Any way to set higher resolution without VM guest additions/drivers working? (LM21 on older Parallels/Mac)

[newtolinux21]

Wondering if there is any way to set a resolution higher than the (apparently) static default maximum - which the manufacturer's tools/additions would normally accomplish. Found neither the display managers in any edition LM21, nor things like xrandr -s, can change to a not-offered resolution.

Detail: Had been running Linux Mint 20 under Parallels Desktop 13 (2017) with (a compatible) Parallels Tools 16 (2020) without problem, but PT16 would not install in LM21 with "Error: Xorg version 1.21 not supported." More recent PTools versions 17/18 (2021/2022) appear to install without *reported* error, but do not function completely, limiting the LM 21 display to 1400 x 1050, no matter how the window is sized. (Same as if Tools were not installed.)

The software (Parallels Desktop 13 (2017)), host hardware (late 2013 iMac) and the (need-to-keep) operating system (OS 10.11.6, 2018) are all old and no-longer supported, and it appears no virtualization product in current release (where resolution-related tools/additions might be expected to work with recent LM21) is compatible.

Thanks for any suggestions. Even if just to forget the whole thing...

(Decided not to post detailed system info etc., since not really relevant to the general nature of the question.)

[Termy]

I'm not sure if this'll help, but for years I had an annoying issue with VirtualBox which prevented my Linux guest machines not displaying at my native screen resolution of 1080p. However, someone (thank you, Zaney!) showed me how to fix it, and I've had 1080p Linux guest machines ever since. IIRC, all I had to do was go to the display settings of the VM, then choose VBoxVGA. I believe I also had to disable 2D Acceleration, but for some reason I don't see that option anymore, so perhaps they removed it. If you're using VirtualBox, give that a go?

[newtolinux21]

Thanks for the input. See that most here post about VirtualBox.
Will look around for such settings, but think this particular software likes "Dynamic Resolution" - at least when the Tools work. Looking at the logs with a newbie eye, seemed to use different kernel extensions to achieve this.

[richardm317]

OP: are you still having an issue with this?

[Reddog1]

I haven't seen a need for Parallels on an intel mac, so I've only used VirtualBox. It works fine, but VB installed on OSx is a bit different than on a PC. The Guest Additions .dmg must be extracted from the file system of VB after it is installed, then GA can be installed in the 'normal' way of installing a .dmg on OSx.

Everything will work, including sharing folders between the OSx host and the linux guest, and all standard desktop resolutions will work, too.

Sorry I have no experience with parallels.