Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
248 VMware, Inc.
! “Changing!Screen!Color!Depth!on!the!Host”!on!page 248
! “Changing!Screen!Color!Depth!in!the!Virtual!Machine”!on!page 248
Changing Screen Color Depth on the Host
To!change!the!color!settings!on!your!host!operating!system,!first!shut!down!all!guest!
operating!systems,!power!off!the!virtual!machines,!and!close!the!console.
Follow!standard!procedures!for!changing!the!color!settings!on!your!host!operating!
system,!and!restart!the!console!and!the!virtual!machines.
Changing Screen Color Depth in the Virtual Machine
If!you!choose!to!change!the!color!settings!in!the!guest!operating!system,!the!approach!
you!use!depends!on!the!combination!of!host!and!guest!you!are!using.
Follow!the!normal!process!for!changing!screen!colors!in!your!guest!operating!system.!
In!a!Windows!guest,!the!Display!Properties!control!panel!offers!
only!those!settings!that!
are!supported.
In!a!Linux!or!FreeBSD!guest,!you!must!either!change!the!color!depth!before!you!start!
the!X!server!or!restart!the!X!server!after!you!make!the!changes.
Using Full Screen Mode on a Linux Host
When!you!switch!a!virtual!machine!into!full!screen!mode,!VMware!Server!changes!the!
full!screen!display!resolution!to!better!match!the!resolution!set!in!the!guest!operating!
system.!On!a!Linux!host,!VMware!Server!uses!the!XF86VidMode!to!match!the!host!
resolution!to!the!one!requested!by!the!guest!running
!in!the!virtual!machine.
In!a!few!cases,!VMware!Server!may!not!find!the!best!resolution.
When!VMware!Server!switches!into!full!screen!mode,!it!can!choose!only!those!
resolutions!that!are!already!configured!on!your!host.
If!a!virtual!machine!runs!at!a!resolution!that!does!not!match!a!mode!listed
!in!the!X!
server!configuration,!then!for!full!screen!mode!VMware!Server!chooses!the!closest!
larger!mode!(and!uses!black!borders)!or!else!simply!does!not!offer!full!screen!mode!at!
all.
It!is!possible!to !have!bad!modes!configured!in!the!XF86Config!file!on!your!host.!If!your!
host’s!X
!server!configuration!was!automatically!generated,!or!if!you!never!tested!all!
modes!with!your!current!monitor!and!video!card,!it!is!possible!that!some!enabled!
modes!do!not!work!with!your!monitor.!However,!the!modeswitching!code!in!VMware!
Server!has!no!way!of!knowing!this!and!a!virtual!machine!
that!tries!to!use!a!resolution!
with!a!bad!mode!line!can!cause!your!monitor!to!fail!to!display!correctly.!