Running ArcGIS Desktop in virtual machine?

To solve the rendering-issues in VirtualBox you need to disable 3D-Hardware- and 2D-Video-Acceleration.

This is quite paradox, but I asked friends who used ArcGIS in a VirtualBox session and they simply told me I should try to turn off the acceleration.

It works.

disabled 3d Hardware and 2d Video worked for me, Arcgis 10 running on Windows 7 64 bits in a native Linux Ubuntu Machine

ArcGIS Desktop does not require a high end graphics card. It can run with a low end Graphics card or even without one. What it requires is hardware graphics acceleration to draw all the gradients and shading as well as dynamic display.

Have a look at the hardware requirements of Arcgis Desktop?

64 MB RAM minimum, 256 MB RAM or higher recommended. NVIDIA, ATI, and Intel chipsets supported.

It requires atleast 24-bit capable graphics accelerator

OpenGL version 2.0 runtime minimum is required, and Shader Model 3.0 or higher is recommended.

Be sure to use the latest available driver.

There is a big chance that your virtual machine might not meet the requirements, but try running http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/1186/10913 to see if your virtual Machine is supported.

The 3D Acceleration Support in VirtualBox is quite limited, according to this thread.