A common issue many have when installing Ubuntu in Virtualbox is that the default virtual resolution is limited to a maxium of 800×600. By installing the Guest Additions that come with Virtualbox, you can easily get any screen res you want. See video for details.
THIS VIDEO IS AVAILABLE IN HD RESOLUTION. Click here to go to the YouTube page and click the “HD” link in the video player.
Another bonus of installing the Guest Additions is that the Virtual Box will no longer “capture” your mouse pointer thus allowing you to swap between windows and the virtual system easily. Also, for quicker installation of the Guest Additions, once you mount the Virtual CD (and cancel the automatic run) you can Right-Click the Icon and select Run In Terminal. This takes you to the Virtual CD Directory immediately without having to do the navigating from the command line.
The only problem with Vbox guest additions is that it sometimes does not support your resolution. Mine is 1440 X 900. So you have to manually configure the xorg file to work with the Vbox drivers.
Resolution adjustment works fine, but unfortunately it has a limit as to how high it can go… I’ll try Kyle’s suggestion though.
If you’ll excuse the trolly appearance of my post…. this is a serious question.
Why would you run Ubuntu in a VM?
The major advantage of Ubuntu (and indeed most *nixes) is the superior performance and stability compared to windows on the same hardware, the major disadvantage is a smaller back-catalogue of quality software and games.
I can understand running windows in a VM to bridge some of the software gaps, especially if you’re a web developer (etc) and need to test in IE7+8, or your really need some proprietary app that won’t run in wine.
But what is the rational for a virtual ubuntu under windows?