Omarchy on VirtualBox

[matsest]

VirtualBox is a powerful, free/open-source, multi-platform virtualization software that can be used to create virtual machines (VMs). For many with existing setups on Windows, Mac or other Linux OSes this can be the first step into trying out Omarchy without additional hardware needed.

Feel free to share tips and tricks to use Omarchy on VirtualBox in this discussion.

(Created from issue #72)

[matsest]

New version

See #176 (reply in thread) for an updated version for Omarchy 2.x and later by @Abdullah-3

Old (Omarchy 1.x) version

⚠️ Please see the new version if you are reading this post after August 2025.

This worked well for me (using VirtualBox 7.8.18_Ubuntu r162988 on PopOS 22.04) with Omarchy 1.x (before dedicated Omarchy ISO)

1. VM Creation

1. Download the Arch ISO as stated in the Omarchy manual
2. Create a new VM and select the ISO
3. Select the appropriate hardware (e.g. 8192 MB RAM, 4 vCPU)
   a. Do not enable EFI
4. Create a virtual hard disk (e.g. 40 GB)
5. After finishing creation, go to the machine and select settings => Video
6. Select Graphics Controller: VBoxVGA, and leave 3D Acceleration unchecked

2. Omarchy Install

1. Follow the installation steps to install Omarchy upon first boot
2. Shut down VM, remove ISO and boot into Omarchy

3. Set Screen Resolution

1. Install virtualbox-guest-utils-nox and enable the service:
   a. yay -S virtualbox-guest-utils-nox
   b. systemctl enable vboxservice
2. Shut down the VM
3. Follow the guide for setting screen resolution:
   a. Add custom resolution with VBoxManage from the host terminal - e.g. VBoxManage setextradata "omarchy" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x24"
   b. Start the VM
   c. Add kernel entry in the VM for the guest to be able to pick up the correct resolution:
   1. Edit /etc/default/grub
   2. In the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line, append video=1920x1080. E.g. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet splash video=1920x1080"
   3. Re-generate grub config by running sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
4. Reboot the VM
5. Then set the entry in ~/.config/hypr/monitors.conf could be added such that everything runs with the correct resolution. See monitors configurations for more information.

Other tips

To jump into another TTY in VirtualBox to get a terminal you should use <host button>+<n>. Host button is by default right Ctrl. The first TTY is 1 so right ctrl+2 should get you into another terminal.

[arg387]

Used this settings in the config file to adjust the window size but this is showing blank screen. What is the reason for this?

[thefonso]

@AhmedHawater2003 well yesterday it adjusted to the window size automatically but today i am not able to replicate that, but setting the resolution manually in the monitors conf and then restarting it worked. you will probably need to set the resolution in both axis at about 0.9 times the resolution of your actual display so that the vm can actually fit inside the window and not give you scroll bars to adjust it.

Blessings upon you. This worked for me!

[martinzokov]

Updated for Omarchy 3, as of the 1st of October 2025:

1. VM Creation

1. Download the Arch ISO as stated in the Omarchy manual
2. Create a new VM and select the ISO
3. Select the appropriate hardware (e.g. 8192 MB RAM, 4 vCPU)
   a. Do not enable EFI
4. Create a virtual hard disk (e.g. 40 GB)
5. After finishing creation, go to the machine and select settings => Video
6. Select Graphics Controller: VBoxVGA, and leave 3D Acceleration unchecked

2. Omarchy Install

1. Follow the installation steps to install Omarchy upon first boot
2. Shut down VM, remove ISO and boot into Omarchy

3. Set Screen Resolution

In case your scaling is broken due to the default config being set to 2x scaling instead of 1x (when your VM is not setup yet for guest resized window), you need to manually change the config for Hyprland. (This was tested on Windows 11 VirtualBox)

1. Press Win+Alt+Space to open Menu -> Setup -> Monitor
2. Comment the 2x Retina Scaling lines, uncomment the 1x Scaling lines. Save.
3. Press Win+Alt+Space to open Menu -> App -> Alacritty
4. Install virtualbox-guest-utils-nox and enable the service:
   a. sudo yay -S virtualbox-guest-utils-nox
   b. systemctl enable vboxservice
5. Edit /boot/limine.conf
   a. In the line kernel_cmdline append video=1920x1080
6. Reboot the VM
7. Then set the entry in ~/.config/hypr/monitors.conf could be added such that everything runs with the correct resolution. See monitors configurations for more information.

For anyone still struggling with this with Windows and VirtualBox. I followed these steps up to 5, but any changes to limine.conf lead to either just a black screen or a black screen with a cursor on it. What I did to fix this is SKIP step 5 above, shut down the VM, use powershell to do this:

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
.\VBoxManage.exe setextradata "om-main" "CustomVideoMode1" "2560x1440x32"

om-main is my VMs name and replace the resolution you want(with x32 bit depth)

Doing just that didn't work but after editing monitor.conf to also explicitly use my monitor resolution intead of 'preferred', it worked. Basically, you shouldn't touch lemine.conf

[jfedgar]

I am not able to install the guest utils, it gets stuck in some kind of loop of circular dependencies and packages not found. tried both from yay as well as from omarchy menu

@BasToTheMax @Mayank-8127

I had the same issue. Mine worked after updating:

sudo pacman -Sy
   # hit Y to install
   ...
 sudo pacman -Sy linux-headers
   # hit Y to install
   ...
 sudo yay -S virtualbox-guest-utils-nox
   ...
 sudo systemctl enable --now vboxservice.service
 

[vegetca]

@AhmedHawater2003 well yesterday it adjusted to the window size automatically but today i am not able to replicate that, but setting the resolution manually in the monitors conf and then restarting it worked. you will probably need to set the resolution in both axis at about 0.9 times the resolution of your actual display so that the vm can actually fit inside the window and not give you scroll bars to adjust it.

the settings in the screenshot is what I used plus allocating more memory to the VRAM and it fixed it all together so I don't have a black screen when loading in and the resolution is perfect. I also updated the resolution in the monitor config file to match my 2k monitor.

[sailoz]

Hi @matsest
Thank you for the creation of the discussion for VirtualBox, and tested settings.

Same settings worked on Virtualbox 7.1.10 r16911 on Windows 10.

Especially following made Alacritty, Ghostty, and hyprlock work.

1. VM Creation
   6. Select Graphics Controller: VBoxVGA, and leave 3D Acceleration unchecked

This made my day! Thank you.

Note:
hyprlock fails after idle, and it does not lock screen in of the VM.
See fix in self reply, below.

Note:
When using VMSVGA. instead of VBoxVGA,

1. Alacritty and Ghostty do not start, and I switched using 'foot' terminal https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot , and 'foot' starts ok.

[sailoz]

hyprlock now works after
Installing hyprlock-git intead of hyprlock package, and replace all dependencies.

yay -S hyprlock-git
It no longer coredumps, and password entry field appears after lock.

I have same issue with Raspberry Pi 5 8GB RAM, with Omarchy on Manajaro Dev image at https://github.com/manjaro-arm/rpi4-images/releases/download/20250721/Manjaro-ARM-minimal-rpi4-20250721.img.xz

[walkaboutlanguages]

Thank you for this guide. There's a typo: virtualbox-guets-utils-nox

I had to add "video=VGA-1:1920x1080@60" to my GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to get it to work. My monitors.conf has the line monitor=,1920x1080@60,0x0,1 (don't know if that's necessary or not).

It's critical to have GDK_SCALE,1 in monitors.conf, else you won't even be able to open a terminal.

[b-d-m-p]

Thank you for the guide!

I was wondering are 3D acceleration and hardware acceleration different? You say to leave 3D acceleration unchecked, but in this guide they are saying you can't run hyperland without it. #452

What am I missing? Cheers

[matsest]

I'm not sure, but I think this is due to different implementations of this (+ Linux support of it) between VirtualBox and Parallels. I'm no VirtualBox expert, so the steps above is just what worked for me - there might be other working configurations as well.

[tighthead3]

If you're uisng Windows 11 Hyper V Manager, the free VM from MSFT, was painless and easy to do. Only major change I had to do was to modify the monitor,config file in Omarchy, per the Omarchy manual, and the Hyper V Manager. All works great except Audio throughput.

[sailoz]

Thank you for the feedback!

Yes, it is known to work as Guide for Hyper-V #445 . Please comment the guilde if the guide help you or if you have feedback. thanks you.

This is a guide who wants to try Omarchy on VirtualBox, and sound works, too.

Please help contribute if you want to try Virtualbox, so people has chance to try on any VirtualBox available system.

[spapas]

Is anybody using this guide ? It seems that grub is not longer used and has been replaced with limine so the instructions need to be updated ...

[matsest]

Feel free to try out a method with the ISO with VirtualBox and share it, and I'll update this to be marked as Omarchy 1.x :)

[MrFaiman]

Just the paths and the commands are different.
To add the kernel entry, edit the file located at: /boot/limine.conf.
The command for re-generate the config is: limine-update

[Rovetown]

@matsest I updated the guide to work for the latest Omarchy 3.x with additional help when you install the ISO and do not have working Guest Additions which rn breaks the display and useage quite a bit.

[VincentX33]

My VirtualBox config was opening browser on Super+B and the AI on Super+A, but nothing else was opening up. Thought it was an installation issue, but setting Select Graphics Controller: VBoxVGA, and leave 3D Acceleration unchecked fixed the problem! Thanks a lot!

[kmf]

Have a look here for Screenshot
#1176

[VincentX33]

Exact same issue, thanks @kmf

[emourad]

It will be great to have an ISO optimised for VM

[VincentX33]

In the absence of Dual-boot options, this seems like a good way to get more users onboard! We should maintain a list of working configurations atleast so people can get up to speed.

[zhufengning]

Select the appropriate hardware (e.g. 8192 GB RAM, 4 vCPU)

8192 GB RAM😱

[junior0github]

Hey I am trying to run Omarchy on Oracle VM as well. However, I have ran into an issue where the key bindings are not being read. I went into the bindings.conf through tty and changed SUPER -> LCTRL+ALT to see if that was the issue but still nothing. Any suggestions or ideas on how to get this working and running as expected? Also, I am using the latest ISO from the omarchy website (v. 3.0.1)

[dragonovs]

I have VMware, so there is a no graphics controller like in VBox. I checked the 3D Acceleration, because only if I enable it, the screen gets through after successful login, or else I see a blackscreen.

[VincentX33]

Is your issue resolved, @dragonovs ? Might help anyone else if you have managed to find a solution.

[dragonovs]

Is your issue resolved, @dragonovs ? Might help anyone else if you have managed to find a solution.

I haven't managed to fix the solution. Omarchy runs, but I can't even open a Terminal.

[rkdev89]

I have the same issue. I am stuck on the desktop and none of the keyboard buttons work so i can't do anything

[efithatkid]

Did you find any solution?

[HamzaHeikal2011]

This helped a TON, you cannot believe how easy it was with this as a beginner

[Rovetown]

So I noticed that on the lastest release, the Monitor config for hyprland was configured for the retina-class 2x displays by default, breaking the scale for VirtualBox where you do not have Guest Additions installed yet.

This is cause without the GuestAdditions, you do not have resizeable or fullscreen VBox Windows. The Scaling effectively breaks half the Screen. I fixed this simply by finding the Monitors file, opening it in LazyVim and uncomment the 1x scale, and simultaneously commenting the 2x retina-class Settings.

Is this something worth mentioning in an issue report seperately? Since its not directly an OS issue and only for VirtualBox/VMs in general that might run into this. On the other hand, its a simple fix by just having the monitor config be shipped with 1x scaling instead of 2x

Edit: #2144

[wazeerc]

For anyone wondering - to remove ISO and boot into Omarchy:

1. Devices > Optical Drives > Remove Disk from Virtual Drive

This boots onto the OS instead of the ISO, as the latter has already been installed.

[sademban]

@wazeerc i uninstalled the virtual machine 5 times at it kept on booting into iso thank you 😄

[rami-shalhoub]

has anyone having lagging peroblem with the virtual maching
I gave the VM 8GB RAM 8 cores and 40GB storage and it still slow and laggs
any solution?

[rami-shalhoub]

CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
RAM: 64 GB
Storage: 1 TB nvme
and i am running TuxedoOS

[Rovetown]

usually the lag comes from virtualization. if you run linux you would honestly be better off just using kvm/qemu for running this as a guest os. that way you dont have software that has to deal with gpu passthrough, 3d acceleration and so forth

[rami-shalhoub]

I haven't use QEMU/kvm before I am more familiar with VBox, but will try to set it up

[rami-shalhoub]

@Rovetown thank you for suggestion, I use QEMU with virt-manager, it is noticeably faster, but I have an issue with the screen size, it is so small unless I enabled Display Scaling which results if significant drop in resolution and the vm become kinda slower

I installed

sudo pacman -S spice-vdagent qemu-guest-agent

and ran the service

sudo systemctl start qemu-guest-agent.service

and still cannot have a lager screen without sacrificing the resolution and I dont have a shared clipboard

[Rovetown]

Maybe thats an Issue that is inside Omarchy and not your Installation, but I honestly can't tell for sure. Best to open a seperate Issue for this, so the Devs are aware of this and can maybe give more insights.

[thesomewhatyou]

Yeah... this happens if you configure Limine wrong, and ya boot it up

[VincentX33]

I actually got this issue 12 hours ago. Good thing about limine is that it allows you to check the limine.conf file and fix it right there in the menu, using "Edit" option.
Personally, I needed to add the line: "protocol: linux" in my linux configuration, and it booted up successfully!

[thesomewhatyou]

I didn't even get to the bootloader. I officially bricked it and I couldn't get past it

[GhouI]

Can someone create the VM, install the internet, and fix the screen issue, then post a OneDrive link here for those of us who can't get it to work?

[mercster]

If you're interested in using Linux, figuring out how to do these tasks will be beneficial.

[Rovetown]

Update

I quickly did a PR for the VirtualBox/VirtualMachine Hyprland Display Scaling Issue, since noone was rlly looking at my Issue for an easy fix, for more Info check here: #2511

[rami-shalhoub]

I opened dedicated issue #2513 for the QEMU scaling issue

[sademban]

i accidently nuked my whole system and i only have omarchy now , i think its worth it as my widows was lacking updates 😄 . one of the thing i want to mention is please make the selection of drive more easy when you are dual booting. although the os is not target to be run in virtual box , please make it possible as the requirement is insane to be run in virtualbox.

[mohammadaminrostami82]

i install omarchy on VMware workstation but after i loged in, my superkey isent working.
what should i do??

[yuro-py]

The superkey combos arent working in virtualbox.
I tried using soft-keyboard, then tried with the hostkey on/off, but failed.

Not able to open any menu, launcher and terminal to even change the keybindings.
Pls help.

[Mayank-8127]

click the omarchy logo on the top left corner on the top bar to open the main menu inside the VM and then from there you can navigate and change the keybindings and so on.