Virtualized Linux Screen Resolution Issues Solved in Ubuntu 8.04
July 11th, 2008 | 
Author: 
It’s good to see more and more of the various Linux distributions prepackage enhancements that benefit the operating system when running in virtual machines. This also makes life a whole lot easier for the administrator configuring the virtualized OS. Building VMs is already fast in comparison to physical servers, but having to take the time to modify config files to get a usable screen resolution can get on your nerves real quick! Anyone who has ever built a Linux VM over the past several years has most likely experienced Xorg (screen resolution) problems and knows what I am talking about.
Today, thanks to VMware making a large part of the Linux version of the VMware Tools open source, the latest distribution of Ubuntu (8.04 or Hardy Heron) includes the xserver-xorg-video-vmware package in it’s core installation. Hopefully the other popular distributions are doing the same. Frankly, I haven’t had the chance to explore CentOS, Fedora or Red Hat, but recent announcements seem to indicate that the same virtulized enhancements are taking place for those distros too.
So, what this means is that you
no longer have to live with a 640×480 resolution just after OS installation and before installing VMware Tools. Previously, you would have to had to install the VMware Tools (a task by itself) in order to pick a higher screen resolution and then restart the X server. Depending on the distribution, you could then have had to add the VMware monitor to the xorg.conf file.
I was pleasantly surprised when the Ubuntu VM I had just installed had higher screen resolutions to pick from right from initial installation. I even debated skipping the tools install because it was running on VMware Server, but I decided to go ahead and install the tools too.
BTW, installation of VMware Tools on Ubuntu 8.04 is a breeze too. Just be sure to install some necesary packages first running the following console command:
#sudo apt-get install binutils, gcc, make, g++
I’m not 100% sure you need the g++ package, but I started including it a couple months ago and now I don’t remember why ….
I wonder why those packages can’t be included in the core installation too?
Related Posts
Posted in linux, vmtools, vmware | 
Tags: linux, ubuntu, virtualization, virtualmachine, vmware, vmware tools
Pingback: Ubuntu 8.04 as guest to Win 7 RC1, resolution locked at 800x600 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net