I have a high DPI display. When running VMs that do not support changing resolution the text in the console is so small it is almost unreadable. This happens with Linux guests without a GUI (CentOS minimal for example) and Windows PE.
Is there anything that can be done to make the scaling larger in the console as I can't connect through RDP or use enhanced session mode in these cases.
You need to install the extension software which will allow you to use any screen resolution including full screen. I don't have Hyper-V installed but there's an option in the menu when your virtual OS is running and it'll make the software appear on a cd drive which you then have to install manually.
As far as I know Hyper-V features are already included in the Linux kernel and in Windows after 8.1. There aren't any guest additions to install.
I'm trying to make a WinPE (based on Windows 10 ADK) and am testing it in Hyper-V but everything is so small it is almost impossible to read as it is using my native resolution of 2560 x 1600 which on a 13" screen is unusably small.
Yes, the Hyper-V integration components are included in Windows 8 or later, WIndows Server 2012 or later, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS Linux install media and will be automatically applied when these operating systems are installed on Hyper-V guest. No additional install is needed, and as far as I know not even possible.
If you are using the Hyper-V Enhanced connection, you can select any resolution you want to the same way (and in fact using almost the same dialog) as to set the resolution of a remote desktop connection:
Do not select full screen! That automatically applies the max resolution of the physical display you are using.
If you have saved, accidentally or on purpose the Enhanced Mode settings, the dialog is not shown and resolution cannot be changed. In that case you need to close the vm window, the vm can left running, then manually delete the saved Enhanced Mode configuration file. The file is called vmconnect.rdp.XXXXXXXX.config (XXXXXXXX = hexadecimal string representing the machine ID), and is located in %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Client\1.0:
Now open the vm window again and the dialog will be shown and you can set the resolution.
If you want to you can also edit the configuration file instead of deleting it to manually change the values, for instance if full screen or not, and set a resolution. Notice that the resolution can what you want to, it don't have to be a pre-defined 4:3 or 16:9 resolution. If you want to have a cube, set resolution to 1,000 * 1,000 :)
Kari
I can't use enhanced connection on WinPE (or minimal Linux) VMs. It works fine with Windows guests but with WinPE the configuration box doesn't appear and the "Enhanced session" option is always grayed out. I get no option to change the size of the resolution - in this picture WinPE is expanded to (what Hyper-V thinks is) full screen and as you can see the text is really small.
If I enter "Full screen mode" the VM screen displayed stays the same size and is just centered and surrounded by massive black borders.
I checked the %appdata% directory and have no vmconnect.rdp.XXXXXXXX.config files stored in there - but it is good to know for future.
That was my mistake, I "speed read" your post, saw "CentOS" and thought OK, integration is built-in. What I missed was the minimal setup.
That, in my opinion makes this quite clear: you have as far as I know no way to change the resolution from host. The change must be done in guest. One workaround although involving an extra step or two could be, in case you use multiple displays, to temporarily change the resolution of the secondary display to that of the CentOS guest. It's most probably using a 4:3 resolution, 800*600 or 1,024*768, meaning you can't get the display resolution to exactly match the guest resolution if you are using other than 4:3 displays, but at least it would make the guest "readable".
Thanks - I'll try that. I was just trying the magnifier tool which works OK at 200% but makes it hard to interact with other things.
What you need to do is change the resolution of the host system. To something more common to a 13" monitor like, 1440x900 or some such.
You see, the systems you are installing have no concept of DPI scailing thus remain quite small.
Have you tried to edit /etc/grub.conf, adding vga=xxx at the end of the Kernel line? Replace the xxx with a value from this table:
For instance vga=866 would give 1400*900 resolution in 16 bit colors.
Kari
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