Can't change monitor resolution on VMware Workstation virtual machine

ksio89

I recently installed GhostBSD 25.01-R14.2p1 on VMware Workstation Pro 17.6.3 and I can't change resolution from 1024x768 (native monitor resolution is 1920x1080), even after installing open-vm-tools and xf86-video-vmware packages. xrand says 1024x768 is the only resolution available:

xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768 default connected 1024x768 +0+0 0mm x 0mm 1024x768 0.00*

While VMware doesn't support 3D graphics acceleration for FreeBSD guests, I don't think that should prevent other resolutions from being available.

vimanuelt

Here is a shell script that automates the necessary steps to enable higher screen resolutions in GhostBSD running on VMware Workstation, by ensuring the proper drivers, kernel modules, and X11 configuration are in place.

#!/bin/sh
# ghostbsd-vmware-resolution-fix.sh
# Script to enable high-resolution support in GhostBSD VMware guest

set -e

echo "==> Installing required packages..."
sudo pkg install -y open-vm-tools xf86-video-vmware drm-kmod

echo "==> Enabling VMware services..."
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmblock_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmhgfs_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmxnet_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guestd_enable=YES

echo "==> Loading vmwgfx kernel module..."
if ! kldstat | grep -q vmwgfx; then
  sudo kldload vmwgfx
fi

echo "==> Ensuring vmwgfx module loads at boot..."
if ! grep -q 'vmwgfx_load="YES"' /boot/loader.conf; then
  echo 'vmwgfx_load="YES"' | sudo tee -a /boot/loader.conf
fi

echo "==> Creating X11 configuration for vmware driver..."
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo tee /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-vmware.conf > /dev/null <<EOF
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "vmware"
EndSection
EOF

echo "==> All done. Please reboot the system to apply changes."

Save the script as ghostbsd-vmware-resolution-fix.sh

Make it executable: chmod +x ghostbsd-vmware-resolution-fix.sh

Then reboot: sudo reboot

Qbr96

vimanuelt

Hey mate im new to unix based systems and im getting this error:

fish: Expected a string, but found a redirection
sudo tee /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-vmware.conf > /dev/null <<EOF

Do you have a solution?

ksio89

Thanks for the script, but the "==> Loading vmwgfx kernel module..." step didn't work:

echo "==> Loading vmwgfx kernel module..." 
kldload: can't load vmwgfx: No such file or directory

vimanuelt

ksio89
Give this a try:

#!/bin/sh
# ghostbsd-vmware-resolution-fix.sh
# Script to enable high-resolution and full guest integration in GhostBSD running in VMware Workstation

set -e

echo "==> Installing required packages..."
sudo pkg install -y open-vm-tools xf86-video-vmware drm-515-kmod

echo "==> Enabling VMware guest services..."
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmblock_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmhgfs_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guest_vmxnet_enable=YES
sudo sysrc vmware_guestd_enable=YES

echo "==> Ensuring vmwgfx kernel module loads at boot..."
# Don't manually kldload vmwgfx — let rc.conf handle it properly
if ! grep -q 'vmwgfx' /etc/rc.conf; then
  sudo sysrc kld_list+="vmwgfx"
fi

echo "==> Creating X11 configuration for VMware video driver..."
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo tee /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-vmware.conf > /dev/null <<EOF
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "vmware"
EndSection
EOF

echo "==> Creating mount point for VMware shared folders (optional)..."
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/hgfs

echo "==> All done. You may now reboot the system to apply all changes."
echo "==> If you use Shared Folders in VMware, you can mount them with:"
echo "    sudo vmhgfs-fuse .host:/ /mnt/hgfs -o allow_other"

vimanuelt

Qbr96
You're encountering this error because the <<EOF heredoc syntax you're using is specific to Bash, but you're currently using the Fish shell, which doesn't support heredocs in the same way. As a result, Fish interprets the command incorrectly and throws the “Expected a string, but found a redirection” error. To work around this, you can run the command inside a Bash subshell by using bash -c and placing your heredoc inside single quotes. For example, you can write: bash -c 'sudo tee /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-vmware.conf > /dev/null <<EOF ... EOF'. Alternatively, you can temporarily switch to the Bash shell by typing bash, run your original command as you intended, and then type exit to return to Fish. Both approaches allow you to use Bash's heredoc syntax without running into compatibility issues in Fish. If you prefer to stay entirely within the Fish shell, you can achieve the same effect using echo and a pipe instead, though it may be less elegant for multiline configuration.

Qbr96

vimanuelt

Thank you so much man it worked immediately after switching to bash 😄