Linux Mint Cinnamon proves that a free operating system can be easy to use and extremely reliable. Whilst the default Ubuntu desktop is kind of similar to Apple OS desktop, the Cinnamon desktop of Linux Mint makes transitioning from Windows very intuitive.
An issue I battled to resolve however when running Linux Mint in a virtual machine with VirtualBox is that the video quality was really bad and there was always an error. The error was as follows:
Running in software rendering mode
Cinnamon is currently running without video hardware acceleration and, as a result, you may observe much higher than normal CPU usage.
There could be a problem with your drivers or some other issue. For the best experience, it is recommended that you only use this mode for troubleshooting purposes.
Luckily there is a really simple fix for this problem and it doesn’t take any knowledge of the terminal or drivers or similar. It involves a simple checkbox.
Just follow these instructions and your video will be displaying perfectly in Linux Mint:
- If running, shut down your Linux Mint VM (Virtual Machine).
- In Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager alternate click your Linux Mint VM.
- Click Settings.
- Click Display.
- Click to select Enable 3D Acceleration (you won’t be able to select this if your Mint VM is running).
- Click OK.
That’s all there is to it. When you next start your Mint VM you’ll notice that video displays well and the error message is gone. Problem solved.
Gary – Many thanks for posting this fix. Works perfectly – Alan
Thanks! You are a savior.
A reinstall of the “VBOXADDITIONS” worked for me.
The issue was that after an update of the kernel, all drivers were erased .
Thanks mate!
Thank you, Gary, for your posting. Save people lots of time.
Alex
Hi Gary, that looks very detailed, but I have 2 problems:
1- how to I find out “if running, shut down your Linux Mint VM (Virtual Machine)” and launch “In Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager alternate click your Linux Mint VM”.
2- rendering mode works great for installation if launched in safe prompt mode, but not on normal start up.
I am in a bundle. any help is really appreciated.
thank you and regards,
Luca
Hi Luca, I have to admit that I’m really not sure of the answer to your issues. Anyone else?
The virtualbox click on the 3d acceleration option will work for some. But, I am seeing a problem in Linux Mint 17 under Virtualbox. I see that itisalist has identified the problem in the link https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=180451. I did do an apt-get upgrade on Linux Mints. I still have the problem. I don’t want to backlevel software to fix that itisalist demonstrated.
For this to work, you also need to ‘insert’ the up to date version of virtual box guest addition CD and run it to ensure you are running the latest VM flavored drivers.
Thanks for the tip !
this is great except for the fact that im not running in VM
Did you try this?
Edit /etc/default/grub and change
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quite splash nomodeset” —>
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”text”
update-grup and reboot
It worked for me – Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon – hp g4 radeon gc
I have changed my VM setting exactly how it was explained above but it didn’t work for me. the same message saying that cinnamon is working without hardware acceleration still shows. I tried ubunto now ia running debian both with 3D acceleration option ticked but still slow ….
Hello sir,
I just installed debain in my laptop
When i open it it gives me the same error how to fix it
?????
Please help me
I installed debain 8 in my laptop is shows me the same error
And my cpu usage toches 1000
I m using amd pocessor with amd hd 6 grapix
How to solve it please help me
So…… no one knows???
Thank you very much. Simple solution.
i’ m not running in VM so this solution you giving here is not what is helping here.
Linux runs not in VM, but is installed on the hard drive as the only software, no vm!
The problem is the video card driver won’t load, how to fix this, the standard solutions for this won’t work.
So what now?
Thank you so much for tip~!
Thanks for your collaboration!
I am also using Linux on my hard drive and having the same problem, could you help to fix it?
Thnks!
I have searched, researched, etc. for five weeks. Nada!
“Solutions” work for some – lucky ones.
Same problem on two computers.
Adios Mint.
Sugarlips McGraw
Well, before I found this site, I had already had this enabled. I still get the error:
http://i63.tinypic.com/2bbo6s.png
I would try this if I knew how to shut down my Linux Mint VM and open Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager
That saved my day! Thanks!
I’ve enabled 3D acceleration under VirtualBox’s video options and still getting a warning message in Mint 18 about video hardware acceleration not working 🙁
Same here.
VirtualBox Display setting does have the Acceleration: option for 3D acceleration switched on.
you need to install virtual box additions:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1957309/install-virtualbox-guest-additions-linux-mint.html
ciao,
Andrea
Thank you for that suggestion but the VirtualBox Additions were already installed.
The thing that did work was to increase the amount of Video RAM for the virtual machine.
I am having this exact error. Except that I am not running it with a Virtual Machine.
I’m running a Dell Inspiron mini 10 (1010)
I just installed Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa and I have no idea how to fix this issue since I’ve never had it on any of my other computers that I put to the save version of Linux.
Thank you for your help!
Followed your steps exactly and it does not fix the problem. Still running in software rendering mode.
I need a solution for this same issue when running in Hyper-V on Windows 10???
Thanks!
I am running Linux Mint 18 and I had to install VirtualBox Guest Additions and enable 3-D acceleration to fix it.
1- Installed “Guest additions”
2- Enabled “3D Acceleration”
It works like a charm, Thanks
Hi … how i can solve this is a real installation not on VMware ?
I did this. The error went away, but now my desktop is 10 times too bright! I have a NVDa card in my win 10 host. The display was fine without 3D acceleration, but I had the error. Now I don’t have the error, but my screen is too bright. Any ideas?