Host is 24.04.2 LTS Ubuntu MATE. I'm attempting to set up another instance of the same version inside a KVM virtual machine. I've got the VM created, along with a second VM running Windows 11. (Why I'm doing this: my favorite version of Windows is 7, and that is simply getting difficult to run because so many packages have stopped updates. I really dislike all subsequent Windows versions, so I'd like to convert to using MATE as my full time OS.) I use virt-viewer to display the VMs on the host computer.
I've configured the Windows 11 VM using Video QXL, and ironically, it is working perfectly. Germane to this post, I can resize the VM window with the mouse, and the desktop inside the VM is resized; to be specific, the windows and applications inside the VM are not resized; instead, the desktop resolution if changed, then the open windows are adapted to this new resolution. That's what I want to happen, and this is the way that VirtualBox has always worked.
Unfortunately, I cannot get the Ubunt MATE VM to behave like this. Instead, the VM contents are simply zoomed in or out to fill the resized VM window. So, for example, if I double the VM window size, then the windows on the VM desktop are doubled in size, as are the fonts used in the applications. So basically, it is doing a bitmap resize. I have spice-vagent installed, and verified it is running. It's not shown in my personal startup applications, so i suppose it was installed via the standard startup scripts:
guyr@kvmlinux:~$ ps -ef | grep spice
guyr 2290 1 0 05:48 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/spice-vdagent
root 2484 1 0 05:48 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd
I can get the VM desktop to resize if I use System Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Displays, and change the desktop resolution there. Obviously, just resizing the VM window with the mouse is much easier.
I've tried switching to "Video Virtio", but I get the same results with that. I've done lots of Googling, but cannot find a solution. I'd be shocked if I was the first person to encounter this issue. If all else fails, I can just keep using VirtualBox.
Thanks.