First off: This question is not about displaying the guest on multiple host monitors.
The goal is to use multiple monitors in the guest OS, independently of the host's display layout.
In fact my PC running VMware Workstation only has one single Monitor.
The background is to conveniently test how a certain Linux software product behaves with multiple and exotic multi-monitor setups without having to create the physical setup.
Using a Windows 7 guest I was simply able to do the following:
This image shows a Windows 7 Guest with 3 virtual monitors being displayed in one VMWare Workstation window.
However, I'm unable to duplicate this setup using a Linux guest (in my case Ubunutu 16.10).
The Linux guest machine configuration exactly matches the Windows VM and I can see multiple displays in the xrandr output:
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 1 x 1, current 1024 x 768, maximum 4096 x 4096
Virtual1 connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
800x600 60.00 + 60.32
2560x1600 59.99
1920x1440 60.00
1856x1392 60.00
1792x1344 60.00
1920x1200 59.88
1600x1200 60.00
1680x1050 59.95
1400x1050 59.98
1280x1024 60.02
1440x900 59.89
1280x960 60.00
1360x768 60.02
1280x800 59.81
1152x864 75.00
1280x768 59.87
1024x768 60.00*
640x480 59.94
Virtual2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual7 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Virtual8 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
And also the GUI display settings show only one available display.
How can I connect these disconnected displays?
Best Answer