VMware: Change the Screen Resolution on Windows 2008 Core (on VMware Server)

To change the screen resolution on a Windows 2008 Core you have two choices:

1) Run regedit.exe on another computer to remotely access the registry on the Server Core.

2) Change manually.

The registry key with the resolution information is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video

Under this key will be a list of GUIDs and you will need to determine which one corresponds to your video card/driver. Under the GUID, you can set:

\0000\DefaultSettings.XResolution
\0000\DefaultSettings.YResolution

For example: To change the resolution on a VMware Server, search for "Device Description"="VMware SVGA II"

To manually change resolution on a Windows 2008 Core server on the Command Prompt type:

reg export HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video /s video.reg

Then you will need to edit the video.reg, change the resolution (The values are on Hex), remove the rest of info and save the file.

This an example from VMware Server machine at 800x600:

---- Start Video800.reg ----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Cofntrol\Video\{621060A6-5E79-471A-A468-DD745B2DD17C}\0000]"

DefaultSettings.XResolution"=dword:00000320
"DefaultSettings.YResolution"=dword:00000258

---- End Video800.reg ----

Finally at the command prompt type:

REG IMPORT Video800.reg