What do I do if a Windows virtual machine cannot adjust the screen resolution?

Cause

When a Windows virtual machine uses the Spice remote desktop protocol with a QXL graphics adapter, the QXL driver must be installed. Without the QXL driver, the resolution cannot be adjusted.

Solution

1. Try the following steps to resolve the issue:

2. Download and install the VirtIO driver.

   • For Windows 10, use the zstack-windows-virtio-driver-2.1.iso included with the virtualization platform.
   • For Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019, download and install the latest version of the VirtIO driver.

3. Attach the VirtIO driver to the virtual machine and install the QXL driver. The following example shows how to install the QXL driver on Windows Server 2016:

   1. Navigate to the optical drive directory \qxldod\2k16\amd64.

   2. Right-click the qxldod.inf file in that directory and select Install to begin installing the QXL driver.

4. After the QXL driver is installed, restart the virtual machine.