Screensaver activates in spite of activity in Virtualbox window

[Kayvee]

Binary package hint: virtualbox-ose

I use Windows in VirtualBox and it works great except for one small issue with the screen saver. I have the screensaver activated and require password to get back to my system. When I am working on a virtual machine in VirtualBox and do not move the mouse for a long time, Ubuntu thinks that the computer is inactive and turns the screensaver on after a little while. However, the computer is not inactive - I am typing things in the virtual machine. I am using Virtual Box from Sun directly, not the open source version. I am not sure if this issue holds true for the OSE version also.

System info:
Ubuntu Hardy (with all updates as of 7th October 2008)
Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0.2
Windows 2000 guest

[era (era)]

Confirming for virtualbox-ose; I get the same behavior on a fairly basic Jaunty install. Also, the screen brightness will dim if I work solely inside Virtualbox for a while; surely, a symptom of the same problem.

jaunty$ apt-cache policy virtualbox-ose
virtualbox-ose:
  Installed: 2.1.4-dfsg-1ubuntu3
  Candidate: 2.1.4-dfsg-1ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 2.1.4-dfsg-1ubuntu3 0
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

jaunty$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 9.04
Release: 9.04

[era (era)]

Tangentially, see also bug #397430

[era (era)]

Furthermore, if the Virtualbox window was active when the screensaver activates, you need to press the host key (right ctrl by default) in order to bring up the screenblanker's password dialog. This is highly startling because until you realize what's going on and how to work around it, it looks like there is simply no way to disable the screensaver and log back in (potential data loss if the only workaround you come up with is a panic reboot).

[David Hughes (dghughes)]

 I use Ubuntu 64-bit 10.04 2.6.32-21-generic using the Sun (not OSE) Virtualbox version and a similar thing happens when the VM screensaver activates.

 If the virtual machine is running, I have Windows XP Home as a VM, and it is left to run without any activity the VM screensaver comes on but the screensaver on the host's OS in this case as I mentioned Ubuntu 10.04

1 Ubuntu 64-bit 10.4 2.6.32-21-generic
2 Sun Virtualbox 3.1.6 r59338 installed (on Ubuntu 10.04)
3 Windows XP Home virtual machine created and used in Sun Virtualbox
4 Windows screensaver comes on
5 Shake mouse on Ubuntu or tap a key on keyboard and Ubuntu immediately gets kicked into its screensaver - in this situation the screensaver is password protected
6 log back in to Ubuntu and then click the Windows XP VM to get it out of its screensaver

 by the way I had this happen on Ubuntu 9.10 too, it's now happening on Ubuntu 10.04 too.

[era (era)]

dhughes: The upstream bug says this particular problem was fixed in 3.1.2. If you have a slightly different problem in 3.1.6, you should probably file a separate bug report. Also I don't think I understand your problem description, are there some words missing?

[rusivi2 (rusivi2-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for reporting this bug.

Ubuntu and Virtualbox have had numerous updates. Please update and repost detailed error report.

[era (era)]

rusivi1: please refrain from spamming.

As per the upstream bug, this was fixed in 3.1.2. Lucid is now on version 3.1.6-dfsg-2ubuntu2.

Trivial repro steps: in System > Preferences > Power Management set the screen to blank after one minute. Work in Virtualbox for one minute. Observe whether screen blanks.