Switch android x86 screen resolution

Question

I would like to use Android-x86 2.2 as an emulator on my Windows 7. I have downloaded VirtualBox and the ISO, and I've made a virtual machine with it, but I can't set the resolution to 320x480 or something similar.

The following tutorial "Using the Android-x86 Port as your Emulator" suggests to insert:

<ExtraDataItem name="CustomVideoMode2" value="320x480x16" />

to my .vbox file and I did it. Then I added UVESA_MODE=320x480 and vga=ask to the boot config. When it boots, I have to press Enter to see the available options, but there is no 320x480 among them. How can I get it to work?

Could you please share with which method worked for you -thanks — Dev.Sinto, Nov 19 '11 at 04:59

score 140 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 24 '22 at 00:24

140

To change the Android-x86 screen resolution on VirtualBox you need to:

Add custom screen resolution:
Android <6.0:

VBoxManage setextradata "VM_NAME_HERE" "CustomVideoMode1" "320x480x16"

Android >=6.0:

    VBoxManage setextradata "VM_NAME_HERE" "CustomVideoMode1" "320x480x32"

Figure out what is the ‘hex’-value for your VideoMode:
2.1. Start the VM
2.2. In GRUB menu enter a (Android >=6.0: e)
2.3. In the next screen append vga=ask and press Enter
2.4. Find your resolution and write down/remember the 'hex'-value for Mode column
Translate the value to decimal notation (for example 360 hex is 864 in decimal).
Go to menu.lst and modify it:
4.1. From the GRUB menu select Debug Mode
4.2. Input the following:
```
mount -o remount,rw /mnt  
cd /mnt/grub  
vi menu.lst
```

4.3. Add vga=864 (if your ‘hex’-value is 360). Now it should look like this:

kernel /android-2.3-RC1/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot_hardware=eeepc acpi_sleep=s3_bios,s3_mode DPI=160 UVESA_MODE=320x480 SRC=/android-2.3-RC1 SDCARD=/data/sdcard.img vga=864

4.4. Save it:

:wq

Unmount and reboot:
```
cd /
umount /mnt
reboot -f
```

edited Dec 24 '22 at 00:24

starball

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answered Nov 25 '11 at 19:39

surlac

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1

Perfect, this worked for me... Cheers. BTW, I didn't had `s3_mode DPI=160 UVESA_MODE=320x480`, rather is was only `s3_mode`, so I added it to... Just in case if somebody misses it! – Mahendra Liya Sep 14 '12 at 05:40
I also didn't have "DPI=160 UVESA_MODE=320x480" and without it I couldn't get ti to work - added it and now its working like a charm. – Morvael Mar 07 '13 at 14:29
2

I've managed to do this, but if I change to 24-bit or 32-bit color depth it doesn't work. Is such setup possible at all (I guess that 16-bit in this example is made on purpose...)? – Ivan Ičin Nov 09 '13 at 12:26
After I added it and tried to boot into Android, the screen turn black with a `_` and nothing happens. Why? – Derek 朕會功夫 Mar 19 '14 at 02:43
@Derek朕會功夫 The line that you have to edit won't be wrapped in vi and so won't be displayed in it's entirety without using vi's navigation to move to the end of the line ($ or A). I'm guessing that you added vga=### to the line below the one mentioned in the answer thinking it was wrapped. – pgraham Jul 18 '14 at 15:00
@pgraham Thanks, that was the reason. (Although I figured it out already :) ) – Derek 朕會功夫 Jul 18 '14 at 19:55
3

"CustomVideoMode1" needs to be typed verbatim. (not renaming to anything) – A.G. Sep 15 '14 at 15:12
Similar to @ivan-ičin the only option offered by vga=ask for 1920x1080 is 32-bit color depth. Has anyone successfully managed to make 1080 work? – tudor -Reinstate Monica- Feb 11 '16 at 23:37
1

For anyone navigating to this page after 2015: seems like newer versions of Android x86 (e.g. 6.0) assume a bit depth of 32 instead of 16. So ```320x480x16``` should be changed to ```320x480x32``` (otherwise you get nasty visual effects). Also, the ```a``` key no longer seems to work in grub. Hit ```e``` instead and add your args at the end of the line. ```UVESA_MODE``` seems to be enough, ```vga``` is not needed. – corwin.amber Jul 27 '16 at 07:48
With the updated information, this works like a champ for me as of early 2018 running a CM14.1 for x86 in VirtualBox. Many thanks! – TheDiveO Feb 14 '18 at 23:46
for some reason this makes my VM unbootable, but if I manually edit the boot sequence when booting and add vga=864, it works. it's slow to boot anyway, so it's better to start from snapshots, and then it's not that bad. many thanks! – Display Name Mar 21 '18 at 20:05
How do I get screen resolution that aren't supported by VGA? – Donald Duck Jul 20 '19 at 19:52

sancho21 · Answer 2 · 2012-03-07T10:22:52.910

35

Based on my experience, it's enough to use the following additional boot options:

UVESA_MODE=320x480 DPI=160

No need to add vga definition. Watch out for DPI value! As bigger one makes your icons bigger.

To add the previous boot options, go to debug mode (during grub menu selection)

mount -o remount,rw /mnt
vi /mnt/grub/menu.lst

Now edit on this line:

kernel /android-2.3-RC1/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot_hardware=eeepc acpi_sleep=s3_bios,s3_mode SRC=/android-2.3-RC1 SDCARD=/data/sdcard.img UVESA_MODE=320x480 DPI=160

Reboot

edited Mar 07 '12 at 10:22

answered Mar 07 '12 at 09:45

sancho21

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This works if your desired resolution is already supported by VirtualBox. – amram99 May 15 '12 at 20:14

score 9 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 25 '12 at 14:33

9

In VirtualBox you should add custom resolution via the command:

VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "CustomVideoMode1" "800x480x16"

instead of editing a .vbox file.

This solution works fine for me!

edited Jan 25 '12 at 14:33

Volo

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answered Jun 22 '11 at 14:41

Nikita Koksharov

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Marcelo Amorim · Answer 4 · 2014-04-20T22:34:21.270

I'm using ubuntu 13.04 as host. This clear tutorial works:

https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2011/10/11/getting-started-on-android-for-x86-step-by-step-guide-on-setting-up-android-2223-for-x86-testing-environment-in-oracle-virtualbox

To add more resolutions, do the following:

Start your desired VM at Oracle Virtualbox
Execute at terminal:
```
~# VBoxManage list runningvms
```
Check your VM name

Add a new resolution:

~# VBoxManage setextradata "[YourVmNameHere]" "CustomVideoMode1" "800x480x16"

Find in above tutorial: "Test different screen size and resolution"

Marcellus · Answer 5 · 2017-02-15T10:19:17.343

OK, maybe there are more like me that do not have any UVESA_MODE or S3 references in their menu.lst. First, do "VBoxManage setextradata "VM_NAME_HERE" "CustomVideoMode1" "320x480x32"" procedure through terminal. My custom videomode was "1920x1089x32"... (sorry, I use Linux, so procedure works on linux) for Windows, just add .exe to VBoxManage.. Look in the first entry as described before, this is the menu entry you would normally boot. I normally use nano as it works more easy for me. And nano happens to be present in Android >6 too. (other version not tried)

Procedure:

Boot VM, chose the "debug mode" option to boot. Pressing "enter" after a while will result in the prompt
Change directory to /mnt/grub "cd /mnt/grub"
list directory content with "ls" (not necessary but I like to see where I am)
copy menu.lst (make this standard procedure before changing anything) "cp menu.lst menu.lst.bak" (or whatever extension you like to use for backup)
open menu.lst, e.g.: "nano menu.lst".
look in first menu entry (normally there are 4, starting with the titles you see in the boot menu) the "kernel" entry, which ends with the word "quiet"
replace "quiet" with something like "vga=ask" if you would like to be asked every time at boot for the screen resolution, or "vga=(HEX value)" as seen in surlac's anwer.
exit and save, don't forget to actually save it! double check this. (ctrl+X, YES, Enter for nano)
reboot VM with "YOUR HOST KEY" + "R" (normally "right control" + "R")

Hope this helps anyone as it did solve my problem.

edit: I see that I did place this article in the wrong place, since the original question is about another Android version. Does anyone know how to move it to an appropriate location?

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

2

Set resolution in android x86

Libvirt/qemu

Temporarily

Add nomodeset and vga=ask to android x86 grub entry's kernel loading options;
Find your best resolution and note the code you used.

Permanently

Convert that code to decimal from hex;
Add vga=decimal_code to your preferred entry in /mnt/grub/menu.lst (mounted if android is started in debug mode).

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Feb 17 '20 at 15:54

Scrooge McDuck

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Adding video=x- (e.g., video=320x480-16) may also work instead of vga=, and should be preferred if the vga= option requires nomodeset (which can introduce inefficiencies). You may check driver-supported resolutions by browsing /sys/class/drm (not in debug mode). – Kafka Fuura Apr 16 '22 at 05:13

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 01 '12 at 20:18

2

I'd like to clarify one small gotcha here. You must use CustomVideoMode1 before CustomVideoMode2, etc. VirtualBox recognizes these modes in order starting from 1 and if you skip a number, it will not recognize anything at or beyond the number you skipped. This caught me by surprise.

answered Feb 01 '12 at 20:18

DavidM

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Good tip, I also had this problem – Display name Jun 04 '12 at 08:27

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 29 '16 at 19:12

Verified the following on Virtualbox-5.0.24, Android_x86-4.4-r5. You get a screen similar to an 8" table. You can play around with the xxx in DPI=xxx, to change the resolution. xxx=100 makes it really small to match a real table exactly, but it may be too small when working with android in Virtualbox.

VBoxManage setextradata <VmName> "CustomVideoMode1" "440x680x16"

With the following appended to android kernel cmd:

UVESA_MODE=440x680 DPI=120

Where you get this info? – sistematico Mar 02 '21 at 13:37 — sistematico, Mar 02 '21 at 13:37

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 20 '22 at 08:54

0

With Release 8.1-r6 | Android-x86 the following is working on the kernel command line: video=1920x1080

(Using QEMU/KVM, Virtual Machine Manager and Fedora 36.)

answered Aug 20 '22 at 08:54

not-a-user

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Switch android x86 screen resolution

9 Answers9

Set resolution in android x86

Libvirt/qemu

Linked