VirtualBox: have higher guest resolution than host resolution
Is there any way to have a guest machine have a huge resolution (like 3000x2000 or something) in VirtualBox? I'd like to be able to move around the desktop by scrolling around. It seems like it would be possible. Most importantly, I don't want the windows that are not currently being shown in the guest machine to think they are being hidden. I just want to support a very large virtual desktop.
Solution 1:
Yes it's possible. My old machine was only capable of 1024x768 as it was a 15" LCD. Fedora worked fine on max resolution under VirtualBox (much higher than 1024x768), albeit I had to scroll the window over a lot to view things.
I would think this has to do with VirtualBox somewhat emulating a graphics adapter using your existing video memory. You will see the adapter labeled "VirtualBox graphics adapter".
Solution 2:
I did not find a way to get a higher resolution on a Linux host with a Windows XP guest - using VirtualBox only.
What I did was the following:
- I started a virtual X server with a huge resolution:
xinit -- /usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -cc 4 -screen 0 4000x3000x16 - I made the virtual X server available via VNC:
x11vnc -display :1 - Connecting to VNC server:
xtightvncviewer localhost:1 - After connecting to the virtual X server, I started VirtualBox and my machine, and set it to fullscreen.
That way I can set the screen resolution as high as I need it.
About the use case:
We use proprietary software to make a photo book. It costs quite some money to get the book printed - and the software does not offer PDF export of course.
So to get multiple cheap copies, I could buy the photo book once, disassemble it, scan all pages and print them as often as I need them. Alternatively, I could set the virtual box screen resolution really high and make screenshots of each page and print them :)