43
22
I have been experimenting with VMware workstation. When I autohide the toolbar at the top, it leaves a 1 pixel sliver. While this is functional, my OCD is bugging me. Is there a way to totally hide the toolbar?
SkinnyGeek1010
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 679
-4
If this is a desktop machine, you can try adjusting the positioning of your LCD monitor to shift one pixel up.
The only other way I know of is to go to "Quick Switch" mode, then go to the menu bar and select View and deselect tabs.
This will give you a screen with no borders at all, but you can still get to a menu at the top of the screen. However, you lose the quick switch ability - but it should do what you want!
William Hilsum
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 111 572
1This answer applies only to very old versions of VMware Workstation. "Quick Switch mode" hasn't existed in a long time. – jamesdlin – 2017-10-18T19:26:42.373
1Perfect!! , this works very well :D – SkinnyGeek1010 – 2011-02-17T00:19:58.177
77
Took me a little searching to find the answer to this because I didn't want to change the position of my screens. If you go to Edit > Preferences > Display > Uncheck "Show toolbar edge when unpinned in full screen" you'll be all set!
am17torres
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 871
yes this should be accepted – Xin Meng – 2017-11-10T16:22:41.243
1It's only a half solution: when you let the mouse for a long time on top of the screen (that's often needed to make a menu appear in the guest OS), the VMware top bar appears again (even with "Show toolbar edge when unpinned in full screen" unchecked), that is annoyting when in fact you want to make the guest OS menu appear. Real solution: View > Exclusive mode, then the top bar won't appear again, until you press CTRL + ALT. I don't know if it's possible to have Exclusive mode by default for a VM. – Basj – 2018-04-24T14:00:07.067
@Basj You could run VMs though vmware-kvm if you want to run them in be in fullscreen all the time with no UI. – jamesdlin – 2018-06-14T05:15:53.937
28This should be accepted as the real solution. "Shifting your LCD monitor one pixel up" is just hideous. – Ray – 2014-03-22T19:48:29.567
33
For VMWare Player users, you can edit the preferences file at
%APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini
and add:
pref.vmplayer.fullscreen.nobar = "TRUE"
eddiegroves
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 1 153
6This worked for me. Of note: The specified path includes some hidden elements, so you cant simply browse to it (although search for VMware worked). Also of note: To get out of full screen, you need to Ctrl+Alt followed by Ctrl+Alt+Enter. – nobar – 2015-06-27T05:29:01.223
2This worked great, note do the change while VMWare Player is not running. – Dean Meehan – 2015-11-10T11:19:52.847
1This should be the accepted answer. FYI, it works with the latest VMware Workstation Player (v12). – dr01 – 2017-06-09T18:44:55.620
"TRUE" vs. "1" shouldn't make any difference. – jamesdlin – 2017-10-16T21:55:32.907
This solution does not work with the latest version VMWare Workstation Player 14. There is no preferences.ini file any longer nor if one adds one with this setting does this work. – modethree3 – 2018-06-14T11:44:32.197
1This solution works for me with Player 14 version 14.1.2 build-8497320 The only problem is to leave a full screen mode without a top bar. Simple ctrl+alt+enter does not work. It is needed to hit ctrl+alt first and then ctrl+alt+enter. – Alex – 2018-07-02T20:29:18.153
1Any shortcut to display the bar temporarily? – Ge0rges – 2019-06-26T18:21:16.930
19
Go fullscreen, then select View -> Exclusive Mode from the menu.
You can press the host key (default Ctrl+Alt) to get out of it.
Blorgbeard is out
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 2 565
1this should be the accepted answer; vmware workworkstation 10 does not have the other options – nimsson – 2014-09-08T13:03:11.390
3Any way to make this setting permanent?. – Jaime Hablutzel – 2016-11-11T15:36:43.077
Sweet! This is exactly what I needed for Xubuntu which has it's task bar on top. Thank you! – Alexander Rechsteiner – 2013-12-25T15:06:17.790
4
I am going to try to give a definitive (and somewhat authoritative) answer for Windows hosts.
The full screen toolbar can be completely hidden directly via the UI. On Windows, go to Edit > Preferences > Display and uncheck "Show toolbar edge when unpinned in full screen". (Doing so will write pref.fullscreen.toolbarPixels = "0" to your %APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini file.)
Entering "Exclusive Mode" also will completely hide the full screen toolbar. (Exclusive Mode additionally will force most keyboard shortcuts to go to the guest instead of allowing them to be intercepted by the host.)
Unfortunately, there is no UI to directly hide the full screen toolbar completely. You will need to:
Modify your preferences file directly and add the line:
pref.vmplayer.fullscreen.nobar = "TRUE"
The preferences file is located at %APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini. (%APPDATA% is an environment variable that typically expands to something like C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Roaming.)
Restart Player.
Some other answers have suggested that using "1" is necessary instead of "TRUE", but they are completely equivalent. Any claims otherwise are likely from experimental error.
For people who want to run VMs in full screen mode all the time with no UI at all, I would recommend running them in vmware-kvm.exe, which allows switching among running VMs and the host via a configurable hotkey. See the product documentation for usage instructions. vmware-kvm.exe is included with VMware Workstation (Pro), VMware (Workstation) Player, and VMware Remote Console.
(Disclosure: I worked on the VMware Workstation, Player, and VMware Remote Console code for many years and wrote vmware-kvm.exe.)
jamesdlin
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 1 973
0
The answer eddiegrove gave was almost correct; however, there needs to be double quotations around the number 1
So just write:
pref.vmplayer.fullscreen.nobar = "1"
Then it should work.
Sh4d0wb0y
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 9
Your answer is actually wrong because your straight double quotes got converted to smart quotes, so anyone who copies and pastes from your answer will have a bad time. Also, "1" vs. "TRUE" shouldn't make any difference. – jamesdlin – 2018-06-14T05:21:52.457
0
Press Ctrl+P, select Display, in Menu & toolbar uncheck Show toolbar edge when unpinned in full screen. Now go to full screen by pressing Alt+Ctrl+Enter. Bar is removed.
Max11
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 1
-1
Finally found out the answer Go fullscreen the go to view ad select exclusive mode note: "ctrl+alt+enter" to exit fullscreen mode hope this helps :)
Stephen damilola
Posted 2011-02-16T18:13:34.350
Reputation: 1
2You really should consider changing the accepted answer..... – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit – 2017-08-01T11:34:27.540