Omarchy on VirtualBox

[nightdevil00]

Installing Omarchy in Oracle VirtualBox

This guide covers the VirtualBox configuration and post-install fixes needed to run Omarchy correctly in an Oracle VirtualBox virtual machine.

1. Configure the VirtualBox VM

Before booting the installed Omarchy system, power off the virtual machine and open:

VirtualBox Manager → Select the VM → Settings → Display

Configure the display settings as follows:

• Graphics Controller: VMSVGA

• Video Memory: 128 MB

• Enable 3D Acceleration: Enabled

The 3D acceleration setting is particularly important. Without it, Hyprland cannot initialize OpenGL correctly. This causes EGL to fail and Hyprland to crash when SDDM attempts to automatically log in, resulting in a black screen.

2. Boot Omarchy

Boot the Omarchy installation normally.

If the VM reaches the Omarchy desktop, continue with the guest integration setup below.

If you get a black screen after disk decryption, return to the VirtualBox Display settings and make sure:

• VMSVGA is selected

• Video memory is set to 128 MB

• 3D acceleration is enabled

Switch to TTY using CTRL+ALT+F3 from the Soft Keyboard, login then continue:

3. Install VirtualBox Guest Additions

Once Omarchy is running, install the VirtualBox guest utilities.

`omarchy pkg add virtualbox-guest-utils  \# also add nano if nvim not your thing :)`

`sudo systemctl enable --now vboxservice.service`

The guest utilities also allow the VM display to resize automatically when the VirtualBox window is resized.

4. Fix the Omarchy Shell / Quickshell

After enabling 3D acceleration, you may encounter another VirtualBox-specific problem.

Hyprland may start successfully, but the Omarchy shell can fail to launch. The underlying issue is VirtualBox's VMSVGA 3D graphics stack and its GPU buffer sharing.

Typical errors include:

`wl\_display\#1: error 1: invalid arguments for wl\_surface\#41.attach`

`WARN: The Wayland connection experienced a fatal error: Invalid argument`

Quickshell may crash repeatedly, after which the Omarchy shell supervisor gives up. This results in Hyprland running without the normal Omarchy bar and desktop shell.

Force GL clients to use software rendering

Edit:

`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua`

Immediately after the bootstrap dofile, add:

`-- VirtualBox VMSVGA 3D breaks GPU buffer sharing (clients crash with`

`-- "invalid arguments for wl\_surface.attach"), so render GL clients on CPU.`

`hl.env("LIBGL\_ALWAYS\_SOFTWARE", "1")`

This forces OpenGL clients to use llvmpipe/software rendering instead of the problematic VirtualBox GPU buffer path.

5. Reload the Omarchy Shell

Run omarchy restart shell

You can verify that the shell is working with:

`hyprctl layers`

The omarchy-bar layer should be present.

The Hyprland configuration should also be free of errors:

`hyprctl configerrors`

The tested configuration had no errors, with quickshell running successfully and the Omarchy bar rendered.

6. Backup

Before modifying the Hyprland configuration, keep a backup of:

`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua`

For example:

`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua.bak.\<timestamp\>`

This makes it easy to restore the original configuration if necessary.

7. Reverting the VirtualBox Workaround

If a future Mesa or VirtualBox update fixes the VMSVGA GPU buffer-sharing problem, the software-rendering workaround can be removed.

Delete the three lines added to:

`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua`

Then restart the Hyprland session.

This allows GL clients to attempt hardware rendering again.

8. Expected Limitations

Running Omarchy inside VirtualBox has a performance tradeoff.

Because GL clients are forced to use CPU rendering:

• Animations may be slower.

• GPU-accelerated applications may perform worse than on bare metal.

• The setup is nevertheless usable inside a VM.

The initial display may also appear very small, such as approximately 640×678. Once the VirtualBox guest utilities are installed, resizing the VirtualBox window should automatically adjust the guest display resolution.

Quick Setup Summary

VirtualBox

`Graphics Controller: VMSVGA`

`Video Memory:        128 MB`

`3D Acceleration:     Enabled`

Inside Omarchy

If the Omarchy shell crashes, add to:

`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua`

`hl.env("LIBGL\_ALWAYS\_SOFTWARE", "1")`

Then launch:

`omarchy restart shell`

Verify:

`hyprctl configerrors`

`hyprctl layers`

The result should be a functional Omarchy desktop with the Omarchy shell and bar running correctly inside VirtualBox.

Troubleshooting:

Resolution stuck at 960x488

**Fix:** Edit `~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua` — uncommented the specific-monitor

line for `Virtual-1`:

```lua

hl.monitor({ output = "Virtual-1", mode = "1920x1080@60", position = "0x0", scale = 1 })

```

• Applied instantly via `hyprctl reload`; `hyprctl configerrors` clean.

• Available modes listed with `hyprctl monitors all`.

[nightdevil00]

Full guide Below:
guide.doc

[AnshSharma013579]

Brother, it shows that it's unable to find the target when I try to install virtualbox-guest-utils

[nightdevil00]

That's cause you need to refresh pacman cache with sudo pacman -Sy since the Omarchy ISO is offline.

[AnshSharma013579]

Thanks, brother, but I am still getting some issues

[nightdevil00]

your omarchy install was not complete, retry.

[AnshSharma013579]

Sorry, brother, it was my mistake. I entered the wrong config while editing that hyprland.lua file, and thanks alot its working and it looks great

[rodolfoghi]

Confirming this works, and adding the diagnosis in case it helps someone land here from a search.

Setup: Omarchy 4.0.2, kernel 7.1.9-arch1-2, Hyprland 0.56.2, VirtualBox on a Windows 11 Pro host, 12 GB RAM / 6 vCPU, UEFI.

Symptom: after install, logging in gives a black screen with only the mouse pointer. Ctrl+Alt+F3 into a TTY works fine.

Diagnosis

• /tmp/hypr and $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/hypr were both missing, so Hyprland was never reaching a running state.
• Running Hyprland by hand from the TTY crashed with signal 6 (ABRT) immediately after Creating the AsyncResourceGatherer! — i.e. at GPU/EGL init.
• journalctl -b | grep -i vmwgfx showed a repeating [drm:vmw_msg_ioctl] [vmwgfx] *ERROR* Failed to open channel.

No usable OpenGL, and Hyprland (Aquamarine) aborts instead of falling back.

Fix

All three parts together:

1. VM Settings → Display: Graphics Controller VMSVGA, Video Memory 128 MB, 3D Acceleration enabled.
2. Guest utilities inside the VM:

   sudo pacman -Syu virtualbox-guest-utils
   sudo systemctl enable --now vboxservice
   

3. Force software GL. Omarchy 4.x uses ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua, not hyprland.conf — edits to the .conf are silently ignored. Add right after the dofile(... bootstrap.lua) line:

   hl.env("LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE", "1")

   One-liner:

   sed -i '/bootstrap.lua/a hl.env("LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE", "1")' ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua
   

Reboot, and the desktop comes up.

Dead ends, so nobody repeats them

• Disabling 3D Acceleration. Modern Hyprland needs a working GL context; turning it off guarantees the crash.
• WLR_RENDERER=pixman / WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1. wlroots-era variables; Hyprland >= 0.42 uses Aquamarine and ignores them.
• Blacklisting vmwgfx to fall back to simpledrm. Not needed once the guest utils are in.

Two gotchas while debugging

• Omarchy's default shell is Nushell, where echo 'x' >> file does not append like in bash — it fails and leaves no file. Use sed/tee when following bash-style instructions.
• VirtualBox bidirectional clipboard does not work in a TTY, only inside the graphical session, so expect to type by hand.

If the resolution ends up stuck small, uncomment the Virtual-1 line in ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua and set e.g. 1920x1080@60.

One caveat on rigor: I applied steps 2 and 3 together, so I did not isolate which of the two is strictly required — the combination is what I can confirm works.