Xfce Forum

Mo_B

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2016-03-04

Posts: 72

Xfce auto-scaling broken on VMware Workstation?

Hi,

all Xfce based distros don't support the auto-scaling inside VMware workstation currently. They are based on X11 and load the modesetting driver instead of vmware driver (which is broken as well).

I compared many distros and found that all using Wayland are working with the auto-scaling feature.
Any idea when Wayland will be supported by Xfce? Up to then the Xfce desktop is not fully supported in a VMware workstation VM.

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Gentoo-Linux

CwF

Moderator

Registered: 2018-01-28

Posts: 351

Re: Xfce auto-scaling broken on VMware Workstation?

This is a VMware issue. The auto scaling works fine in native libvirt vm's using the virtio gpu.

Mo_B

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2016-03-04

Posts: 72

Re: Xfce auto-scaling broken on VMware Workstation?

Not sure who is responsible or where it could be fixed.
It might be a VMware issue.
It might be a modesetting issue, or Xorg issue, or open-vm-tools issue (I guess that project might be the best place for a bug report...)

However it leads to most distributions are working fine in VMware Workstation Pro (which is a quite common platform, alas), while all Xfce based distributions are not.
This might not be caused inside Xfce, but among almost all other desktop environments it's still based on X11 (while Wayland is in progress and already in alpha status, I know).

Comparing a inxi -GSaz in some distributions:

openSUSE TW installation with Xfce, scaling not working:

System:
  Kernel: 7.2.0-1-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.2.0
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: initrd=\opensuse-tumbleweed\7.2.0-1-default\initrd-52eecfcbc4bb525568b9443b5aef0a8dab41e3de
    root=/dev/mapper/cr_root splash=silent quiet security=selinux selinux=1
    mitigations=auto rootflags=subvol=@/.snapshots/1/snapshot
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.2 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.52 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20260825
Graphics:
  Device-1: VMware SVGA II Adapter driver: vmwgfx v: 2.21.0.0 ports:
    active: Virtual-1 empty: Virtual-2, Virtual-3, Virtual-4, Virtual-5,
    Virtual-6, Virtual-7, Virtual-8 bus-ID: 00:0f.0 chip-ID: 15ad:0405
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.24 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: vesa alternate: fbdev,vmware
    gpu: vmwgfx display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1440x900 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: Virtual-1 res: mode: 1440x900 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) size: N/A
    modes: max: 2314x1298 min: 640x480
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: mesa v: 26.2.1 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.2
    direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 22.1.8 256 bits)
    device-ID: ffffffff:ffffffff memory: 30.53 GiB unified: yes
  Info: Tools: api: glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xprop,xrandr

Linux Mint installation with Cinnamon, scaling working:

System:
  Kernel: 7.0.0-30-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0.0-30-generic
    root=UUID=9bdf555d-440a-4237-8f85-a541f75365ff ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.6.9 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.6.3 tools:
    avail: cinnamon-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22.3 Zena base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Graphics:
  Device-1: VMware SVGA II Adapter driver: vmwgfx v: 2.21.0.0 ports:
    active: Virtual-1 empty: Virtual-2, Virtual-3, Virtual-4, Virtual-5,
    Virtual-6, Virtual-7, Virtual-8 bus-ID: 00:0f.0 chip-ID: 15ad:0405
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: vmware unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: swrast gpu: vmwgfx
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2358x1298 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 623x343mm (24.53x13.50")
    s-diag: 711mm (28")
  Monitor-1: Virtual-1 mapped: Virtual1 res: 2358x1298 hz: 60 size: N/A
    modes: max: 2358x1298 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast
    surfaceless: drv: swrast x11: drv: swrast inactive: wayland,device-0
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.2.8-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2 256 bits)
    device-ID: ffffffff:ffffffff memory: 7.52 GiB unified: yes
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 layers: 3 device: 0 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
    20.1.2 256 bits) driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib

Additionally I compared with an Ubuntu installation with Gnome, scaling working:

System:
  Kernel: 7.0.0-30-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.0
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0.0-30-generic
    root=UUID=3b6e354f-b5f2-4f22-a8ec-93a54a735517 ro quiet splash
    crashkernel=2G-4G:320M,4G-32G:512M,32G-64G:1024M,64G-128G:2048M,128G-:4096M
  Desktop: GNOME v: 50.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.52 wm: gnome-shell
    tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM3 v: 50.1 Distro: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS
    (Resolute Raccoon)
Graphics:
  Device-1: VMware SVGA II Adapter driver: vmwgfx v: 2.21.0.0 ports:
    active: Virtual-1 empty: Virtual-2, Virtual-3, Virtual-4, Virtual-5,
    Virtual-6, Virtual-7, Virtual-8 bus-ID: 00:0f.0 chip-ID: 15ad:0405
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 24.1.10 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.10
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: dri: vmwgfx gpu: vmwgfx display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2358x1298 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 623x343mm (24.53x13.50")
    s-diag: 711mm (28")
  Monitor-1: Virtual-1 res: mode: 2358x1298 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) size: N/A
    modes: max: 2358x1298 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: vmwgfx device: 1 drv: swrast
    gbm: drv: vmwgfx surfaceless: drv: vmwgfx wayland: drv: vmwgfx x11:
    drv: vmwgfx
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: vmware mesa v: 26.0.8-1ubuntu0.3
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: SVGA3D; build: RELEASE; LLVM;
    device-ID: 15ad:0405 memory: 7.81 GiB unified: no
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

Xubuntu using Xfce with the X11/X.org Stack, same issue, scaling not working

Added later 01 min 22 s:
However on the openSUSE TW installation I found, that it tries to load the vmware driver, but fails to find it.

# grep -Ei 'vmware.*module' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[    21.074] (EE) Failed to load module "vmware" (module does not exist, 0)

I also tried the vmware driver but that was not working at all, black screen. I found they are avoiding the old vmware driver and recommend modesetting today.

Last edited by Mo_B (2026-08-28 19:27:43)

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Gentoo-Linux

CwF

Moderator

Registered: 2018-01-28

Posts: 351

Re: Xfce auto-scaling broken on VMware Workstation?

Actually, after I think about it, for me virt-viewer is doing the scaling, so I rarely rescale in a way Xfce or x11 even know about. Which is a better way to go really. The QXL video driver which may be related to the vmware driver has degraded over the last few releases,  I don't track vmware at all.