VBoxSVGA type graphic controller can't be used

Opinions were found recent time that VBoxSVGA graphic controller is recommended if Manjaro is used in virtual machine powered by VirtualBox. It contradicts with opinion given by VirtualBox - VBoxSVGA to be invalid configuration for this v. m. - but I understand that Manjaro can know more details regarding its operation.
In course of some problem troubleshooting the graphic controller has been switched from VMSVGA to VBoxSVGA which results in flickering of screen. Latter one happens mainly when mouse pointer is moved over the screen, however not only that. Screen flickering doesn’t happen if desktop is free of open windows. Screen seems to be calm also if only shell terminal is open.

In this particular case VirtualBox version is 6.1.50 and guest additions are installed from virtualbox 6.1.50 Guest Addtitions ISO rather than Manjaro package management. This is the only virtual machine affected. Other virtual machines don’t house Manjaro. Also no problems with graphics the host level. Before the switch to VBoxSVGA it was the Manjaro side which made a popup on start of every user session with notification to switch to VBoxSVGA.

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=“ManjaroLinux”
DISTRIB_RELEASE=“24.0.5”
DISTRIB_CODENAME=“Wynsdey”
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION=“Manjaro Linux”
$ uname --all
Linux maczinu 6.1.100-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Jul 19 14:51:57 UTC 2024 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$

$ inxi -zv8
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.100-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: kvm-clock,hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
    root=UUID=faa32b82-f503-456b-a174-68decd0843af rw quiet
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.43 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver avail: light-locker vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Virtualbox System: innotek GmbH product: VirtualBox v: 1.2
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: Oracle Corporation type: 1
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox v: 1.2 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: innotek GmbH v: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 6.88 GiB available: 6.52 GiB used: 1.89 GiB (29.1%)
  RAM Report: message: No RAM data found using udevadm.
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-4570 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4
    level: v2 built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3C (60)
    stepping: 3 microcode: N/A
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 12 MiB
    desc: 2x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3193 min/max: N/A cores: 1: 3193 2: 3193 bogomips: 12774
  Flags: abm aes apic avx avx2 clflush cmov constant_tsc cpuid cx16 cx8 de
    flush_l1d fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hypervisor invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm
    lm mca mce md_clear mmx movbe msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pcid
    pclmulqdq pge pni popcnt pse pse36 pti rdrand rdtscp rep_good sep sse
    sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 syscall tsc tsc_known_freq vme xsave xtopology
  Vulnerabilities:
 < censored >
Graphics:
  Device-1: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Graphics Adapter
    vendor: VMware driver: vboxvideo v: kernel ports: active: VGA-1 empty: none
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 80ee:beef class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vboxvideo,vesa
    gpu: vboxvideo display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: VGA-1 model: VBOX monitor serial: <filter> built: 1990
    res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 gamma: 1.2 chroma: red: x: 0.639 y: 0.329 green:
    x: 0.298 y: 0.600 blue: x: 0.149 y: 0.059 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329
    size: N/A modes: 1024x768, 2560x1600, 1920x1440, 1856x1392, 1792x1344,
    2048x1152, 1920x1200, 1920x1080, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1400x1050,
    1600x900, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1280x960, 1366x768, 1360x768, 1280x800,
    1280x768, 1280x720, 800x600, 848x480, 640x480
  EDID-Errors: 1: bad sync value: no horizontal 2: bad sync value: no
    vertical
  EDID-Warnings: 1: parse_edid: unknown flag 16
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast
    surfaceless: drv: swrast x11: drv: swrast inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 24.1.3-manjaro1.1 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 18.1.8 256 bits)
    device-ID: ffffffff:ffffffff memory: 6.36 GiB unified: yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW High Definition Audio vendor: SigmaTel
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:05.0 chip-ID: 8086:2668
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.100-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.1 status: active with: 1: pipewire-media-session
    status: active 2: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pw-cat,pw-cli
Network:
  Device-1: Red Hat Virtio network driver: virtio-pci v: 1 modules: virtio_pci
    port: 6020 bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 1af4:1000 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s3 state: up speed: -1 duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI type: network bridge
    driver: piix4_smbus v: N/A modules: i2c_piix4 port: N/A bus-ID: 00:07.0
    chip-ID: 8086:7113 class-ID: 0680
  Device-3: Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet driver: e1000 v: kernel
    port: 6080 bus-ID: 00:08.0 chip-ID: 8086:100e class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s8 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: mld,NetworkManager
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Message: No bluetooth data found.
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 145.79 GiB used: 44.45 GiB (30.5%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: VirtualBox model: VBOX HARDDISK
    size: 31.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1.0 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: VirtualBox model: VBOX HARDDISK
    size: 60.03 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1.0 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: VirtualBox model: VBOX HARDDISK
    size: 4 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1.0 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: VirtualBox model: VBOX HARDDISK
    size: 50 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1.0 scheme: GPT
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: VBOX model: CD-ROM rev: 1.0  dev-links: cdrom
  Features: speed: 32 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes rw: none
    state: running
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 59.53 GiB size: 58.42 GiB (98.13%) used: 23.85 GiB (40.8%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18 label: N/A
    uuid: faa32b82-f503-456b-a174-68decd0843af
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 512 MiB size: 511 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 312 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17 label: N/A
    uuid: 7C6E-5924
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 31.76 GiB size: 31.15 GiB (98.08%)
    used: 20.6 GiB (66.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: N/A
    uuid: 8b19bc50-6c78-4bda-beba-007b73303aa8
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 size: 4 GiB fs: ext4 label: N/A
    uuid: c35a2760-3fcf-4081-93ad-3d1428934ee5
  ID-2: /dev/sdd1 maj-min: 8:49 size: 50 GiB fs: ext4 label: CY06
    uuid: d537733d-39e3-4655-90fa-c6db38d1e7d4
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 8 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:2 info: VirtualBox USB Tablet type: HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 80ee:0021 class-ID: 0300
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  Src: lm-sensors+/sys Message: No sensor data found using /sys/class/hwmon
    or lm-sensors.
Repos:
  Packages: 1259 pm: pacman pkgs: 1230 libs: 388 tools: pamac pm: snap
    pkgs: 29
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: http://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/manjaro.org/repos/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 186
  1: cpu: 7.3% command: chrome pid: 2325 mem: 290.5 MiB (4.3%)
  2: cpu: 5.6% command: chrome pid: 2281 mem: 156.9 MiB (2.3%)
  3: cpu: 3.9% command: chrome pid: 2103 mem: 270.9 MiB (4.0%)
  4: cpu: 2.5% command: Xorg pid: 797 mem: 201.0 MiB (3.0%)
  5: cpu: 2.2% command: chrome pid: 2465 mem: 252.6 MiB (3.7%)
  Memory top: 5 of 186
  1: mem: 290.5 MiB (4.3%) command: chrome pid: 2325 cpu: 7.3%
  2: mem: 270.9 MiB (4.0%) command: chrome pid: 2103 cpu: 3.9%
  3: mem: 252.6 MiB (3.7%) command: chrome pid: 2465 cpu: 2.2%
  4: mem: 201.0 MiB (3.0%) command: Xorg pid: 797 cpu: 2.5%
  5: mem: 156.9 MiB (2.3%) command: chrome pid: 2281 cpu: 5.6%
Info:
  Processes: 186 Power: uptime: 21m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: shutdown avail: reboot,suspend,test_resume
    image: 2.6 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager Init: systemd v: 256
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.1.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.35
$

This version is unsupported on Manjaro - the current version is 7.0

 $ vboxmanage --version
7.0.20r163906

That is correct - it has been the general recommendation.

This no longer so.

VBoxSVGA is current the required vGPU driver for Windows.
VMSVGA is the recommended vGPU driver for everything else.

The original reason was due to various user expectations to resizing window would also resize the vm, which - earlier - didn’t always work as expected.

There may be places where the recommendation needs to be updated - please let me know - I will see if I can update it.

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