Display problems on Windows 2003 after reboot (4 bit color, 800x600 max), no resize

[Tiago Fernandes]

I use virtual box for a while, on my laptop (windows XP SP2), and a windows 2003 server web edition guest. Some time ago, I had to restart my VM because of a source safe fix I installed. When the VM restarted, it was on 4-bit color mode and 640x480 resolution. I tried to change color and resolution, but the max I can get is 800x600 4-bit color.

Well, I updated virtualbox version three times (first to 2.1.0, then to 2.1.2, now to 2.2.0), removed additions, re-installed additions, etc., changed video memory (was 128M initially), but still the same problem.

Then I removed VirtualBox Graphics Adapter. Now I have 32-bit color mode and higher resolutions. Mouse pointer integration works fine, shared folders, etc. all works nice. The problem is that the guest display is not dynamically resizing as I resize the VM window.

After searching the forums and trying a lot of things, including re-installing virtual box, I even tried to run this VM on my desktop Mac. The VM behave exactly the same way it did on my XP laptop.

My temporary solution to work with this VM was to start it in headless mode, then connect to it via terminal services client (not to virtual box RDP, but to windows terminal services). This way, when I maximize terminal services client, I get full screen used.

Ok, this is a *temporary* solution. I'd like to have the same behavior I had before, resizing my VM window and getting it display resized accordingly. I've passed last 3 days digging in the forums, trying to find someone with the same problem, trying all solutions I could find for display problems, but nothing. It seems I am the only guy with this problem...

laptop: LG P1 Pro Express Dual
cpu: Intel Core2 T7200 @ 2.00 Ghz
ram: 3GB @ 997Mhz
graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
os: windows XP sp2
virtualbox: 2.2.0

[Tiago Fernandes]

VM log file