How to Make VirtualBox Full Screen for Windows 10 Guests

When running a virtual machine (VM) on VirtualBox, you may encounter issues with the full screen mode not working properly for your guest operating system. This problem can be particularly frustrating when trying to run Windows 10 as a VM on VirtualBox.

To resolve this issue and make VirtualBox full screen for your Windows 10 guests, you need to install Guest Additions on the guest OS. Once installed, you will see a different set of resolution settings in the Windows 10 guest.

To install Guest Additions, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer in the guest Windows system.

2. Go to the virtual CD drive (in this case, disk D:) and run VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe to install VirtualBox Guest Additions on the Windows 10 guest.

3. In the VM window, go to Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image to insert the ISO disk into the virtual CD drive of the VM.

After installing Guest Additions, you can reboot the VM and try entering full screen mode again by clicking View > Full screen mode in the VM window or by pressing the combination of the VirtualBox host key and F (Right Ctrl + F in this case). The guest OS screen should now be stretched to the size of your display and resolution increased.

Additionally, you can increase the guest OS resolution by going to Windows 10 display settings (right click the desktop and select Display settings in the context menu). You can also enable 2D and 3D acceleration. It is recommended that you set 128 MB of video memory, as when a video mode with higher resolution is used, more video memory is needed.

It's worth noting that if you try to maximize the VirtualBox VM window right after installing Windows 10 on a VirtualBox VM, the size of the guest OS user interface will not be increased. Be sure to check the amount of video memory you have in the virtual machine settings.

VirtualBox is installed on the host OS running on a host machine (a physical machine) and the guest OS is the operating system running on a VM. You can disable the internet connection or set up a virtual network adapter for a VM in the Host Only mode to allow network communication only between host and guest systems, and deny connecting the Windows 10 guest to external networks, including the internet.

If security is a concern for you, running Windows 10 as a virtual machine (VM) on VirtualBox is a good idea. This way, you can protect your host OS from potential malware threats by isolating the guest OS in a virtual environment.

Overall, making VirtualBox full screen for your Windows 10 guests is a straightforward process that requires installing Guest Additions and adjusting some settings in your VM. By following these steps, you should be able to resolve any issues with full screen mode not working properly and enjoy a smooth and secure virtual machine experience.

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