Auto resize screen size for Windows 10 guest VMs in Virtualbox

Mattias Geniar, November 03, 2015

Follow me on Twitter as @mattiasgeniar

If you’re running Virtualbox on your system to virtualise Windows or Linux VMs, either manually or through Vagrant, you can have the VM auto resize its display when you resize the window on your host.

This guide specifically tailors to Windows 10, but it should work for any Windows Virtual Machine in Virtualbox.

Install the Guest Additions tool

First, install the guest additions in the Windows VM. Go to Devices -> Insert Guest Additions CD.

Install the Guest Additions via the wizard that’ll pop up. Next … next … next … reboot afterwards.

Auto-resize the guest display

After the reboot, go to View -> Auto-resize guest display and check the option.

Now whenever you resize the window of your guest Windows install, it’ll resize automatically to your new window size.

If this does not work for you, make sure you’re running at least Virtualbox 5.0.8 or later, I’ve had flaky results on previous versions.

Windows 10 auto resize adjacent snapped window feature not working

For some reason the «When I resize a snapped window, simultaneously resize any adjacent window» (in settings>system>multitasking) feature has stopped working. It used to work but not the «bar» in the middle does not show up when i hover over the borders and it will only resize one side. I have tested it on my other windows 10 device and it still works fine. They both have been updated to the newest version of windows so they should work the same. Turning the feature on and off and reboots don’t help.

Any idea of what’s wrong and what i can do to fix it?

Replies (10) 

Thank you for being part of Microsoft Community.

Did you make any changes to the computer prior to the issue.

The issue could have happened due to some file corruptions. I would request you to perform a SFC scan and then check if it helps.

System File Checker is a utility in Windows that allows users to scan for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. If a Windows Resource Protection (WRP) file is missing or is corrupted, Windows may not behave as expected.

Perform SFC(System file Checker) scan and see if it helps.

a: Press Windows key + X.

b: Select Command Prompt(Admin).

c: Type SFC / scannow and hit enter.

Do get back to us for any issues pertaining to Windows in the future. We will be happy to help.

How To Stop Auto Resizing Of Windows In Windows 10

Last Updated on November 5, 2019 by admin 25 Comments

In Windows 10, with default settings, when you move a window to one of the corners or sides of the screen, it automatically resizes and snaps the window. You also get suggestions what you can snap next to the current window.

The multitasking feature is helpful when you are on a PC with a large screen or when you are using an external monitor. But if you are on a small laptop screen, the feature might not be very useful. In fact, the feature might annoy you when you are on a small screen device.

Luckily, Windows 10 can be configured to stop automatically resizing and arranging windows when moved them to sides or corners of the screen.

In this guide, we will see how to turn off one or more multitasking features in Windows 10.

Stop Windows 10 from automatically resizing windows

Step 1: Navigate to Settings app > System > Multitasking.

Step 2: Here, turn off the Snap windows option to stop Windows 10 from automatically resizing windows.

Old Method (doesn’t work with in the latest version of Windows 10)

Step 1: Open the Settings app and navigate to System > Multitasking.

Step 2: Under the Snap section, you will get the following options:

1. Arrange windows automatically by dragging them to sides or corners of the screen.

2. When I snap a window, automatically size it to fill available space.

3. When I snap a window, show what I can snap next to it.

4. When I resize a snapped window, simultaneously resize any adjacent snapped window.

If you want to stop Windows 10 from automatically arranging and resizing them when moved to the corner or sides of the screen, turn off Arrange windows automatically by dragging them to sides or corners of the screen option. When this option is turned off, other options are automatically turned off as well.

As you know by now, when you snap a window, Windows 10 automatically shows a few windows that you can snap next it. If you don’t want to this suggestion, turn off the third option.

Filed Under: Windows 10 Tagged: Tips

Related Articles

Comments

David Wolfe says

MS audacity of having this as a setting as default. The idiots don’t realize these kinds of things will be their downfall.

Danny Heflin says

I have found that the issue is from within the screen saver, I checked mine & it showed it was set @ 29 min but disabled so I enabled it then set it with all 9’s in the time box, then I returned it to disabled so now when Wind Blows seeks to screw over my desktop it will have to wait 999999 min before doing so, it has only been doing this BS while I nap for 30 min to 2 hours, I am unsure how long the above number of min is but I doubt I will nap that long ever 🙂

Lin Ligrest says

Yep, It’s pretty bad when Microsoft arbitrarily up’s and changes things for no apparent reason. First off, I had to take an old vendors copy of Windows 7 and install it on my three Windows 10 home computers running the old 1804 build, because I couldn’t update to the newer 1904 OS build, then I download the media creation tool that contained the 1904 OS build. I was shocked at all the nonsense over this so called wonderful does nothing upgrade. If you don’t do there so called upgrades, they threaten you with, “There will no longer be anymore support for the old system that your using”. There will always be someone trying to build that better mouse trap, even though we all know the current one works just fine and can’t be improved upon. As far as windows resizing, it’s one more attempt by them trying to make things better that all ready work just fine. To sum it up, “IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT”. The real answer in al this is, ask us what we would like to have changed/or new in our computers, but they won’t listen.

this is a third party app like for Dell its premier color, or for MSI its true color tools…thats why it is not working when you change snap in windows, so for all you idiots bashing microsoft…its really because you have little knowledge regarding this. First be aware you do not know something to the degree necessary then learn and know what you need to…After this something doesnt work then maybe its the fault of the product in question…But people get a little bit of knowledge and think they know it all as their confidence is sky high…until they learn more then realize they know nothing at all…dumb asses.

Recently purchased new NUC 10 and downloaded Win 10 as the OS. Have tried all suggested solutions to kill the automatic re-sizing of windows and left upper corner docking when the screen-saver comes on. Nothing has worked. Microsoft needs to jettison this feature altogether. It serves no useful purpose.

Danny Heflin says

WIN 10 is the biggest POS Micro-SUCK has ever made, I truly enjoyed win 7 & had 0 issues but that system simply ceased about 8 months ago so I bought a new PC & couldn’t buy a win 7 one since it wont run on these new systems, I tried just using the win 7 OS from moving my drives into this one & it wouldn’t recognize shit, but oh well I now have win 10 then I learned it is an eternally updated turd that is never any more stable than the backup you have made & it actually devoured 1.5 T of Backup space on my backup drive in 3 months by never simply updating the Backups every backup it made was brand new I finally disabled that shit & I am now using the segate backup software from the drive which is working fine but win 10 still occasionally tries fucking me over again & again like this window resize shit I have had all that disabled since day 1 but every pain in the ass update it reverts every setting back to how the shitheads programing it want it & will rarely do what I want why because Micro-suck decided to make their OS WIND-BLOWS.

I agree completely with the complainants, this is infuriating. However I have found that if I slide a finger on both hands from the edges of the touchpad to the centre it SOMETIMES reverts to normal size. ( It just did before I wrote this ).

“But if you are on a small laptop screen, the feature might not be very useful. In fact, the feature might annoy you when you are on a small screen device.”

It bloody well annoys me whenever it happens.

I’m having same problem as above. I agree with annoyed by MS. I want the windows to stay where I last put them and the same size as I last put them. This seemed to happen a couple of updates ago. Now mine are always reduced in size and anchored in the upper left when I wake the computer from sleep. I also cannot find any combo of settings that make it stop doing this.
Please MS. FIX THIS!

Doesn’t work, period. 10/27/2019, Win10 1903 18362.418 “up to date”.

Line at top of this website says “Last Updated on March 22, 2018 by admin”

1 year, 7 months later…

Rob Poretti says

Plain and simple: Turning off the snap windows option does not prevent windows from snapping. It is the worst productivity feature ever – because it is non-productive. I waste my time EVERY DAY with this bug… did I say that out loud? I meant “feature”…

Dak J Ultimak says

I am having the same problem, it started with a recent Windows 10 update. This is NOT the Snap feature which is fine, and I use all the time. If I drag any application anywhere near the TOP of the screen, it snaps to FULL SCREEN. When I click the Square (between the dash, minimize, and the X, close), it’s supposed to revert back to the original window size, instead it remains FULL SCREEN, then I have to resize the window over again. it happens with almost all program windows.

The solution was right for one. It did stop the auto adjust size. But what does not happen is the page only goes so high it stops one full size even if you lower the page past the start bar you can only make page so high . I am trying to figure a way to have full screen but no ads on bottom. As it could burn my screen because it is always white bar and never changes , that is the issue now.
Thanks got the information

Jack Littley says

none of these solutions work. this is a state problem all I want is for windows to return to the state it was in before hibernation. I cant seem to make it do that so I have resize and move my windows back to where I want them evertime the system hibernates. Bad design

Prachar Mike says

All of these replies are for a different problem than what the article is about…

I have tat problem myself – only happens on one of my devices. Still searching for the fix.

C A Rogillio says

Microsoft pays no attention to the wants or needs of it’s customers. They are absolutely deaf to our problems; making money is their holy grail, not customer service! I can’t wait to see IBM’s Red Hat improvements.

So MS is ignoring all the folks with the same issue (me included on Win10) and refuses to correct the problem. What a useless organization.

Duff Watkins says

proposed solution doesn’t work

Jeff Guarino says

does not work, I have the feature shut off , just like this article describes and my windows still expand to fill whole screen when moved near the edge.

Brand new computer, forced to use Windows 10, and not happy about it. I have all those options turned off, and yet every time I return to the computer, all my windows are re-sized at the top left of the screen. This is beyond annoying. This was never a problem with Win 7. Why can’t MS leave well enough alone?

this doesn’t work!. windows 10 shrinks my chrome browser whenever the screen saver comes on. THIS FEATURE SUCKS. the fix suggested does not work!

If I leave a window for another which is over it, many times upon returning to the first window, it has been reduced to a uselessly small size and I have to make it bigger again. This is totally annoying. I have everything turned off as suggested by this article and numerous others and it still happens. I do not know why this is supposed to help anyone. I wish MicroSoft would stop assuming what its users need and actually ask them.

Brand new Lenovo with Windows 10 – turning off the Snap does nothing. Screen still maximizes – extremely annoying and time consuming to constantly have to resize.

I have “all” of the above options turned off. But, since I deal with limited screen real estate, I have a portion of the title bar hanging off of the screen on an “un-maximized” window. But, if I then click on a scroll button, or try to resize the window, while the title bar, (or side of the window) is hanging off the edge of the screen, the window is *still* auto-resized so that the sides of the window that were off screen are now fully back inside the screen, which then messes up my arrangement of what I need to see within the window, forcing me to have to once more resize and replace it off screen again, and “hope” that I don’t have to scroll again, (since mouse scroll is disabled in that window for some reason).

I also have all three of the options checked for “Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen”, from the “Ease of Access Center”. I can find no other options for this. Everything I can find is set to prevent this from happening, but it is still happening.

Anyone have any other ideas for how to fix this?

@annoyed by Microsoft,
Not I. It is hyper frustrating.

annoyed by Microsoft says

I’m curious — does anybody find this to be a useful feature? It only annoys me, even with external monitors. I want windows where I put them, and the size I make them. Not flying all over the screen if I try to move a window to the “wrong” place.