How to Change Screen Resolution in Ubuntu

In Ubuntu, setting the screen resolution is not a strenuous task to do. So, why not discuss it, in brief, to know, how to change screen resolution in Ubuntu. You may have encountered that the resolution of the Ubuntu machine is small as compared to your system’s screen size, this happens usually, if you have installed Ubuntu using the VMware, Virtual Box, etc.

I have installed Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) using the VMware Workstation, see how. Therefore, I noticed the change in the resolution and decided to change it according to the system’s screen size. But, before doing this, you must know the size of the system’s screen you are having, so that you may not face any difficulty.  The larger the screen size, the higher the resolution it supports. Let’s begin.

Steps to Change Screen Resolution in Ubuntu

Using Graphical User Interface:

Step 1: As you can see in the figure below, that the screen resolution is low. In this case the Icons are large in size, therefore, do not appear sharper as we want. In the next step, you can learn how to change it according to your choice.

Step 2: Search for “display” using the search option available at the top of the launcher menu. Then you”ll get to see the “Displays”, just click on it to open.

Step 3: On the “Displays”, you will come across the “Resolution” option. From there, choose the resolution you want from the given set of resolutions.

I have selected 1280×1080, so that I may be able to view the larger screen of my Ubuntu machine.

Step 4: Now, on the right side you will see a small box type icon as highlighted in the figure below, click on it. So that “Apply” button may appear if already available click on it.

Step 5: Once you click on it, in the background, you may notice that the resolution is changed. Meanwhile, a dialog box may appear. Here, you have to decide whether the resolution you have chosen suits your eyes or not. If yes, then proceed by clicking on “keep this configuration” otherwise click on “Cancel” and change it again until you are satisfied.

Step 6: When you are done with the changes, go to “Apply” to save the changes you have made to the resolution of your machine.

Using the Terminal:

Step 1: To change the current resolution of your Ubuntu machine, you have to firstly decide which resolution best suits to your system. Make sure that the resolution you’re about to configure is available in the list of resolution. For that, you can simply type “xrandr”.

As a result, you”ll get to know the current resolution as well as the list of resolutions, choose the one in your mind and then simply type “xrandr -s 1280×1024” and press enter. Let me tell you what does xrandr means? It is an extension of “randr”, a communication protocol to resize and rotate the window of the screen.

Here, we have used xrandr that allows for the reconfiguration of the screen resolution, orientation as well as to set the refresh rate. And “-s” is used here to specifically instruct the shell to change only the size of the screen. “-s” can be used either by mentioning the <width>x<height> as we have done in this step OR by specifying the size index i.e. the ratio.

Step 2: As an Output of the above step, you may see that the resolution is changed now.