Hi,

I am running a Linux OS in Virtualbox.

ls /bin/usr/*session shows, that I am using xfce4.

When I reboot the system, I have to change the screen resolution over the settings each time.

How could I set the screen resolution value, fix it, so I don't need to do change it everytime by doing it manually?

Thank you and best regards

I had an idea but it doesn't work. What I did:

crontab -e
@reboot /usr/bin/xrandr -s 1600x1200
sudo systemctl enable cron.service
sudo nano /etc/cron.allow (put the user into it)
reboot

But after rebooting the OS it doesn't change.

Anymore ideas or am I doing smth. wrong with cron?

Two ways. Either put appropriate xrandr command in your autostart actions (for example "xrandr --mode 1600x900"). Test the command to make sure it works before adding it. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xfce#Autostart

Or you could install virtualbox guest extensions, then set resolution from virtualbox menu. To install those, select the 'insert guest additions' cd option, then open the CD and run the VBoxLinux... script.

It works for me without guest additions or convoluted cron/systemd commands (why not just use a systemd timer instead? But I digress....).
Just set up display resolution with common GUI tools in the guest OS, should get applied at login, and that should be enough.
Which distro, which desktop environment?

xrandr -s 1600x1200 is valid. I tried it in the cli and it worked. Why do you consider this as inappropriate?

Okay. I'll try to do the settings over Virtualbox. Ty for your input.

I did now a little script to speed it up, by doing:

cat > /usr/bin/setscreen
xrandr -s 1600x1200
chmod +x /usr/bin/setscreen

So I've only need to exec. "setscreen" in the cli to speed it up

To answer your question about cron, since it is not automatically associated with the desktop so its like trying to run a GUI application without a GUI. To associate cron with the desktop you need to specify the display environment variable like:

@reboot DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -s 1600x1200

1 members found this post helpful.

Ty for your input! Unfortunately doesn't work.

I think i'm going to stick with the little script. It's not an elegant way but better then nothing.

Depending on distribution and cron version I should of added the full path to xrandr but check on your system.

@reboot DISPLAY=:0 /usr/bin/xrandr -s 1600x1200

As suggested above I would add guest additions. Depending on distribution/version you might need to install extra stuff like gcc and the source header files before you can actually install them.

1 members found this post helpful.

Sorry I didnt mean that it was invalid. I just meant use xfce autostart for any xrandr command that works, using one of those methods I linked earlier...

If you install the guest additions on guest OS, then you can select resolution from Virtual Box menu under View/Virtual Screen (which it remembers thru shutdowns and reboots, etc) for that machine. If you have hidden your menu bar, hit Ctrl+Home to get popup menu.

1 members found this post helpful.

My experience with VirtualBox has been that, once I set the display in a VMs system settings, the VM has retained the setting.

One thought that comes to me is that, in the VirtualBox display settings for that VM (not the display settings within the VM), perhaps experimenting with the "Graphics Controller" setting might yield some results.

This is actually a file persistence issue. It might indicate something else is wrong with the VM.

@frankbell
The cron.service runs before graphical.target has even started X and the GUI. xrandr can't change the resolution of a screen that hasn't been created yet as X itself hasn't been started.

The cron.service runs at multi-user.target (old runlevel 3) while X and the DE are started at graphical.target (old runlevel 5).

It is simplest to use the DE autostart directory.

This is a poor choice of location for a personally created script. In most distros, /usr/bin/ should be the exclusive domain of the package management system. Anything you place there is subject to being overwritten by package management activity. Scripts you create for global use are better placed in /usr/local/bin/ or /usr/local/sbin/.

Xrandr scripts will be run automatically if you place them in an appropriate location in /etc/X11/. The appropriate location depends on the distro. e.g. in Debian and derivatives, /etc/X11/Xsession.d/ usually works.

1 members found this post helpful.