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Why is Windows 10 text garbled / distorted / jumbled when running as a guest OS under VirtualBox 6.0.0 on macOS Mojave?

The text issue seems isolated to Windows dialogs. The more I interact with the dialogs the worse the text issue becomes. It appears as though multiple layers of text in different languages are being piled on top of each other.

Screenshot

Things I have tried:

  • Installing extension pack on mac.
  • Installing guest extensions in safe mode in guest OS
  • Turning off 3D acceleration (Has the negative side effect of freezing the refresh of the guest OS until it loses and regains focus)
  • Setting the paravirtualization interface to Hyper-V
  • Using VBoxVGA and VBoxSVGA
  • Setting the zoom factor to 125% within the guest OS
  • Setting scale factor to 200% from VirtualBox machine settings
  • Setting hinted screen size from VirtualBox settings

I had this working on my old MacBook Pro, but I think it was only because I reverted to the version 5 of VirtualBox.

Any additional ideas are appreciated.

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  • 2
    Try 3D off and VBoxVGA. That works for me on a Windows host.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Jan 7, 2019 at 19:57
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    Whelp. Turns out that is a combination I had not tried, and--what do you know--it resolves my issue. Thanks!
    – jedatu
    Commented Jan 7, 2019 at 20:10
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    I had the exact same issue. My solution has been to keep with VBoxSVGA but disable both 2D and 3D acceleration. Cannot figure out whether better than VboxVGA or not but after switching it didn't work for me going back to it (just black screen).
    – Shane Hudson
    Commented Jun 11, 2019 at 13:31

1 Answer 1

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I recommend using VBoxVGA without any 3D/2D acceleration.

VBoxSVGA is very new and there are apparently some issues to be fixed before it becomes usable. Why they included it in this state, who knows. VBoxVGA is what was used before. Years of service have made it reliable.

3D acceleration is experimental anyway with VirtualBox and should IMHO only be used when absolutely required.

On a Windows host, I encountered the secondary issue you mention: The screen would not refresh at all except when I performed specific actions.

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  • When I select VBoxVGA without 3D Acceleration, a warning appears: Invalid settings detected The virtual machine is configured to use a graphics controller other than the recommended one (VBoxSVGA). Please consider switching unless you have a reason to keep the currently selected graphics controller. For me, using VBoxSVGA without 3D Acceleration solved my issue (Windows 10 22H2 guest).
    – mrtumnus
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 14:53

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