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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0009496Kali LinuxKali Package Improvementpublic2026-01-11 08:18
Reporteryashjaviya1111 Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityhave not tried
Status newResolutionopen 
Summary0009496: XFCE display resolution missing on VMware Workstation 25.x unless xserver-xorg-video-vmware is installed
Description

Environment:
Kali Linux: Rolling (XFCE, Xorg)\
Host OS: Windows
Hypervisor: VMware Workstation Pro 25.0.0 (25h2)
Guest tools: open-vm-tools, open-vm-tools-desktop
Display driver in use: vmwgfx + modesetting (default)

Problem Summary:
On a fresh Kali XFCE installation running on VMware Workstation 25.x, display resolution handling is broken:
Resolution list is empty in Settings → Display
Fullscreen toggle does not resize the guest
Exiting fullscreen leaves scrollbars
Resolution is locked to boot-time framebuffer size

This occurs even though:
vmwgfx kernel module is loaded correctly
open-vm-tools-desktop is installed
No Xorg driver errors are present

Steps to Reproduce (Error Generator):
Create a new VM using VMware Workstation Pro 25.x on a Windows host
Install Kali Linux Rolling (XFCE)
Ensure VMware tools are installed.
sudo apt install open-vm-tools open-vm-tools-desktop
Boot the VM (especially noticeable when starting in fullscreen)
Open Settings → Display

Observed Behavior:
Resolution dropdown is empty
Guest does not resize when entering fullscreen
Exiting fullscreen results in scrollbars
~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml is created without any monitor blocks
Running xrandr --auto temporarily fixes the issue

Expected Behavior:
Resolution list should populate automatically
Guest should resize dynamically on fullscreen toggle
XFCE should correctly initialize display profiles on login

Key Finding / Workaround (Important):
The issue is fully resolved by installing the legacy VMware Xorg driver package:

sudo bash -c 'echo "# tmp-debian-bookworm" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tmp-debian-bookworm.list \
&& echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tmp-debian-bookworm.list' \
&& sudo apt update \
&& sudo apt install -y xserver-xorg-video-vmware \
&& sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tmp-debian-bookworm.list \
&& sudo apt update

After installing xserver-xorg-video-vmware:
Resolution dropdown works
Fullscreen resize works correctly
Scrollbars issue disappears
displays.xml is populated correctly

Why This Matters:
Kali no longer ships xserver-xorg-video-vmware
Current documentation assumes modesetting + vmwgfx is sufficient
On VMware Workstation 25.x, this assumption is false for XFCE
Kali users are forced to pull packages from Debian manually

Suspected Root Cause:
VMware Workstation 25.x appears to have a regression where initial resize / EDID events are not reliably delivered to Linux guests using only modesetting. The legacy xserver-xorg-video-vmware driver compensates for this by actively handling display modes.

Suggested Actions for Kali:

One of the following would improve user experience:
Reintroduce xserver-xorg-video-vmware as an optional/recommended package for VMware guests
Add a Kali-specific workaround (e.g., forced xrandr --auto on XFCE login)
Document the VMware 25.x limitation and workaround officially
Coordinate upstream with VMware regarding the regression

Impact
This affects usability of Kali on VMware Workstation 25.x and is reproducible on clean installations.

Attached Files

Activities

kali-bugreport

kali-bugreport

2026-01-11 00:44

reporter   ~0021223

That package seems got removed from Debian:

https://tracker.debian.org/news/1688348/xserver-xorg-video-vmware-removed-from-testing/

and thus also removed automatically from Kali.

You could look around why and ask Debian what they are planning with the package.

kali-bugreport

kali-bugreport

2026-01-11 00:47

reporter   ~0021224

Debian side issue:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1112670

kali-bugreport

kali-bugreport

2026-01-11 00:49

reporter   ~0021225

Probably this is also a duplicate of 0009441 and could be closed.

yashjaviya1111

yashjaviya1111

2026-01-11 06:42

reporter   ~0021226

this is hint only to kali that i give from it so they can provide solutions for it and steps for reproduce the issue to help.

kali-bugreport

kali-bugreport

2026-01-11 08:18

reporter   ~0021227

Why not post in existing issue you already found?

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2026-01-10 19:43 yashjaviya1111 New Issue
2026-01-10 19:43 yashjaviya1111 File Added: Screenshot 2026-01-04 141927.png
2026-01-11 00:44 kali-bugreport Note Added: 0021223
2026-01-11 00:47 kali-bugreport Note Added: 0021224
2026-01-11 00:49 kali-bugreport Note Added: 0021225
2026-01-11 06:42 yashjaviya1111 Note Added: 0021226
2026-01-11 08:18 kali-bugreport Note Added: 0021227