Powerpoint presenters mode in VirtualBox

16 January 2015 General, OS tricks linux, powerpoint, presentation

After switching to Linux as my main operating system I was expecting problems. Even though it has come far, it’s not really your granny’s operating system. 😉 I don’t use much Windows only software, but one of the problems was definitely going to be working with Powerpoint.

So I figured VirtualBox with Windows and Powerpoint would be a decent solution. And it has worked like a charm.

But I did miss presenters mode when doing the talks, and never really thought it would be possible. Until I discovered that you can change the number of displays associated with your VM. 🙂

It’s not without it’s quirks, but doable if you get used to it. So you can do:

• Plug in your external monitor
• Make sure the Linux settings are correct with resolution and placement
• Make sure the VM isn’t started
• Go into settings > Display on you VirtualBox VM
• Set the VM to have 2 displays
• Boot the VM
• Go full screen with the VM
• Configure windows settings to reflect multiple displays and resolution and position
• Start PowerPoint and do F5 for presentation

It should work now. 🙂 Good luck with your presentation… 😉