virtualbox 5.0.14 linux host failed seamless mode with windows 10 guest

[matthewls]

Windows 10.0.10586 guests run perfectly well in windowed and full screen modes but not in seamless mode. The command to enter seamless works, but after the window disappears as if entering seamless mode, it switches to one similar to full screen with a transparent band at the top showing the Linux desktop. Windows 7 works perfectly in all modes. I've observed the same behavior in every release of VB5 and W10 I've tried starting at 5.0.1. I've tried changing compositing between OpenGL and Xrender on the host, enabling and disabling 3D and 2D on the guest, nothing helps.

This may not be a critical bug, but it keeps me using w7 guests for real work--seamless mode is key.

The host runs an AMD-FX-9370 CPU, GeForce GTX 960, 32GB RAM, NVidia 361.18 drivers, Linux kernel 4.4, Mint 17.3 KDE with X server 1.17.1.

I've attached the latest log showing startup and switches between modes.

[matthewls]

log file

[Frank Mehnert]

There was a related fix in VBox 5.0.16. Could you upgrade to this version and check if the problem is still present?

[matthewls]

In VBox 5.0.16, windows 10.0.10240: With 3D and 2D enabled, choosing seamless mode switches instead to full screen, returning to windowed works, but trying to switch again to seamless kills the machine.W/o 3D and 2D, no seamless occurs and again the full screen mode appears instead. The only change is that the w10 desktop doesn't disappear at all.

If w10pro 1511,10586 update installs, I'll test again.

[matthewls]

w10pro 1511,10586 did install, and the same issue--no seamless mode.

[motoridersd]

Same here. W10pro 1511, 10586. Fresh install, running Virtualbox 5.0.18 with Guest Additions and 5.0.18 Extension Pack. Same behavior as reported by everyone else.

[Walter Lapchynski]

I have no such problems in Windows 10 Pro Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.318) 64-bit guest with Kubuntu 16.04 64-bit host and VirtualBox 5.0.20-106931~Ubuntu~xenial from the Oracle repos (these are the only versions actually supported by VirtualBox, FYI). Previously, I was using 5.0.18-dfsg-2build1 from the Canonical repos and had the aforementioned problem.

I will say that sometimes seamless mode acts a little funky when it comes to non-regular Windows, including the start menu. By funky, I mean that they often do not display (and e.g. the taskbar will disappear, too) and require seamless mode to be restarted. Clicking on a regular window can fix it, too.

[Walter Lapchynski]

Actually now on a larger monitor I have some surprising new experiences. Now with "Auto-resize guest" checked, everything looks fine, until I maximize the window. At that point, the guest does not fill the entire window. Interestingly, if I go into seamless mode from there, seamless mode occupies that exact same area. The only way this can be resolved is by forcing Windows to use a higher resolution, but then in reboots, it doesn't retain it. At no time, regardless of what happens, does the guest desktop disappear. So I guess there's still problems.

[Walter Lapchynski]

VBox log -- see comment 6

[codelogic]

I also have this problem describe in the original report using several versions of VirtualBox including the Oracle supported (VirtualBox Version 5.1.0). If anyone finds a work around please post.

Host OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS uname -a: Linux spider 4.4.0-31-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 13 00:07:12 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux Guest OS: Windows 10 CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ CPU @ 2.40GHz × 8 Graphics: GeForce GTX 860M/PCIe/SSE2 Memory: 15.6 GiB

[Walter Lapchynski]

There has been discussion of this issue on the ​forum, which includes lots of visual displays of what the problem is.

[skidvd]

I'm experiencing the exact same issue as originally posted with VB 5.026 r108824 and win 10 (64 bit).

[Walter Lapchynski]

I can confirm the issue persists with VirtualBox 5.026 r108824 running on an Ubuntu 64 bit 14.04 host with a 4.4.0.28.30 kernel (I've got .31.33 but haven't rebooted) and Windows 64 bit 10.0.10586 (you can get that by running ver, winver, systeminfo, or simply opening the command prompt).

To be clear, though there are other issues described in this bug and on the forum, the primary bug is that in seamless mode, the guest desktop does not disappear. In other words, it's not as seamless as before. The guest windows do not appear to share the same environment as the host desktop, but continue to appear to be restrained to the guest desktop, which is clearly separate from the host desktop. The guest desktop does appear "full screen" in the sense that it lacks the menu bar or window decorations, but is not like putting an app like your browser in full screen where it covers the entirety of the screen. It is drawn within the bounds of available desktop space, not including the panel. This is expected behavior for seamless mode. What's not expected is the guest desktop appearing.

It's apparent from the forum that this behavior is not entirely clear, so I hope it clears things up. As I said there, you can easily and freely download the Windows 10 ISO and test this out. It's fully usable except for personalization needs that are irrelevant to the purposes of testing.

I'd really recommend the OP or some triager modify the summary/description to make this more clear to developers.

[kokolorentz]

Another a "me too" post... Host: Win7 64bit Guest: Win10 32bit and Win10 64bit. Virtualbox Version: 5.1.20

Seamless mode still not working. This issue now exists since almost 2 years! See also https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/14493

Will this issue ever be fixed? It makes using the current Windows Version as guest almost useless - so not really unimportant! :(

[Frank Mehnert]

Replying to kokolorentz:

Will this issue ever be fixed? It makes using the current Windows Version as guest almost useless - so not really unimportant!

Well, Windows 10 guests work very well, just not in seamless mode.

[Simon Coleman]

True for me with: Win10 Host, V 5.0.22, extension pack installed, multiple monitors (3x) All guests have the current (5.0.22) guest additions installed.

Win XP & Win7 64 bit: Seamless works well

Ubuntu 16.04 guest with Unity session switched for Gnome : Seamless windows work, but some desktop problems exist. Non-window content is only rendered on top of an existing window, so you either put up with a peculiar viewport or are required to have a maximised window. The menubar at the top that contains task icons (network/power/time etc) is not displayed, although space for them are reserved at the top of the monitor. [I have yet to check whether udating to 17.04 & gnome >3.20 changes this]

Win10 Guest: Seamless doesn't work correctly at all. Behaviour looks identical to windowed+maximised. When any window in the guest is selected then the whole of the guest display comes to the foreground, overlying all other host/guest windows on the host monitor. There is no window interleaving between different machines.

simon

[Pmorch]

This is important to us, because it's no longer possible to buy any versions of Windows older than Windows 10.

The implication is, that it is no longer possible to run Windows in seamless mode in Virtualbox legally on new installations.

[David Biesack]

seamless is working for me with the latest virtualbox 5.1.22_115126_el7-1 on Linux host (CentOS 7.3) running Windows 10 (with latest updates, latest vbox guest additions). It was not working initially, but works after updating everything/rebooting the guest. Some things do not work well - Start menu or notifications area Action Center (unless there is another seamless window under those popup areas). I do not see the window selection behavior problem simonc reported (comment 13)

[David Biesack]

Replying to my previous comment:

... sadly, today it is no longer working -- seamless is not seamless (I get the full desktop, taskbar, etc.) It renders just like fullscreen. oh well.

[michaelkourlas]

I'm seeing this with VirtualBox 5.1.26 on Fedora 26 with a Windows 10 guest. Part of the guest desktop is still visible when using seamless mode.

[samholmes]

I'm also seeing this issue with the following environment:

• Arch Linux host and Windows 10 guest (both fully updated)
• VirtualBox 5.2.2 r119230 (both client and guest utils)
• Gnome 3.26.1 with Xorg
• Both 2D & 3D acceleration disabled for the Windows 10 VM

The seamless mode renders as full screen within the confines of the gnome desktop (not hiding the gnome user interface controls) half of the times I've tried, and then renders a small square part of the destkop on the top left of the display with a thin strip of the desktop on the entire top of the display (about 50px) the other half of the time. When I attempt to drag a window when some of the desktop background is shown, the bounding box for the window that clips it does follow along with the window, but not perfectly and there is a large area around the bounding box that is not perfectly matched.

This issue has been this way for so long, Is there any word on when it's getting fixed or any progress because, as Pmorch said, we can only use Windows 10 legally on our VM's and it's frustrating that my (and a lot of others) favourite mode of use is buggy to the point of being unusable.

[Walter Lapchynski]

A recent fix to seamless got me excited, but it seems like the same issue with 5.2.7 r120822. At first it seemed like it worked right but when I tried to capture it, it is stuck in the same behavior of having the desktop cover the entire screen. Other windows act as if it's windowed and maximized, as previously described.

[FiX Kowalski]

I'm also seeing this issue with the following environment:

• Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS host and Windows 10 guest (both fully updated)
• VirtualBox 5.1.32 r120294 (Qt5.5.1) (both client and guest utils)

[685o9xn]

This issue is still happening, exactly as described in the original post, even on a fresh install. Here is the environment:

• Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS (host)
• Windows 10 (guest)
• VirtualBox 5.2.10_Ubuntu r121806

Host system has an NVIDIA graphics card with the proprietary drivers loaded. This issue is prohibiting me from using VirtualBox seamless mode, and therefore is decreasing the helpfulness of the program significantly.

[Socratis]

I have to point to two things:

1. The current state of "3D support for X11 guests".
2. The fact that the developers are working on a new 3D subsystem. There is no ETA at the moment.

So, it seems to me you'll have to be either a little bit patient until the new graphics engine lands, or lower your expectations and avoid seamless mode at the moment. Or, alternatively, provide the fixes in the code yourselves.

[kokolorentz]

"you'll have to be either a little bit patient" This is funny - this issue now exists since 3 years! :-)

For some people (definitely for me) it makes Virtualbox quite useless, since I have to combine different vm's simultaniously - using windows of different vm's beside each other.

Since I'm giving up my hope with Virtualbox, can somebody recommend another VM engine, which is capable of win10 guests in seamless mode?

Thanks!

[MyCatsNameIsBernie]

I have this identical problem with a Mac OS host running VirtualBox 6.0.0. It is not unique to Linux hosts.

[janitor]

Xref #18022

[Socratis]

Xref #17922

[bonnie_clyde]

sub

[DarthChowder]

I am also running a windows 10 virtual machine on mac OS and still seeing the issue with seamless. Had I realized this issue prior to installing I probably would not have recommended this option for the user I was doing this for. I think that this will make thing maybe a little too complex for their experience level.

How can we get this issue exposure and attention to be fixed?

[LongShanks]

Sorry for the "Me too!" but...

• VirtualBox: 6.0.4r128413
• Host: Windows 10 Enterprise
• Guest: Windows 10 Enterprise

Also seeing the graphical issues when trying seamless mode. Have tried with 3D on/off, and all graphics controllers. Nothing seems to resolve it.

A KDE Neon guest on the same set-up works flawlessly.

[sbnwl]

Sorry, the issue is still NOT resolved.

I am running VM Virtualbox 6.0.4 r128413 (Qt5.9.5) on Linux host (Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS).

The seamless mode with Windows 10 guest has the problem that the Windows desktop background covers all the host Linux apps as soon as I open any windows app, for example, the File Explorer in Windows.

Will this ever be resolved?

[jaysoncopes]

Same problem with macOS v10.14.3 host running Windows 10 Education on VM Virtualbox 6.0.4 r128413.

Seamless mode simply creates a new desktop with the VM in the foreground as fullscreen without a Virtualbox GUI.

Not expecting this to get resolved quickly, just wanted to add to the conversation.

Does the macOS version of this bug need to have its own ticket opened?

[Socratis]

Replying to jaysoncopes:

Not expecting this to get resolved quickly, just wanted to add to the conversation.

Yeah, like it didn't have enough comments already! :D
The real reason why you'd need to add a comment is so that you get notified for any changes / follow the ticket, a noble and desired reason!

Does the macOS version of this bug need to have its own ticket opened?

No, not really. It's going to be closed as a duplicate, because the root cause isn't on the host, the root cause is on the guest.

Now... having said all that, can you try with the latest Testbuilds? This is an aspect of VirtualBox that I'm not using at all, I was simply confirming the issue. But...

• 5.2.27 r129666 with the only option works.
• 6.0.5 r129665 with VBoxVGA (the old one) works.
• 6.0.5 r129665 with VBoxSVGA (the new one) works.
• 6.0.97 r129664 with VBoxVGA (the old one) works.
• 6.0.97 r129664 with VBoxSVGA (the new one) works.

Maybe you should all try the new versions? There has been some work going on in the vGPUs front and the issue may have already been addressed.

[Aimless]

6.0.6 is out - Has anyone had any luck with that ? (I'm not in a position to test myself atm)

[Socratis]

@Aimless,

If you see the comment just above yours, it works with 6.0.5 r129665 with VBoxVGA and VBoxSVGA. So, if 6.0.6 got released, you can be 99.999% certain that it works.

Give it a shot, you will eventually, so why not upgrade, test it and let everyone know? I already did go out of my way to test everything 2 weeks ago, I don't have the time now.

[Walter Lapchynski]

I'm on Ubuntu 16.04 with 6.0.6 r130049 (Qt 5.6.1) and here's what I find:

controller	acceleration	result	notes
VBoxSVGA	2D+3D	fail	desktop occupies area around the window
VBoxVGA	2D+3D	fail	nothing displayed at all!
VMSVGA	2D+3D	fail	nothing displayed at all!
VBoxSVGA	none	fail	desktop occupies area around the window
VBoxVGA	none	fail	desktop occupies area around the window
VMSVGA	none	fail	nothing displayed at all!

I could do tests with 2D and 3D acceleration separately but that might be superfluous. Point being, don't work.

Maybe Qt version is playing into it somehow? 16.04 doesn't come with anything higher than 5.5.1, which is what I'm running.

[Socratis]

@wxl

A "VBox.log" is needed. Maybe we can find out what the Guest is...

[Walter Lapchynski]

@socratis

Here's what I get in the log switching to seamless and then back to normal in VBoxSVGA with no acceleration:

01:10:14.655991 GUI: UIMultiScreenLayout::update: GUI/AutomountGuestScreens is disabled
01:10:14.739976 GUI: UIMachineWindowSeamless::placeOnScreen: Resize window: 0 to smaller size: 1728x941
01:10:14.740003 GUI: UIMachineWindowSeamless::placeOnScreen: Move window: 0 to: 0x48
01:10:14.775863 GUI: UIMachineViewSeamless::adjustGuestScreenSize: Adjust guest-screen size if necessary.
01:10:14.775890 GUI: UIMachineView::sltPerformGuestResize: Sending guest size-hint to screen 0 as 1920x1045 if necessary
01:10:14.775925 VMMDev: SetVideoModeHint: Got a video mode hint (1920x1045x32)@(0x0),(1;0) at 0
01:10:14.776558 VMMDev: Guest Log: Got multi resize request 1 displays
01:10:14.776647 VMMDev: Guest Log: [0]: 0 0x39 0,0 1920x1045 32
01:10:14.783057 Display::i_handleDisplayResize: uScreenId=0 pvVRAM=00007f7b34000000 w=1920 h=1045 bpp=32 cbLine=0x1E00 flags=0x1 origin=0,0
01:10:14.799791 GUI: Show mini-toolbar for window #0
01:10:14.799814 GUI: Adjust mini-toolbar for window #0
01:10:14.820565 GUI:  Resize mini-toolbar for window #0 to smaller size 1728x941
01:10:14.820590 GUI:  Move mini-toolbar for window #0 to 0x48
01:10:16.461316 GUI: Show mini-toolbar for window #0
01:10:16.461347 GUI: Adjust mini-toolbar for window #0
01:11:29.093566 GUI: UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration finished!
01:11:37.324125 GUI: UIMachineViewNormal::resendSizeHint: Restoring guest size-hint for screen 0 to 1194x896
01:11:37.324164 VMMDev: SetVideoModeHint: Got a video mode hint (1194x896x32)@(0x0),(1;0) at 0
01:11:37.324416 VMMDev: Guest Log: Got multi resize request 1 displays
01:11:37.324450 VMMDev: Guest Log: [0]: 0 0x39 0,0 1194x896 32
01:11:37.348004 Display::i_handleDisplayResize: uScreenId=0 pvVRAM=00007f7b34000000 w=1194 h=896 bpp=32 cbLine=0x12A8 flags=0x1 origin=0,0
01:11:38.565591 GUI: UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration finished!

Full log attached ⮵

Guest info:

Edition	Windows 10 Pro
Version	1709
OS Build	16299.611

[Laurent Simon]

It is still present with:

• Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
• VirtualBox 6.0.12 r133076 (Qt5.9.5)
• Extension Pack 6.0.12 r133076

The seamless mode remains unusable :(

[mrggg]

Confirm this is still a problem with: Mac OS Catalina host VB 6.0.12 Win 10 downloaded and just installed today

[4til7]

Replying to Stratic:

It is still present with:

• Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
• VirtualBox 6.0.12 r133076 (Qt5.9.5)
• Extension Pack 6.0.12 r133076

The seamless mode remains unusable :(

[4til7]

Under Ubuntu, this _may_ be a result of installing VirtualBox from both the official virtualbox.org VirtualBox and Extension Pack with the the one from Ubuntu's repos. E.g. install VirtualBox one way, create VM, uninstall VirtualBox and then reinstall from the other source:

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/18972

[Walter Lapchynski]

Replying to 4til7:

Under Ubuntu, this _may_ be a result of installing VirtualBox from both […] repos.

Given what socratis said, I think that is unlikely:

the root cause isn't on the host, the root cause is on the guest.

I have certainly seen situations where mixing and matching components can create problems. You really need to choose one and stick with it (and I, as a general proponent of sticking with what's in your distro's repos, always recommend Oracle's because I have consistently seen them provide quality). But I haven't seen a situation where a guest created in one but not the other didn't work given that the two VirtualBoxes are the same version.

Additionally, and more to the point I was getting at above, it wouldn't explain why people are seeing this issue on OS X and Windows hosts.

[Aimless]

Indeed still an issue on OS X 10.15.1 and VBox 6.0.14 :(

[Apfelkuacha]

I've also got the problem on VBox 6.0.14, Host and Guest on Windows10. I opened a Ticket which got duplicated as i didn't thougt that this 4 year old ticket is the same. https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19138

[David Zych]

commenting in the hopes of receiving notifications for this ticket (my apologies if I missed a better way)

[ambarroy]

I am facing the issue with macOS 10.15.2 & Virtualbox 6.1.0

[ambarroy]

I didnt realise that the last comment was mine. So I did a bit more testing and found these things to describe the problem I am facing right now:

Virtualbox 6.1.2 Host OS: macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Host System: 2019 Macbook Pro 16 with 8-Core i9 2.3GHz CPU, Radeon 5500m 4GB and 32GB RAM

Guest OS: Windows XP - This is a very old VM that i created many years ago. Seamless mode works perfectly as expected.

Other notes: I had to enable hpet on with vbox to reduce cpu usage. This I have had to do with every windows VM i have run inside virtualbox 6.1.0 and now 6.1.2 on this new machine running cataline

I did face an issue with mouse clicks not going into the vm, that got fixed with a save/restore. Will report in a separate post if i see it again.

Guest OS: Windows 10 - Installed fresh from latest iso microsoft sometime in mid dec 2019 under Virtualbox 6.1.0 on this system. Seamless mode has various issues. I was facing kernel panics when running this VM in gui mode, so switched it over to headless start and then used microsoft remote desktop client to connect to this. Upgraded to virtualbox 6.1.2 and can now run the vm w/o a kernel panic.

As of now, seamless mode works somewhat, and the way it works is as follows:

1. The desktop background is partially removed. The top left part of the desktop remains. The portion that remains is the size of the screen before user logs on to windows.
2. The windows show a 4-5px border that is of the desktop background color. This is the same behavior that is seen when windows have shadows enabled. As of now shadows are disabled, but this still happens.
3. The start menu does not show up if there is nothing visible under the start menu.
4. When I open the start menu, the taskbar disappears
5. This behavior works some times, but if i flip between seamless/windowed mode a few times, then the behavior changes to one where the complete desktop background gets taken up and after that the only way to fix it is to do a restart of the guest os.

I hope this additional information helps with a sloution to seamless mode on Windows 10.

[koman90]

Host 2019 MacBook Pro macOS 10.15.2 running virtual-box 6.1.2 r135662 Guest Windows 10 Enterprise v1809 (build 17763.107)

Experiencing this same or similar issue. Pressing Host+L puts the desktop into fullscreen, not seamless.

[vrtbx]

The issue still actual in VirtualBox 6.1.2.

Host: Ubuntu 19.10 with KDE Plasma 5.17

Guest: Windows 10 Home with virtual box additional tools

Pressing Host+L puts the desktop into fullscreen, not seamless.

Everything else works perfect. Thanks!

[dhogan]

Win 10 host, win 10 guest, seamless mode is not seamless it's full screen. VirtualBox V6.1.2. Win 10 is the most widely used OS in the world and was released 5 years ago. Come on, fix it or remove the option and admit failure. You're going to get more pressure now that win7 has lost support.

I appreciate the software, but this isn't how you handle issues like this.

[Laurent Simon]

My problem with seamless mode and Windows 10 is solved!

Like many others here, the seamless mode that was working previously has stopped working with Windows 10. In my case, it was related to the Windows display settings where the scale factor was adjusted to be compliant with a high-resolution screen. Doing this solved my problem:

• In Windows display settings: Reset the display scale factor to 100%.
• In the VM settings: Adjust the display scale factor to the desired value.

And, Tadaaaa the seamless mode functionality worked properly!

There is just a small remaining glitch with the mini toolbar. It is not always displayed. But, it is displayed back when you click on it. This is annoying, but it is functional.

I am not sure that it was the exact same problem for everybody here, but I hope that it will help.

[dhogan]

Replying to Stratic:

My problem with seamless mode and Windows 10 is solved!

Like many others here, the seamless mode that was working previously has stopped working with Windows 10. In my case, it was related to the Windows display settings where the scale factor was adjusted to be compliant with a high-resolution screen. Doing this solved my problem:

• In Windows display settings: Reset the display scale factor to 100%.
• In the VM settings: Adjust the display scale factor to the desired value.

And, Tadaaaa the seamless mode functionality worked properly!

There is just a small remaining glitch with the mini toolbar. It is not always displayed. But, it is displayed back when you click on it. This is annoying, but it is functional.

I am not sure that it was the exact same problem for everybody here, but I hope that it will help.

Any other non default settings you're using? What's host os? I have 100% scaling on both and seamless simply puts the guest Win10 os in fullscreen.

[Laurent Simon]

Replying to dhogan:

Any other nondefault settings you're using? What's host os? I have 100% scaling on both and seamless simply puts the guest Win10 os in fullscreen.

Others non-default display settings are:

• Graphics Controller: VBoxSVGA
• Video memory: 256 MB
• 3D acceleration: Enabled

Host OS: Kubuntu 18.04.4

Graphic driver: NVidia proprietary version 390.116

[Walter Lapchynski]

• Guest OS: Windows 10 1909 (same)
• Host OS: Kubuntu 18.04 (same)
• VirtualBox version: 6.1.2-135662~Ubuntu~bionic with current extpack(???)
• Graphics driver: Radeon (different)
• Graphics controller: VBoxSVGA (same)
• Video Memory: 256 MB (same)
• 3D Acceleration: Enabled (same)
• Guest display scaling: 100% (same)
• Host display scaling: 100% (same)

Results: seamless just goes fullscreen, confirming dhogan's findings.

The only potential explanation is the different kernel module.

[dhogan]

I'm not sure it has anything to do with kernel modules. I'm hosting from win10.

To try and match these cofigs, I have changed from 128mb video memory to 256 and turned on 3d acceleration. I'm running an nvidia card.

This is something I got to work partially. By changing the performance options for the client OS, I was able to get it to only take up a portion of the entire host desktop. First I turned everything off and got that result. After reboot, seamless=fullscreen again. I turned back on Smooth edges of screen fonts and Smooth-scroll list boxes, and I got the same result. It appears simply making these changes can make the guest only take up a portion of the hosts desktop. Sadly, when you click on a window from the guest, the portion that is taken moves on top of whatever is in that area on the host.

[VMsauce]

Same issues on fedora 33. Although it only started happening once i enabled autostart, before that seamless mode was working fine.

vbox: 6.1.6 r137129 win10: 2004

[koodawg]

Had the same problem where seamless mode behaves like full screen. Enabled 3D acceleration, 256MB Video Memory and now seamless mode works, kind of. It's not perfect but it works.

Mac 10.15 host, Win10 guest.

[dhogan]

Is there any chance we can get a response from the VirtualBox team here? Tickets that have been opened, just point back to this one, so there's not point in that. If there are certain things that need to be done, please let us know. This issue, with the most widely used OS in the world, is a real problem.

I've had this issue with hosts Win10, Unbuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, and Fedora. This is not an issue with the host. I've tried every tip from other users with no luck.

[Koutheir Attouchi]

+1 for solving this issue. Running Windows 10 on Debian bullseye.

[Bert]

Based on a post somewhere else I figured out a solution that works for me. I believe it does not depend on the distro used nor on any specific setting both in VirtualBox and the Windows guest. Anyway, I am running Windows 10 (ver. 2004) on Kubuntu 20.04 LTS with the latest version of VirtualBox [6.1.18 r142142 (Qt5.12.8)].

Briefly: Seamless mode does not be able to handle one of Windows' system apps properly (presumably it is the virtual keyboard).

Proceed as follows:

Run seamless mode and open the Windows Task Manager. Kill one process after the other. You will easily find the process causing the problems because the desktop background will disappear immediately upon termination and seamless mode will start working.

In my case, the name of the process was "Microsoft Text Input"; depending on your windows version the name may differ. Assuming this process is the virtual keyboard, deactivating it in the system settings does not help. Rather, I had to rename the folder MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy in C:\Windows\SystemApps to prevent "Microsoft Text Input" from starting after rebooting windows. Again, depending on your windows version the name of this folder may differ.

Still, the windows start menu is not working properly. This can be fixed by installing the Open-Shell-Menu.

I should add that I also completely uninstalled the Microsoft Edge Browser (old and new versions) but I think that is not crucial.

After the above changes made, windows runs like a charm without any problems in seamless mode.

I have been looking for a solution to this problem for a long time. Hope this helps.

[matthewls]

Amazing. This advice should be in the vb manual. It works.