution-of-a-linux-vm-in-virtualbox/

In summary it says that after installing dkms you should "insert" and run the host specific Guest Additions CD image then restart.

dmon
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Try this on Virtualbox:

sudo cvt 1920 1080 60    
sudo xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
sudo xrandr --addmode Virtual1 1920x1080_60.00
tripleee
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Adnan Zaheer
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You can take the script from InvalidBrainException and...

  • create a 1920x1080.sh file
  • make it executable
  • add it as a startup script so that it is run on system startup

Otherwise you'll have to run these lines after each startup manually.

Community
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tobibeer
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