not getting grub2 in guest to see 1920x1080 resolution

[newbrific]

Using VirtualBox 4.3.6, I have invoked the commands

vboxmanage setextradata global "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x16"
vboxmanage setextradata global "CustomVideoMode2" "1920x1080x32"

plus verified that vboxmanage getextradata returns that the settings are in place.

Nonetheless, when booting a (Debian Wheezy) Linux guest with grub2, the vbeinfo and videoinfo commands do not list a 1920x1080 mode, and consequently, I can't get such a mode to be accepted when I specify it using GRUB_GFXMODE and GRUB_PAYLOAD_LINUX.

Specifically, https://www.virtualbox.org/browser/vbox/trunk/src/VBox/Devices/Graphics/BIOS/vbetables-gen.c does not contain reference to HDTV modes such as 1920x1080, but these have already been added to the upstream version of this file: ​http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/vgabios/vbetables-gen.c?revision=1.6&root=vgabios&view=markup

I am uncertain whether updating to a more recent version of vgabios would be sufficient to provide the functionality. If not, can someone explain what would need to be done so that someone like myself who is not an expert on these things might nonetheless attempt to do it?

(BTW, my plan was to set the resolution at boot with grub, force Linux not to subsequently change it, thereby reaching the command-line login prompt with a fully-working 1920x1080 console. I'm also interested in any alternative methods to obtain said high-resolution console with a (Debian Wheezy) Linux guest under VirtualBox.)

[Frank Mehnert]

The CustomVideoMode extradata key is not global but per-VM. Therefore don't use 'global' but specify the name of the VM which you want to start.

[newbrific]

Your suggested change worked perfectly. Thanks!

I don't seem to be able to close the ticket myself. That said, I'm not sure that the file update I mentioned above is something that is intended to be done or not.