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I've been running VMWare Workstation on Windows machines for years. However, I've encountered a problem on a new Surface Pro 3 that appears to be related to the very high resolution of the Surface Pro 3.
The issue arises when I'm running a VM on a external display and have set Windows to extend the displays, i.e., the applications on the external display, including Workstation, are independent of whatever is on the Surface Pro screen. In that mode, the click location inside the VM is offset from the actual location of the cursor, which makes it difficult do anything with the mouse.
I've tried various combinations of screen resolutions on both the host and guest, including setting the resolution on the host display much lower, but with no change in behavior.
The only way I've gotten the cursor to behave normally is to change Windows on the host to duplicate rather than extend displays, but using extended displays is vital.
I'm running Workstation 11. What settings do I need to change to make the cursor behave normally in the VM?
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Hi Guys
Found a solution for this, if you disable high DPI settings on the VMWare shortcut the issue goes away.
To do this right click on the VMWare.exe (or shortcut that you use) and select properties
Click compatibility tab and then tick 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings'
Close VMware (if open)
This has worked for me
Hello Scott A. Helmers
Thanks for reaching out to us. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with Surface Pro 3, external display and VM.
Does this also occur with the same external display extended, but without use of VM? Do mouse movements / clicks operate as expected and on target?
Have you tried implementing different external displays? Do they match the resolution ratings of Surface?
Let us know what is happening.
Best regards
The problem does not occur outside of a VM on an extended display. To say that a different way, I use multiple extended monitors and have no problem unless I have a VM running on one of them. And in that circumstance, the problem only occurs inside the VM.
I do not have an external display with resolution as high as the Surface. I generally run both the Surface display and the external displays at the same setting: 1920x1080, but I have tried setting the external display to both higher and lower resolutions than the Surface display.
Hello Scott A. Helmers
To confirm, this is only happening in conjunction with VMWare Workstation. Have you also reached out to the folk there? They may have some insights as to what is happening with their product.
Please keep us posted.
Best regards
I have posted the question in the VMWare community forums but no answer yet.