Getting 1920x1080 resolution or 16:9 aspect ratio on Ubuntu or Linux Mint

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?

Solution 1:

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.

Solution 2:

@InvalidBrainException's answer is perfect. 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

Solution 3:

@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!