Ubuntu 22.04.4 Guest - Multi Monitor layout results in scroll bars

[Vinay Yadav]

Hello.

Host
- VMware Workstation 17 Player - 17.5.2 build-23775571
- OS: Windows 11 Pro (10.0, Build 22631)
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 - Studio Driver 560.81
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

Guest
- OS: Ubuntu 22.04.4 (Fresh ubuntu-22.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso)
- Windowing System: X11 (same issue with Wayland as well)

On guest, out of the blue, the "Monitor Layout" for 2 or more monitors has started to result in scroll bars.

To rule out issues with my old VM, I launched a fresh VM.
- But it also has same issues whether Wayland or X11 is being used.
- I tried removing and reinstalling open-vm-tools-desktop and open-vm-tools - But no luck.

To add, I also have a Windows 10 VM.
- The "Monitor Layout" for 2 or more monitors is working as expected.

Attaching some screenshots.

If anyone has some pointers, please share as I ran out of options on my end.

Thanks.

Edit: Added VMware product being used.

[Vinay Yadav]

Update: For now, I have restored a 3 months old backup for my Ubuntu VM and disabled its unattended-upgrades background service.
Its "Monitor layout" is working fine.

On my end, it turned out to be some updated Ubuntu package(s) causing the issue.
Hopefully, it will get resolved with the next update to Workstation Player.

[Andrew Hamrick]

I'm seeing this as well, both on ubuntu 22.04 and on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. Perhaps it's a bug in open-vm-tools?

[Ian Forbes]

This issue was resolved in Linux 6.10 and the fix was backported to kernel 6.6 and 6.1. Unfortunately Ubuntu has not applied these changes to their kernels which means that it remains an issue in 22.04. One possible workaround is to lock the guest screen using (Win + L) which should cause the screen to realign properly when it's unlock. 

[Andrew Hamrick]

Ian, I'm still seeing this issue with OpenSuse Tumbleweed on a 6.11 kernel.

Locking and unlocking didn't seem to help (and pressing win+L will only lock the guest if the enhanced keyboard driver is installed, which was removed in Workstation 17.6). The only thing that seems to make the vm usable again, is to reboot the VM.

Full system info:

Host

• VMware Workstation 17 Pro (17.6.0 build-24238078) (Personal Use)
• OS: Windows 10 Pro (22H2 - Build 19045.4894)
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 TI
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

Guest

• OS: OpenSuse Tumbleweed (fresh install)
• Kernel Version: 6.11
• Boot Method: UEFI
• Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma 6
• Windowing System: X11 (Also saw the same issue with Wayland)

What's also weird is if you change to stretch view mode, it looks like VMWare Workstation still thinks there's a second monitor

(Stretch and keep aspect ratio):

(Free Stretch)

[Morten Frederiksen]

I am experiencing this problem. The workaround of locking the screen is also not working for me.

Host

• VMware Workstation 16 Pro (16.2.3 build-19376536)
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise (10.0.22631 Build 22631)
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 770
• CPU: Intel Code i7-12700

Guest

• OS: Ubuntu 22.4
• Kernel Version: 6.8.0
• Boot Method: UEFI
• Desktop Environment: GNOME
• Windowing System: X11
• open-vm-tools: 12.3.5

[Marc-Antoine Massicotte]

Host OS: Windows 11 (remote desktop with dual monitors)

Guest OS: Kubuntu 24.04 LTS

After many months of trials and errors, I finally found a workaround to get rid of the scrollbars every time I connect using "remote desktop" with a dual monitor setup on my host (Windows 11) that is already running KDE (Kubuntu 24.04 LTS) as a guest OS. 

First install the latest version of "autorandr":

git clone https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr.git

cd autorandr

sudo make install

In my case, the very first time VMware is started, the multi-monitor setup works without scrollbars (click the "full screen" button and then, the "cycle multiple monitors" button of the VMware toolbar). However, as soon as I disconnect "remote desktop" and reconnect, the scrollbars appear.

As soon as you succeed to have a working monitor setup (without the scrollbars), save this setup with "autorandr" (ex: save it with the name "layout"):

autorandr -s layout

From this point, whenever the scrollbars appear, click on the "cycle multiple monitors" button (VMware) until the mouse cursor looks to be synchronized with the elements on the desktop and then, to restore the monitor layout (without the scrollbars), type the following command:

autorandr -l common && autorandr -l layout

I hope it helps!

[Vinay Yadav]

Just wanted to add that as @Ian Forbes mentioned, this issue still exists even in the latest upgrade point of Ubuntu 22.04 (just verified).

Further, my VM smoothly upgraded to Ubuntu 24.04 and I am glad to mention that this issue is not present in the latest upgrade point of Ubuntu 24.04.
So, if it is possible for you, back up and try updating to the latest LTS of your distro (which probably has the required updates in its kernel).