VMware Virtual Machine console display shows in black and white or "no colors" or black screen

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• The VMware virtual machine console displays black screen or displays in black and white. The behavior can differ depending on the Guest OS.
• RDP on the impacted VM shows colors normally.

       

Environment

• ESXi 7.0.x
• ESXi 8.0.x
• ESX 9.0.x

Cause

Advanced option svga.vgaonly is set to TRUE on the VM which can disable advanced graphics features.

Resolution

​​​​​​To resolve this issue, follow the below steps:

1. Power off the VM.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
3. Select VM Options.
4. Click Advanced and click Edit Configuration.
5. Search for the advanced parameter svga.vgaonly and set it to FALSE. (Delete TRUE string type in FALSE)
6. Click OK to save the settings.
7. Power on the VM.

Additional Information

• For more information, see Disable Unused Display Features
• Same parameter might cause vMotion failure. For more information, see vMotion fails for virtual machines with svga security hardening enabled