Best screen resolution trick for UTM using Linux

In this guide, I'll explain how to get the best screen resolution in UTM Linux VMs using Gnome.

Workbench

• Apple Silicon

• UTM 4.2.5

• MacOS Ventura 13.3.1 (the version should not be important)

• Tested with Fedora 38 and Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS.

GUI settings

After you installed your Linux distribution, by default your GUI will be Gnome.
Go in the settings for the display and configure the resolution at 3840x2160 (4K) and zoom at 200% or 300%, as your preference.
In a standard MacBook Pro, this should make the trick, if you have a MacBook Air or any other device with a different monitor, just play with the zoom, it should scale well also on external monitors.
In the worst case scenario, modify the resolution and play again with the zoom, please note that modifying the resolution is not the preferred method, because the GUI is not optimized for every weird resolution that Gnome may propose based on your window size, I recommend taking a standard resolution as a base, like 2K, 4K etc.

How to get the most out of it?

Follow this guide on how to get the best productivity in MacOS with UTM.

What about other desktop GUI?

I didn't personally test them, but under the hood, they share the same concepts and I would expect them to work similarly nowadays.
Anyway, the main difference could be optimization and scaling.