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Debugging VM graphical display issues

Cole Robinson edited this page Sep 8, 2024 · 4 revisions

Bugs related to the VM graphical display are often filed against virt-manager. Common reports describe problems with:

  • Mouse: weird pointer look or behavior
  • Graphical glitches or strange appearance
  • Spice VM text copy+paste
  • Spice USB redirection (the virt-manager Redirect USB device option)
  • Spice Guest autoresize behavior (the virt-manager Auto resize VM with window option)
  • Spice GL/Virtio 3D support graphical issues

Often the true source of the issue lies in other projects, such as:

To help determine the true source of the problem, please try the following debugging steps:

  • Try to reproduce with virt-viewer.

    • Start your VM in virt-manager, then close virt-manager
    • From a terminal, run sudo virt-viewer YOUR-VM-NAME
    • If you can't reproduce the problem, it may be virt-manager's fault. File a bug.
    • If you see the same problem, it is likely not virt-manager OR virt-viewers fault.
      • If the issue involves Spice specific functionality listed above, file an issue against spice for further triage.
      • If your VM is using VNC, file an issue against gtk-vnc.
      • Otherwise continue to the next debugging steps to narrow it down more
  • Try to reproduce after switching from QXL to VGA

    • In virt-manager VM details, select Video QXL, change Model to VGA, click Apply, fully power off the VM, then start it.
    • If you can't reproduce the problem, it could be in a number of places, but file an issue against spice for further triage.
    • If you can still reproduce the problem, file a bug against virt-manager.
    • If your problem affects a specific non-QXL video model like Virtio, file an issue against qemu.
  • Try to reproduce after switching from Spice to VNC

    • In virt-manager VM details, select Display Spice, change Type to VNC server, click Apply, fully power off the VM, then start it.
    • If you can't reproduce the problem, file an issue against spice for further triage.
    • If you can still reproduce the problem, file a bug against virt-manager.

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