Window task bar title of VBoxSDL VMs

[olav]

When I run a virtual machine with VBoxSDL -vm Mymachine, a window is created with the title "Sun xVM VirtualBox - Mymachine". This is different from starting it from the main program, when it creates a window titled "Mymachine [Running] - Sun xVM VirtualBox". The latter is preferable because it makes it easier to recognise the window on the Gnome Panel (and, I suppose, its equivalent in KDE, Windows etc.).

When starting two or more virtual machines (with launchers I made on the desktop) and minimising them, they are now both identified as "Sun xVM VirtualBox" on the panel. Confusing.

Of course this is only a cosmetic issue and not a very big deal really, but I suspect it's less than a 5 minute job to change it. I hope one of the developers will be so kind...

[Frank Mehnert]

Thanks for the suggestion. This will be fixed in VBox 3.1.4 final.

[olav]

I am now using VirtualBox 3.1.6 which I downloaded from the website. Unfortunately the problem is still the same. I am using Ubuntu 10.4 that has Gnome 2.30.0. The caption on the panel is just "Sun VirtualBox". I suppose in the nearby future this will have to become "Oracle VirtualBox". Perhaps then is also the time to fix this little usability annoyance? Thanks anyway, I really like VirtualBox regardless.

[Technologov]

Please close, as WONTFIX.

Oracle branding is only for v3.2 and upwards.

-Technologov

[olav]

clarifying screenshot

[olav]

Sorry Technologov for perhaps not being entirely clear. The specific product name (Sun Virtualbox or whatever) is not the issue here. I have attached a screenshot that should be more obvious than my description of this bug.

[olav]

Just to confirm, as expected the problem is still present in 3.1.8 as well.

[Frank Mehnert]

Please post again which title is shown for you and which title you expect. For VBoxSDL has the title VM_NAME - Sun VirtualBox. The word Sun will be changed to Oracle eventually but I assume this is not what you are complaining about, right?

[olav]

Frank, thank you for your interest. However I doubt I can be much clearer than I already was, especially in the screenshot. Please take a look at it, it should answer all questions. As you can see it is just impossible to identify different VM windows on the task bar when they are minimised. Just for the record, I now realise that something has indeed changed since I first filed the bug; it's just not for the better. Previously (at the time of filing the bug) the caption on the task bar was "Sun VirtualBox - Machine Name" (where "Machine Name" would be invisible because the caption would not fit inside the button). Now it is just "Sun VirtualBox" WITHOUT the machine name, meaning you can't even rely on tooltips to reveal the full title...

Just to be extra, extra clear, if I can: the title of this bug is not accurate and may be misleading. It is not the window title that is the issue. It is the title of the button/tab on the taskbar (and the fact that it is not the same as the window title) that is the issue.

I only mentioned the name change to Oracle because I assumed that would be a good time for developers to take a look at this. If you have to change the titles anyway, might as well correct this little bug with the same effort, or so was my thinking. Because I would not want people to do any extra work to fix this small annoyance. It really is only a minor thing. Personally I have now "solved" it by starting VMs with "VBoxManage startvm machine_name". Those windows behave exactly like they were launched from the VirtualBox GUI.

[Frank Mehnert]

I assume this is a problem with your window manager because this works fine here for both the window title and the title displayed in the task bar.

[olav]

Thank you again Frank. Yes, now that you mention it there does seem to be an interaction with the window manager or desktop environment. Following your remark I just tried IceWM and Fluxbox. In IceWM, the problem is the same as I described for Gnome (Metacity). While using my virtual machines in Fluxbox the captions on the task bar do appear correct. I attached two more screenshots.