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I have 64-bit Android 7.1.2, obtained from android-x86_64-7.1-rc1.iso. I installed it on VirtualBox (latest version, 5.1.2.8) with UEFI mode. (The host is 64-bit Linux Lubuntu 16.04.)

The installation all works fine apart from the fact that the screen is fixed at 1024×768. The various sizes given in the VirtualBox menu > View > Virtual Screen 1, which range from 640×480 to 1920×1200, are all greyed out.

I would like to be able to resize the Android screen, making it both smaller and larger, and even full-screen if possible. Sadly, the usual method, Guest Additions, isn't supported on Android.

I've tried following various instructions. The vast majority seem to be valid only for non-UEFI installations, although I tried them anyway. The only one for UEFI that I found doesn't work for me.

The methods that I have found include:

  • Issue the command:
    vboxmanage setextradata Android CustomVideoMode1 1152x864x32
    (this obviously would work only for that one resolution).

  • Adding various commands to Grub, either at boot or permanently in EFI/boot/grub/grub.cfg:

    • set gfxpayload=keep
    • set gfxpayload=1152x864x32
    • vga=ask
    • vga=834

I am at a total loss how to proceed. Can you help, please?

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1 Answer 1

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The following steps should resolve the issue, although I can't test on VirtualBox.

Temporarily:

  1. Upon booting the virtual machine, press F10 once the boot screen appears
  2. Press e to edit the boot command
  3. Navigate to the end of the last line and press Enter

  4. Press Tab to insert indentation, and type in:

    set gfxpayload=1440x900

The resulting boot command should now be:

setparams 'Android-x86 2017-12-16' search --set-root --file /android-2017-12-16/kernel linux /android-2017-12-16/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.s\ elinux=permissive buildvariant=userdebug initrd /android-2017-12-16/initrd.img set gfxpayload=1440x900

Of course, the actual kernel date and time, as well as the resolution you want to set, should differ.

Press either Ctrl + x, or F10, to boot.

Note that there is no need for the trailing x32 in the resolution value. But from my testing, it should work with it as well.


Permanently:

(needs root)

  1. From the Terminal Emulator, type in su to gain administrative privileges

  2. run the following commands:

    mkdir /mnt/boot mount /dev/block/vda1 /mnt/boot vi /mnt/boot/boot/grub/grub.cfg
  3. from the Vi editor, press i to enter Insert mode
  4. navigate to the end of the last line before the } symbol from the first section (should be line #7)
  5. press Enter and do Step 4 from the "Temporary" part of my answer
  6. Press Esc to exit Insert mode
  7. Type in :wq and press Enter to exit Vi

  8. Back in the terminal emulator, execute:

    umount /mnt/boot

    optionally, also execute rmdir /mnt/boot.

It's done.

Let me know what problems you were having, exactly, if possible. There is a chance that your virtual machine does not have enough Graphics Memory to support the resolution you want. Check this answer, also from me: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/160371/57668.

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  • Marc, thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I had already given up and reinstalled without UEFI. However, I had at the time already tried with the gxfpayload without success (there was something similar that I also tried, though I forget now what it was). It seemed that VirtualBox simply didn't support Android well. I read elsewhere that I should try a different package such as VMWare, but I wasn't going to learn a new package. Anyway, thank you for your effort and answer. Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 22:45
  • @PaddyLandau You're welcome, man. If I can also make a suggestion: in the future, consider giving virt-manager a try. It's a tool developed by RedHat and distributed freely, that makes creating, managing and using virtual machines very straightforward. I find it much simpler than VirtualBox, in all fairness. Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 1:07
  • With android 7.1,virt-manager and kvm-qemu with uefi..doesn't work,start only at 1024x768 Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 9:57

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