MacOS EC2 Instance Screen Sharing Display Resolution

Question

# Issue
Connecting to an EC2 MacOS instance has a very low resolution and no way to modify larger than the default 1024.

Once connected and logged in the instance via screen sharing display is very small.

Maximizing the screen sharing app keeps the 'observed' screen the same size and just provides a black boundary filling the rest of the display I am using.

It looks like there is a display issue with the Amazon Nitro D-1 Display device which only allows for resolution of a maximum of 1024x768

I had hoped to have a similar experience to the AWS Workspace capabilities - while these servers will mainly be used remotely via cli the times we do need GUI access it would be much more useful if the screen was not 5" and there are things which require GUI interface: XCode installation one of the chief offenders, but that is more of an Apple problem although it would be great if the instances came with the full suite and not just the CLI tools.

# Conditions
- EC2 stood up on mac2.metal dedicated hosts running the latest MacOS AMI Ventura 12.5 (the same was true for Monterey 12.4)
- Remote Access has been enabled per documentation

# Research
- The only documentation regarding display resolution on Mac instances I found was on Mac Workspaces and does not appear to be applicable to the EC2 condition I am experiencing
- I have tried third party software solutions that are suggested on all the forums.

AWS-User-8886526 · Answer

Hello, 
I can see we have document which can be followed to modify screen resolution using  displayplacer : 
  - https://catalog.us-east-1.prod.workshops.aws/workshops/5ced3c00-8e8a-4c4d-82fa-ca1b7804ea4d/en-US/instance-setup/connect-to-ec2-mac/screen-sharing
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-mac-instances.html#mac-screen-resolution
That being said, can you help us with the error you are getting after following steps mentioned in above documents, as it will help us to troubleshoot the issue further. 
Awaiting your response!

Nick · Answer

I had the same issue. AWS support suggested using BetterDisplay (pro version is ~$20). Install BetterDisplay on the Mac EC2, create a dummy display and mirror it to the built-in AWS Nitro-D-1 display. You can set the dummy display to have the same resolution as your monitor's native resolution.

1. Download and Install the BetterDisplay Application on the EC2 M1 Mac instance. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/releases/download/v1.4.12/BetterDisplay-v1.4.12.dmg
2. Start the Application and it should run in the MenuBar.
3. Create a Dummy Display Interface e.g. Dummy 16:9.
4. Mirror the newly created Dummy Display to the AWS Nitro D-1 display.

MacOS EC2 Instance Screen Sharing Display Resolution

Issue

Conditions

Research

Relevant content