Why is the font size is so small on high DPI monitors?
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION or QUESTION
When showing a remote X windows on my Laptop (4k, 14" screen), the window provided by Xmanager is not scaled according to the Windows "scale" setting (currently set to 225%).
Thus the content shown in the windows (in this case virt-manager) is very small and very hard to read.
How can I scale the Xmanager windows?
RESOLUTION
Xmanager is able to scale remote X applications automatically. But certain X apps are not able to recognize DPI changes.
Xmanager changes the DPI of the Root area when it starts. X apps then run according to the Root area DPI. Your X app may be one of the programs that is not able to recognize the DPI change.
Here are two examples when using Xmanager and how they behave:
As you can see in the examples above, the Xterm window ignores the DPI change. On the other hand, Xfce Desktop changes its images and font size according to Xmanager’s DPI.
In High PPI monitors, the second image above will look something like so:
In this case, you can opt to have the Windows OS adjust the scaling of the remote X applications. However, keep in mind that this method may cause the X application to be blurry even if it is able to accept DPI changes. Follow the steps below to allow Windows to adjust the scaling:
Run the remote application to select the exact target EXE for scaling.
Open the Properties dialog from the task bar context menu of the remote application.
Change scaling behavior to System in the Xmanager Properties dialog.
Close the Xmanager Server process from the System notification area.
Run the application again.