How to make a Windows 11 (or 10) virtual machine fullscreen in VirtualBox

To run Windows 10 or 11 VirtualBox VM in full screen mode, open the menu Views and choose “Full-screen Mode” or select “Guest View auto-resize.”You can also use keyboard shortcuts “Right Ctrl (Host) + F”.

Virtual machines always start with the default window size in VirtualBox, which is small and not ideal for navigating the operating system.

Usually, in the case of Windows 10 (or Windows 11), you will open the “Display” settings to change the resolution for larger screen or full screen, but you will quickly notice that the “Display resolution” option does not include many settings.

However, you have a few options if you want to make the virtual machine run full screen in Windows 10. You can use the “Full Screen Mode” or “Automatically Resize Guest” options. The first option will make the guest operating system fullscreen, meaning the VM will take up the entire screen as the main system. The second option simply stretches the virtual machine’s resolution based on the window size.

This guide will teach you the steps to stretch or full screen a virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Windows 11 (or 10) full screen way in VirtualBox

In VirtualBox, you can only create full-screen virtual machines if the Guest Additions are installed. If you haven’t installed the virtual driver yet, complete the steps and continue with the instructions below.

To run a virtual machine in full screen mode in VirtualBox, use these steps:

Open VirtualBox.

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Right click virtual machine, select submenu Startand select an option Normal Start.

Sign in to your Windows 10 (or 11) account.

Click menus Look in the virtual machine and select the button Full Screen Mode (Right Ctrl (Host) + F) option.

(Optional) Click the menu Look in the virtual machine and select options “Automatically Resize Guest”.

Quick note: If the virtual machine window is maximized, click the button “Restore down” then button “maximize” again to allow VirtualBox to change screen resolution automatically.

After you complete these steps, the guest operating system will automatically change the resolution to full-screen mode.

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