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Best Practices for Using Moka5 on Retina and Other High-Resolution Displays   « Go Back

Summary

Moka5 LivePCs appear differently on normal, high-resolution, and Retina displays.

This article outlines the ideal display configurations for common host/guest combinations, and lists some potential issues.


Applies To

  • Moka5 4.0.x Windows 7 LivePCs
  • Moka5 4.1.x Windows 7 LivePCs


Table of Contents

Description
Guidance Summary
Mac OS X Hosts
Windows Hosts


Description

Every year, more operating systems and hosts support internal or external high-resolution displays. It’s not uncommon for display types to mismatch—for example, an external monitor with standard resolution can be attached to a MacBook with a Retina display.

Moka5 LivePCs display differently on standard-resolution, high-resolution, and Retina displays. Finding an ideal configuration to accommodate a high-resolution or Retina display, an external standard-resolution display, and a Windows 7 desktop can be challenging.

This article outlines expected behavior for common display and LivePC combinations. Use this article to determine the best setup for your combination, and to learn about display configuration options and known issues.

Note: The guidance in this article applies to Windows 7 LivePCs.


Guidance Summary

Mac hosts: Use a custom VMX setting to centrally disable Retina display resolution by default, while enabling end-users to adjust the display resolution within the LivePC to give best performance for native Retina or external standard-resolution displays.

Windows hosts: Adjust the display resolution within the LivePC until you find a comfortable text and icon size.


Mac Hosts

Host Operating System Versions

  • OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)
  • OS X 10.9 (Mavericks)
  • OS X 10.10 (Yosemite)

You can change various settings on your Mac host and LivePC to give optimal performance with native Retina displays or external standard-resolution displays.

We recommend using a custom VMX setting to give consistent default performance across LivePCs.

This setting will uncheck the “Use full resolution for Retina display” checkbox by default. Using normal resolution, rather than optimizing for Retina displays, will deliver a more consistent experience when using standard-resolution external displays.
  1. Open the Moka5 Creator.
  2. Enable the Policy Editor. For information on enabling the Policy Editor, read this Knowledge Base article.
  3. Find the LivePC you wish to update and click the menu arrow. A drop-down list appears.
  4. Click Edit Policy.
  5. In the Policy menu, select custom_vmx from the drop-down at the bottom of the menu.
  6. Type the following setting in the text box:
    custom_vmx:gui.fitGuestUsingNativeDisplayResolution = false
  7. Click Add.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Update the LivePC with this change and deploy it to end-users.

If your end-users do not use external displays, or they wish to restore Retina display quality to their LivePC after you enable the custom VMX setting, they can re-enable Retina display resolution from the LivePC Display menu.
  1. Open the Settings toolstrip and click the wrench icon.
  2. Click Displays.
  3. Check “Use full resolution for Retina display.”
By default, the “Automatically adjust user interface size in the virtual machine” box is checked. This option sets the LivePC display resolution to a best fit size for the display. This feature relies on an algorithm to determine the best text and icon size for each display.

You can further customize the LivePC display resolution by disabling “Automatically adjust user interface size in the virtual machine.” You must disable this option in order for changes made in your LivePC desktop to take effect.
  1. Uncheck the “Automatically adjust user interface size in the virtual machine” box. You will be prompted to log out of your LivePC.
  2. Log out and log back in to your LivePC.
  3. Now, adjust the LivePC’s display settings from the Windows desktop.
  4. Right-click in the LivePC desktop and select Screen Resolution.
  5. Click “Make text and other items larger or smaller.”
  6. Select a comfortable text and icon size for your display. We have found that 125% or 150% give reliable, usable performance between high-resolution native displays and standard-resolution external displays.
  7. Click OK.


Benefits

Using these customization options makes the LivePC UI and text sharper and larger in native Retina and standard-resolution external displays.


Known Issues

  • Some applications may have layout problems after display settings have been adjusted.
  • Adjusting the “Automatically adjust user interface size in the virtual machine” and “Use full resolution for Retina display” settings may not always persist after LivePC restarts. This will be resolved in a future version of Moka5.
  • Moving the LivePC to a standard-resolution display, such as an external display, with “Use full resolution for Retina display” checked will make all UI elements larger. This reduces available space on the screen. If you plan to move between Retina and lower-resolution displays frequently, you can set the LivePC text and icon size to 125%, which would make the resizing behavior less dramatic.

Windows Hosts

Host Operating System Versions

  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8.1

LivePCs on Windows hosts can only adjust their display settings from within the Windows guest. Unlike on Mac hosts, the LivePC’s “Display” menu is not available on Windows LivePCs.

In a high-resolution Windows display, the LivePC desktop can appear very small. Adjust your LivePC display settings to increase text and icon size.

In a standard-resolution external display, you can choose to leave your LivePC display at 100%, but if you change frequently between standard- and high-resolution displays, you may wish to adjust your text and icon size to make the resizing behavior between displays less noticeable.
  1. Open the Screen Resolution menu in your Windows LivePC.
  2. Click “Make text and other items larger or smaller.”
  3. Select a comfortable text and icon size for your display. We have found that 125% or 150% give reliable, usable performance between high-resolution native displays and standard-resolution external displays.
  4. Click OK.

Benefits

  • The Windows UI will have text and icons that are large enough to use comfortably.
  • Setting the LivePC DPI to 125% or 150% is a usable compromise between display size and real estate on the external display and LivePC desktop.

Known Issues

  • Some in-app icons and text may not be resized.
  • Moving to an external display with lesser DPI will make the text and icons appear very large.
  • Windows 7 allows you to set a custom text size by adjusting the “Set Custom Text Size (DPI)” option in the Windows 7 Display menu. If you use this option to set the DPI to 200%, the mouse cursor is captured in the LivePC window. Press Ctrl + Alt to release the cursor back into the host.
  • On Windows 8.1 hosts with external displays, when the LivePC is in a normal resolution external display, the Windows Display menu can incorrectly calculate the screen resolution. The numbers that reflect the screen resolution will be inaccurate.