Virtualbox - display is 1/3 screen size
 

Brand new Lenovo Yoga 1 TB ssd
Successfully installed Debian 6.1.76-1 (bookworm)
Speed bump there. The NetInstall wanted to know my WLAN chipset. I guessed Intel correctly, and Life is Good.
Successfully installed Virtualbox 7.0.14
Successfully installed Virtualbox Extension Package
Successfully installed Windows 11.

The resulting display is only 1/3 of the available window size. Display memory allocation is apparently maxed.
How do I increase the display size?

You can use the view pull down menu to adjust the size/scale but you should install guest additions which will allow you to resize the window on the fly.

yes, if I remember well virtualbox has a default display size, which is relatively small.
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=106945

Thank you.
The Virtualbox display is fine. It fills the entire screen. It is the Windows display that is 1/3 of the VB display.
The Oracle web page for Guest Additions does not list support past Windows 10, and I have Windows 11. We will see what I can achieve after I get Additions added.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualiz...estadd-install
win11 is suppported

Basically the size of the "Windows" display is controlled by the settings in the view pull down menu and not necessarily the size of the VirtualBox guest window. With guest additions you can resize the virtual machine window and the video resolution will be automatically adjusted.

https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch...-resize-window

I would expect guest additions to work with Windows 11.

I finally found the correct version of Guest Additions: VBoxGuestAddions_7.0.14.iso
That matches the version of the VirtualBox iso.
Put that on an optical disk.
Started VirtualBox and then Windows.
selected VirtualBox Tools, and ADD, then Optical Drive. VBoxGuestAdditions_7.0.14.iso appeared.
Selected that, the optical disk spun up, and nothing else happened.

In the Windows file browser navigate to the optical drive d: or whatever and run the program VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe

Again, VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe should be executed inside the VM, not on the host. You need to find this virtual CD in it, and you need to look for that exe on that drive. On windows sometimes it can be started automatically, when you "insert" this virtual disk (iso file) into that virtual CD reader of the VM. But first you need to have a CD reader in your VM. There is no need to have a real optical disk, you cannot insert it into a [virtual] CD reader of a VM.

As per my previous post, I attempted to "add" VBoxGuestAddions_7.0.14.iso to the Virtualbox. Nothing happened. I downloaded the iso, burned it onto an optical disk, and loaded the USB-DVD reader on the laptop. VirtualBox does recognize that drive + iso.
There is no *.exe file to be found within that iso, and I have not been able to locate a VBoxGuestAdditions*.exe anywhere.

Running from a USB optical drive should work but not necessary. Did you just burn the ISO file to disk or did you select burn as image?

Since you have the ISO file, from the guest's window menu (hopefully it is visible) select Devices -> Optical Drives -> Choose a disk file, then navigate to the location and select the ISO file in the directory window. Then select in the Windows file browser the CD drive ( d: or whatever). The contents of guests additions ISO file is the following. I always select VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe which should select the proper version i.e x86 or amd64.

From your posting, I should be able to open the folder "NT3x" and run the *-X86.exe file. No joy. Virtualbox will open the ISO and display
(Note: There is no autorun file/folder).
However, when I click on "NT3x", I get a blank window. I.e. there is no .exe file present.
??

I do not know what you mean by VirtualBox will open the ISO?
Did you attach the USB drive to the Windows VM? From the windows pull down menu select devices -> USB and then select the USB drive. In the Windows file browser you should have a device ID for the drive E: or whatever. That is where you should see the contents of the guest additions disk.

If you inserted the guest additions CD image from the VM devices pull down menu the contents should be available in the Windows file browser in the virtual CD drive maybe D:

I think you are trying to the add the ISO by selecting the cd drive from VB file manager not Windows. I am guessing there is a file filter being applied for ISO extension so no files seen.

I read somewhere that I could not install a *.exe fine until Windows has been "activated".
Pro Tip: Prior to wiping Windows and installing Linux on a newly acquired machine, make sure that you have the Windows Activation Key corresponding to the vendor installed Windows OS.Getting the license from the BIOS is insufficient.
I installed Windows 11N. After much discussion with Windows Support, I learned that my license number was insufficient; that I needed to purchase an Activation Key. And oh, by the way, the Windows 11 Pro-N that I installed is a European version; I need to install a (no N) US version.
Purchased a key. Could not activate. It seems that Microsoft still had records that the original OS was tied to my machine. An hour of telephone + peer-to-peer with Microsoft Support, and I now have an activated OS
I hate Windows.

I downloaded VBoxGuestAdditions_7.0.14.iso , burned that to a DVD, and opened it with Windows 11 Pro. I cannot find
VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe

Post a list of the dvd contents.

If I open it in Linux, I get:
If I open it in Windows, I get:
"setup"tries to install Windows.

I tried copying the Editions exe from the DVD to a thumbdrive, but Linux said that it could not read the file

Flash drives are typically automatically formatted as exFAT or NTFS. I don't think debian automatically supports either one so you need to install ntfs-3g or exFAT fuse.

Does your Windows guest have a virtual optical disk drive? I am only guessing that your not connecting the USB drive to your guest and that your looking at the wrong drive from Windows. The virtual drive contains the Windows installer? You should be able to "remove" the Windows installer ISO file and "insert" the guest ISO file.

I mentioned how to connect a USB device a few posts back. From the guest's window pull down menu select
Devices -> USB. There should be a list of recognized devices and select the USB DVD drive. There should be a green check mark on the left. A device should automatically be created and from the file browser select the optical drive letter. You should now be able to see the real DVD contents.

I have an optical drive that attaches to the computer via USB. I downloaded the VBAdditions.iso using Linux; burned that onto a DVD (51 Mb won't fit onto a CD), and mounted/opened the drive using either Microsoft or Linux. Yes, Microsoft does recognize that drive.

Expanded contents of the ISO:
The directory labeled "boot" contains three directories: en-us, fonts, and resources.
the directory en-us contains one file: bootsect.exe.mui
the directory fonts contains 18 *.boot files and two *.console files
the directory resources contains two .dll files

The directory labeled "efi" contains two directories: boot and microsoft
The directory labeled boot contains one file: bootx64.efi
the directory labeled microsoft contains one directory: "boot"
that directory boot contains three directories: cipolicies, fonts and resources, and also 7 files
those seven files are: bcd, cdboot.efi, cdboot.noprompt.efi, efisys.bin, eficys.noprompt.bin, membest.efi and winpolicy

the directory /sources/dimanifests contains a whole bunch of stuff, mostly .dll files.


Bottom line: I don't see anything resembling a *.exe file.

I probably am not explaining correctly however you are not providing much feedback so I must infer a lot. It appears like you burned the ISO correctly but the difficulty is in trying to get Windows to "see" the USB drive and optical disk.

It appears like the Windows installer ISO is still inserted in the virtual optical disk drive. The contents you post look like the installer disk. To remove the ISO installer select from the guest pull down menu Devices -> Optical Drives -> Remove disk from virtual drive

Once the Windows Installer ISO is removed you should be able to "insert" the guest additions ISO. Devices -> Choose a disk file. Select and open the guest additions ISO file.

You need to manually connect the USB drive to the guest using the steps posted above. If Windows recognizes the USB optical drive with the disk inserted then you should have two drive letters corresponding to each optical drive. If you only have one virtual hard disk then the virtual optical drive would be d: and the USB drive E: By switching between the drives you should see different contents. If possible post a screen shot including the file browser so we might see exactly what is happening. If you do not have separate optical drive letters the USB drive is not actually connected to the guest.

GOT IT
I could not get my head around that it was reading from a disk that was not plugged in.
THANK YOU!