Shift key (and caps lock) stop working when using VMWare

[robb]

[Problem]
VMWare's keyboard mapping is imperfect, sometimes resulting in certain keys stopping functionality when running under VMWare, requiring the user to setup their configuration settings manually in VMWare. For a detailed explanation see the following article:

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_devices_keymap_linux_longer.html

[Original Report]
After a day or so of running the shift key mysteriously stops working as does the cap lock. In other words I cannot enter shifted characters of any kind. The keyboard is connected to a KVM and all other systems respond to it properly. In additional any VMWare sessions I have open respond correctly. So I have the condition where all non-vmware applications in Ubuntu Hardy (all updates applied as of 2008-02-26 at 12:43 UTC) fail to recognize the shift key BUT applications within an active (a paused/restarted session also works) VMWare sessions running DO recognize the key.

When this condition occurs ALL applications (except those within a VMWare session) are also unstable and will usually crash within a few keystrokes.If I continue to operate in this mode. I cannot pinpoint what, if any, application triggers this. It has always happened while working within terminal/browser/vmware sessions and NOT when opening a new application. It could be related to the KVM switch, but none of my other systems (2 Mandriva, 1 Windows) are affected by this.

This bug has been present on my system for a number of days across daily updates and reboots (if the update requested it) and I think since I installed Hardy Alpha 1.

A work around: log off and back on. A reboot/restart does not appear to be needed.

Error logs show some unusual activity.

--- MARK ----
...
... kernel ... rtc lost 7 interrupts ...
--- MARK ---
....

Plus some segfaults indicating which application crashed as I tried to type into it (mouse works fine).

System: HP dv9743cl (which otherwise works lovely)
Ubuntu: Hardy 8.04 (from lsb-release)

----
TEST CASE:
1. Click inside the VM and
2. Hold any of the Ctrl, Alt and/or shift keys while releasing the keyboard/mouse to the host OS (which you obviously do when you press Crtl-Alt to revert back to windowed mode, as the cursor is then released from the VM).

WORKAROUND:
After this happens to recover your keyboard execute 'setxkbmap' in a terminal

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Robb,

Care to test the latest 2.6.24-11 kernel. If the issue still exists, per the kernel team's bug policy, can you please attach the following information. Please be sure to attach each file as a separate attachment.

* uname -a > uname-a.log
* cat /proc/version_signature > version.log
* dmesg > dmesg.log
* sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log

It would also be helpful if you could attach the segfaults you are seeing. For more information regarding the kernel team bug policy, please refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help and feedback.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

So far no crashes in the last 24 hours (running 2.6.24-11). Plus a reboot issue (where the system locked with a LCD white screen - never reported) has also been resolved. I will continue to monitor and on any errors post the requested data. The segfaults have, usually, been submitted as a different bug. I will also attach them here if I can.

As an aside, having worked with many distributions of 10 years, Ubuntu's community, dedication and ability to just make things works is very impressive. Nice work.

[testman57 (testman57fr)]

Hello,
I have to say I have been having the same kind of problem using vmware-server-console... but with not only the shift key dead, but the ctrl and alt keys too... They work perfectly in the vmware session running, but not outside, and programs started after that seems to segfaults rather quickly after some key presses. I have to check if the 2.6.24-11 solves the problem by me (it was installed this morning)...

[testman57 (testman57fr)]

Correction: problem still exists for me on kernel 2.6.24-11 :( But I am still not sure when it happened exactly, as I am using Vmware server (remotely through vmware-server-console) and vmware workstation locally...

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I've run into this issue more than once myself with 2.6.24-12 and using 'setxkbmap' resolves it for me.

[Ryan Lovelett (ryan-lovelett)]

I'm having the same issue in Hardy Beta 4. This is installed on my laptop and use it for daily use. Let me know what I need to attach to help resolve this issue. The log out and log in works for me, however this is annoying. The 'setxkbmap' does not resolve my issue.

Thanks.

[Stefan Skotte (screemo)]

Running setxkbmap solved it for me aswell.

[AndrewNaoum (anaoum)]

I also can also confirm this is happening to me. I am running vmware workstation 6.0.2, 2.6.24-12-generic kernel & hardy beta.

setxkbmap works like a charm, but the problem still is rather annoying.

[arnaud.didry (arnaud-didry)]

hello
the same problem occurs to me, but i'm not using ubuntu inside vmware;
running 'setxkbmap' doesn't solver the issue for me;
how can we help ?

[philsom (phil-somerville)]

Hi

Been having this same problem on an off for a few weeks, quite new to linux so i wont say more than that.

Logs attached

[arnaud.didry (arnaud-didry)]

hello,
I have seen that the summary changed for "Shift key (and caps lock) stop working when using VMWare" but I think that the problem is not related to VMWare, I am experiencing it without using vmware. I will send my log the next time I boot on hardy

[philsom (phil-somerville)]

May i add that i am also not using VMWare, notable keys which stop working are, shift, caps lock, ctrl

I expect everything else about my dsitro and system will be in the logs.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This bug report was initially about this issue happening when using VMWare and should stay that way as it is probably a separate bug. If the two people who are experiencing the symptom without using VMWare could submit separate bug reports and subscribe me to them, that would be quite helpful. Thanks in advance.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

I am slowly working out when this happens. So far I have the following data points

1. I reinstalled Ubuntu, from scratch using the BETA download
2. I had NO problems with or without VmWare using the nv driver
3. I finally figured out how to enable Nvidia proprietary driver
4. Problems began anew within a day or so
5. Once the problem begins Ubuntu is HIGHLY unstable with crashes in all range of applications. The VMwre session is unaffected (which makes sense). Recover is log on/off.

I realize this is not very scientific and possibly of minimal value. I have now disabled the proprietary Nvidia drivers (gads video is slow now) to see if that helps. I run in VMware extensively as I am using it for development, but I suspect VMware is a red herring. I think the problem is with the proprietary Nvidia drivers on my HP Laptop (8600 m).

My hypothesis is that disabling Nvidia proprietary drivers (the reason I went with Ubuntu in the first place) will resolve the keyboard and stability issues.

PS: Disabling the Nvidia driver required an edit to my xorg, un-checking the box in the Hardware Drivers was ineffective, even with a reboot.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I've experienced this bug only when using VMWare and I am using the "ati" video driver in my host operating system. Subsequently to avoid confusing this bug report I think it would be best if robb were to open a new bug report regarding his issue.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I didn't realize that robb was the initial reporter of this bug - sorry about that. I'm not quite certain what would be best in this case. robb what would you prefer happens?

[robb (robb-canfield)]

There may be more to this bug than just VMware or just Nvidia. I think until it can be isolated it is best to leave this bug as is. I don't see a reason to spawn another bug report based on a hypothesis used to isolate this one. Once more data is accumulated a new more specific bug can be filed if appropriate.

I find it curious you only encounter this bug when running VMware. Out of curiosity are you using the VMware tools in the client? I am, and maybe that interaction is contributing to this problem. And just to add more confusion lets say it is an Xorg issue and some drivers are more susceptible than others. Just guessing, but some ideas to track down. So may variables that are hard to isolate since the bug does not, at least for me, happen instantly.

1. Xorg?
1.a. Video Driver contributing?
2. VMware?
2.a. VMware tools in client?

[robb (robb-canfield)]

It's been 24 hours or so, longer than any prior good result with Nvidia drivers, and my system is stable using the "nv" driver. VMware works fine as do all other applications so far. Also resolved is the odd auto-repeat for the keyboard. Using the 'Nvidia' driver I get weird keyboard auto-repeat timeouts in VMware (long pauses to start and then VERY fast repeat). With the "nv" driver the repeats work as expected.

Unfortunately the nv driver is rather slow, especially for scrolling, so it is not a good long term solution for me.

I am still not sure if this is an issue with VMware,VMware tools or NVidia drivers on my system. Any suggestions on what I can do to help resolve this bug are appreciated.

[arnaud.didry (arnaud-didry)]

I haven't encountered the bug since my last upgrade (2008-04-03). I also seen in the apt log that xkb-data had been upgrated. Maybe it is the origin of the problem ?

[Corey Seliger (seliger)]

I too have been experiencing this issue. I launch VMware Workstation 6.0.3 build 80004 and when I click inside a Windows XP console (don't have any other VMs yet) and come back out, my shift keys, caps lock, control and alt keys no longer function. Like in the other cases, my mouse continues to function properly, so I can click through and log out. Logging out seems to reset whatever needs to be reset because I can log back in and the keyboard works as expected.

Here is the other spin to this -- if I open a GNOME Terminal in this state and press *ANY* key at all, the terminal window immediately disappears. I also had Firefox go to lunch on me when I was typing into the location bar. I can trigger that again and send a crash report if necessary.

Here is some more info on my setup:

XOrg:
X.Org X Server 1.4.0.90
Release Date: 5 September 2007
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux Ubuntu (xorg-server 2:1.4.1~git20080131-1ubuntu6)
Current Operating System: Linux feathers 2.6.24-15-generic #1 SMP Fri Apr 4 03:10:59 UTC 2008 x86_64
Build Date: 30 March 2008 04:44:41PM

Video Driver:
Restricted nVidia driver
ii nvidia-glx-new 169.12+2.6.24.12-15.33 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org 'new' driver
ii nvidia-kernel-common 20051028+1ubuntu8 NVIDIA binary kernel module common files

VMware:
VMware Workstation 6.0.3 build 80004

VMware tools:
YES

I am attaching the requested output mentioned earlier. I have no segfaults or anything at this time to report. I do not believe anything is crashing per say, but I am definitely having the keyboard issues reported and it (at least for me) seems to be related to the VMware console functionality.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Yes, that mirrors my case. I have found that many dialog boxes will cause the specific application to crash. Starting Thunderbird, entering the package manager, etc. Existing applications work OK but without the SHIFT/ALT/CTR. Opening a new window often causes an application crash.

Have you tried switching to the to basic NV video driver and see if this is more stable?

[Corey Seliger (seliger)]

I just tried. Made absolutely no difference between the restricted driver and the OSS driver. My video board is a GeForce Go 7600 in a HP Pavillion dv9000z (AMD Turion 64) laptop.

Now here are two other mild discoveries made:

1. Inside the VM, the functionality of the CAPS key works. If I push it once, I get uppercase; if I push it again, I get lowercase. However, the CAPS indicator on my keyboard never changes... It normally does in other environments where I have used VMware. It should also change state inside and outside of the VM window dynamically (if one is in CAPS and the other is not, etc.).

2. The functionality of the CTRL/ALT/SHIFT/CAPS keys disappearing seems to be directly related to pressing CTRL+ALT+ENTER to lauch full screen from the VM console. If I use the VM within the window, everything seems to be fine (with exception that #1 still applies in window mode). However if I use CTRL+ALT+Enter, all bets are off.

3) If I use the "Fullscreen" button on the toolbar, I retain the ability to use the keyboard as normal when switching in and out of the VM in full screen.

There are a couple of mentions of xkbmap and that seems to fix the problem for some people. Is there any specific way that is run, or just running it fixes the problem? And how are people running it if dialogs and the like explode due to the strange keyboard state?

[Justin (justin75)]

hi all,

just wanted to add that i just experienced this bug as well. i'm running hardy amd64, fully updated. been working fine with vmware server 1.05, as you mentioned corey, i just used ctrl-alt-enter to switch to full screen in my win xp guest and upon return to window mode, no shift, caps lock, alt keys. all keys still work fine in the xp guest, but not in hardy. i will probably not use full screen on guests, but good luck and hope this helps. [sorry for all lowercase ;]

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Just had the problem again and this time with the normal NV driver. I never switched to full screen VMware (always ran windowed). So I have reproduced the problem under similar circumstances others have reported. I still feel there is some interaction with the xorg as the nvidia driver consistently fails much sooner than the nv driver.

Once a failure occurs dialog boxes become highly unreliable and crashes (outside of VMware) become common.

I am now going back to the nvidia driver and disabling the vmware tools just to see if that might be an issue. Hopefully going back to nvidia driver will accelerate any issues I have. Any suggestions for further testing are encouraged.

Of course a VMware solution would be rather handy....

[xtknight (xt-knight)]

i have this issue with hardy and amd64. ctrl doesn't work either. numslock/scrollock/capslock lights are dead.

nvidia driver here. don't think it's related. probably the new kernel changing something. i didn't have this problem in gutsy [ok maybe once]

i bet you can guess why there's no capitals. ;p

[xtknight (xt-knight)]

for me, the shift and control work inside the vm, but not outside it.

[xtknight (xt-knight)]

And restarting the X server works. Sorry for the multiple comment spam here.

[terigox (terigox)]

Hello all, I am under the same scenario. Running Vmware Server Beta 2.0 with Windows XP inside under Hardy Beta amd_64....

This seems to happen for me very regularly when I do not ctrl+alt out of the vmware client. If I simply pull my mouse out of the client window, the keys will sometimes work, but more often than not this causes the Ctrl+alt, caps, etc keys to fail.

setxkbmap also resolves this problem for me.

[RuralRob (ruralrob)]

Was googling on "shift key stops working" and found this thread. I am seeing the same problem, running VMware Workstation 6.0.3 under the latest Sidux. I'm pretty convinced it has something to do with VMware's automatic keyboard/mouse-grabbing logic when moving the mouse in and out of a VM window, because I only see the problem when running VMware in Quick-Switch or Full UI mode and switching between multiple VMs, as opposed to running the VM full-screen (where you have to Ctrl-Alt to get back to the host). So this is probably worth a bug report to VMware as well.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Since my last post on 4/6 I have NOT had the issue occur. I removed the vmware-tools from the virtual server and now use ctrl-alt to switch. I am running in a window mode.

I agree that this appears to be a vmware issue, although it would be nice to have xorg a tad more robust and not crashing dialog boxes on us when the error occurs.

[Dym (dmarszal)]

Hardy latest. I too experience this bug, seems thats removing VMWare tools fixes this problem. Also running "setxkbmap" in the console fixes the problem without relog.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Do you experience any reliability issues in the Ubuntu host when VmWare tools is installed in the VPS?

I, and some others, have major stability issues, especially on opening new applications or dialog boxes. I have NOT tested this with the latest xorg updates released in the last week so maybe that part has been fixed.

[Dym (dmarszal)]

Yes, dialog boxes seem to close on keystroke. I have the latest Hardy packages.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Your logs may well show some xorg or general segfault errors in this case. Makes the system kind of hard to use! An exit out of xorg is all that is needed to recovery (a reboot does not seem to be required).

OK, at least we have more data. Not sure how that helps given I can't do much more than test. At least the problem seems to be associated to the vmware-tools within the client VPS. For now I just don't use vmware-tools.

I suspect an update from VmWare will be the final solution.

[terigox (terigox)]

I have the VMWare tools isntalled on the VPS and have not experienced any issues with reliability (Also under Hardy latest).

However, I don't normally leave the VPS running more than a day or so. I'll try to leave it running and see if this changes anything.

[terigox (terigox)]

I forgot to mention I'm on VMWare Version 2.0 Build 84186.

I'm not sure if perhaps you are running a different build.

[Dym (dmarszal)]

I'm using VMWare Workstation 6.0.3 build 80004. Problem occurs just after starting VMWare client.

[terigox (terigox)]

Ah, I'm sure there are pretty big differences between VMWare server that I'm using and the Workstation.

Robb, are you also using VMWare workstation? If so, perhaps that is a clue to the stability issues you guys are having.

[xplong (xplong666)]

i have this problem too. i have hardy with VMware Server Console 1.0.5 build-80187. my video card is intel.

i'm gonna uninstall wmWare tools to see if the problem come from wmWare tools - i have this problem 3 or 4 times each day.

[xtknight (xt-knight)]

I don't think I have this problem anymore.

[xtknight (xt-knight)]

Actually, all I can say so far is that without VMWare Tools installed I do not have the problem.

[robb (robb-canfield)]

Removing vmware tools from the client system also has proven reliable for me. I have had an occasional (every 3 days or so) full system lockup but have not been able to track it down to VmWare at this time.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This problem is probably related to a specific combination of software and it would be useful to know which combination everyone is using. For example I no longer have any issues and I am using:

linux-source-2.6.24: Installed: 2.6.24-16.30
xorg: Installed: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10
VMWare workstation: 6.0.2 build-59824
VMWare workstation tools: 7.2.8 build-59824

[Andrés P. Ferrando (andres-pruna)]

Hi, I've found this site, and I'll try to add my experience. I hope it's usefull, and not only "noise".

I'm using OpenSuse 10.2 (not ubuntu), kernel 2.6.18.8, x86_64, VMware-server-1.0.4-56528, WindowMaker, xorg-x11-7.2-28.
All this for a while, with no updates.

I have the same issues related here. In my case, "ctrl" and "shift" stops working in linux, but stills working inside VM. "Alt" and "Caps lock" works allways.
As an odd behavior, when I look at OpenOffice's menus, "Ctrl" string was replaced with "???", so I see i.e. "??? - S" for Save.

This problem doesn't happen allways, and is happening more often now, but I repeat that I use this soft for a long time now with no updates.

Logout and login to X solves the problem, didn't tried "setxkbmap", yet. I'll do it next time.

Hope my experience helps to isolate the problem.

Regards,

[Dan Stieneke (dan-stieneke)]

Also a non-ubuntu user, but maybe it will help.

Debian Etch AMD64, fully patched; 2.6.18-5-amd64 #1 SMP Sat Dec 22 20:43:59 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

ATI Video drivers

Xorg:
X Window System Version 7.1.1
Release Date: 12 May 2006
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1
Build Date: 24 January 2008

relevant xorg.conf:
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver "kbd"
        Option "CoreKeyboard"
        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

VMware Server Beta 2 Build 84186; *always* running so I can have both Linux & Win desktops available. This never happened using the previous (now expired/unusable) VMware beta; however, other software has been updated since then so I can't isolate it to VMware.

Machine is left on most of the time (since suspend-to-disk doesn't work - different bug *sigh*), error has only happened a few times. My system does *not* become unstable. In the "real" machine, I lose Control, Shift, Caps Lock, but they all work inside the WinXP VM. I found this thread and did setxkbmap, which took care of the problem.

[Dionysios (dionysios)]

I have just upgraded from Gutsy to Hardy, and also installed compiz, and I have a very similar problem: Sometimes, the CAPS LOCK key is "inverted": When it is off, I can only write in capitals (and if I keep shift pressed, I write small letters), and when it is on, it is as if it was off, I write in small letters (and pressing shift I write in capitals).
I have never had this problem before.

[Ian (ibatterb)]

Same symptoms here, latest hardy, 2.6.24-16, vmware 1.05 build 80187, with the any-any-116 patch to get it to compile. HP nx6230 laptop, with integrated 945GM graphics (i810 driver, with Option AccelMethod XAA). Built the laptop/OS yesterday and started seeing the symptoms today when I built the first vm host (windows xp) and started putting MS updates on it.

Have had it happen several times today, definiately seems to be something to do with vmware-tools, but not able to reproduce it on demand no matter how much I try.

Apps that are open at the time largely continue to work, but new apps die as soon as any key is pressed.

Strangely, alt-f2 (run dialog) does work, so it at least sees 'alt' being pressed, but as soon as I press a further key, it (and the panels at the bottom of the screen) die and restart.

Mouse works fine, so I've created a shortcut on the desktop that runs setxkbmap, but haven't tested it yet.

[Daniel15 (d-launchpad-daniel15-com)]

This bug's a duplicate of #190934... Please correct me if I'm wrong :)

[Ian (ibatterb)]

Looks very similar/related, however many of the reporters there have been able to type setxkbdmap to fix it, or have been able to run od -x, etc.. in my case that is not possible since typing any key at all in a terminal causes the app to segfault and close, and I have never observed the repeating key symptoms that are mentioned there either. Perhaps there is a common cause, or maybe there are two bugs here ?

[xplong (xplong666)]

I think it's NOT the same BUG... I'm agree with the Ian's comment.

[Daniel15 (d-launchpad-daniel15-com)]

Oh, okay... My bad :$. Does Launchpad have a "Related to" like with Bugzilla and other bug-reporting scripts? As this bug seems very similar to the other one.

> Perhaps there is a common cause
I'm guessing so. :)

[Daniel15 (d-launchpad-daniel15-com)]

Also, for what it's worth, when that other bug happens for me, using SHIFT in some programs will cause them to segfault. If I (in Gnome) go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard, and change the keyboard model (on the "Layouts" tab), it starts working fine again, and apps don't segfault. Does this work to fix it for you?

[Dionysios (dionysios)]

Another clue: As I mentioned in a comment above, I get the inverse function of the caps lock key. But this happens only if the caps lock key is enabled at the time of login, after I type my password and press "Enter". So, most probably it has also to do with the initialization phase.

[kk (kk1987)]

I experience this problem almost daily. It sure has something to do with VMWare Tools, but I don't want it disabled, so I have been using the setxkbmap workaround. Keyboard input does cause many applications to segfault on that situation, but luckily not including Konsole.

In addition to 'setxkbmap' I have to use the following command:
   'xmodmap /usr/share/apps/kxkb/ubuntu.xmodmap'
to enable the multimedia keys on my Dell laptop. (only for KDE sessions)

[Dirk (rptq)]

For me this problem occurs only and immediately after I switch VMWare Workstation 6.0.3 to full screen mode. I'm using a Matrox P650 with the latest drivers from Matrox. Using an older driver did not make a difference. I also tried it with "vesa" which gives me only 800x600, but the problem remains. I did not have this problem in Gutsy with the same VMWare and same video drivers.

Shutting down VMWare tools in a Windows guest before going full screen did not make any difference.

Running setxkbmap repairs the problem for me as well.

On the VMWare forums I found people reporting the same problem in Gentoo and Debian after they upgraded to xorg 7.3. And that's what we did in Hardy as well...

[olikaf (olivier-fresse)]

same bug for me
latest ubuntu, vmware six (cant type number, shift is gone :-) )
and i can't type any command in an xterm, it closes when i type a character :-(

[Dirk (rptq)]

More details: in my case, the xterms never crashed. Gnome applications like gedit would crash with the first keystroke if I started them after going full screen in VMWare. Those that I started before would continue to work.

[tonyw (tony-whyman)]

i am also having this problem after upgrading to hardy - note lack of shift key and hence capitals as the bug has hit. running vmware player 2.0.3 causes the problem. no problem inside a vm, but no alt, shift or control outside. can't run a terminal as this crashes as soon as keyboard is pressed.

i am suspicious of the clipboard. clipboard use seems to bring on the bug and there are some strange effects in the vm. ms office 9under winxp0 seems to lose the ability to copy formatted data. its all unformatted until the office clipboard is opened. will now try with the vm isolated and see if the problem still arises.

[rhussey (rhussey84)]

tonyw wrote on 2008-05-07:

"i am also having this problem after upgrading to hardy - note lack of shift key and hence capitals as the bug has hit. running vmware player 2.0.3 causes the problem. no problem inside a vm, but no alt, shift or control outside. can't run a terminal as this crashes as soon as keyboard is pressed."

Ditto except I can run xterm from the deskbar applet. Gnome-terminal crashes with:
gnome-terminal[7450]: segfault at 0000001c eip b7938275 esp bf80cd80 error 4

I'm using the 'ati' driver (not the proprietary one). I used the any-any patch for vmware-server. Running setxkbmap from xterm does seem to fix the problem.

dmesg output attached.

[rhussey (rhussey84)]

Also, this has happened while running Windows XP and Ubuntu JeOS in vmware, with and without vmware tools, so it doesn't seem to depend on the virtualized os or vmware tools.

[Roni (ronibalthazar-deactivatedaccount)]

Have the same problem in VMware Server Console 1.0.5 build-80187. It's a new Hardy and VMware installation running Windows XP inside VMWare.

The problem occours after some time (few seconds) using the guest OS inside VMWare Console.

To fix the problem I need to run setxkbmap every time it happens.

[The Fiddler (stapostol)]

Also have this problem on VMWare Player 2.0.3 and VMWare Workstation 6.0.3. Running Hardy x86_64, with 6GB of RAM.

Curiously, setxkbmap does not help here.

Another strange thing is that a test application of mine *does* report the keys when they are pressed down, which means X responds to these. I don't know what this signifies. The application is freely available on http://www.opentk.com for anyone interested (run Examples->Input Test, requires Mono)

[Roni (ronibalthazar-deactivatedaccount)]

Another information about this bug.
It happens only when I switch to Full Screen Mode in VMWare Console.
If I use the guest OS in Windowed Mode It's ok !

[The Fiddler (stapostol)]

Indeed, fullscreen mode increases the likelyhood this bug will occur.

Here it happens on windowed mode too, however, only less frequently.

[Gordon Mckeown (thefluffyone)]

Have experienced the same thing just now with Hardy and VMWare Workstation 6.0.3. The setxkbmap command fixed the problem for me. Is there a way to dump out the currently active X keyboard map? A before-and-after comparison might help figure out what's breaking.

[Barracuda (rnirmal7)]

I have the very same problem on Hardy. I'm using VMware Server 1.0.5 build-80187. The problem is encountered when either I go into full screen or quick switch. setxkbmap works only if I have a open terminal at the time when the bug occurs. Any new applications I open crashes immediately on a key press.

[Roni (ronibalthazar-deactivatedaccount)]

This is not a kernel issue.
It affects only X

[kk (kk1987)]

It seems to me that only GTK applications are going to crash on typing when the problem occurs.

[ruimo (ruimo)]

Open System -> Settings -> Keyboard and select layout tab.
If you find more than one layout defined, delete them leaving only one that suits your keyboard.
After that, check the right most check box that are labeled 'default'.

This resolves the issue at least in my environment (8.04 AMD64 Japanese).

Hope it helps.

[Brian Haley (brian-haley)]

Like others, I have the same problem - Hardy with 2.6.24-16 kernel (amd64) running vmplayer 2.0.3 build-80004. If I highlight any text inside the vm (running XP) and ctrl-c to copy everything stops working - setxkbmap did fix it for me though.

[fewyun (fewyun)]

I also had this exact bug. No modifiers, Firefox crashing on keyboard input. Running setxkbmap worked for me, so I setup a shortcut to run it with the mouse whenever the modifiers went crazy.

But I recently uninstalled VMware Tools from my guest OS (winxp) and reinstalled using the image that comes with vmware-server (VM->Install VMware Tools). Since then I haven't seen the issue again.

Of note: I am using an old vmware image that I built with an older version of VMware (and Tools).

[tonyw (tony-whyman)]

The comment on the keyboard layout selection is interesting. I checked my setting in

Open System -> Settings -> Keyboard and select layout

and although only one layout "United Kingdom", it was not selected as the default. I selected it (and it has remained selected) and I have not seen the problem since. Will report back if it re-appears.

[Dave Vree (hdave)]

Have this problem on Hardy, but didn't on Gutsy. The Ctrl and Alt keys (possibly) others stop working outside the VM -- but do work inside the VM. The setxkbmap workaround fixes the problem.

Does not happen without running VMWare. I use VMware Workstation 6.0.2 build-59824 and in case it matters i am running compiz.

[Dave Vree (hdave)]

I figured out how to reproduce this error. I run compiz and frequently switch workspaces by doing an Ctrl-Alt-LeftMouse action. This works if I click on the VMware title bar or the vmware menu bar. However, if I accidently click INSIDE the console on the titlebar of a maximized windows application, then POW, my ctrl and alt and other keys are busted. Put more simply, running compiz, hold down ctrl-alt then left click inside the vmware tool on the title bar of a windows application. For me, works every time. I have vmware tools installed.

[Mathieu Marquer (slasher-fun)]

Same problem with Ubuntu 8.04 up-to-date and VMWare Server 1.0.5 running Windows XP SP3, but this happens for me whether or not I'm running compiz...

[kk (kk1987)]

Selecting default layout in 'System -> Settings -> Keyboard and select layout' does NOT solve the problem. It re-appeared after I've done that.
Also confirmed that all GTK applications crash on typing when the problem occurs, and all non-GTK apps are fine.

[Beefeater (beefeater)]

Same problem for me.

Ubuntu 8.04 up-to-date
VMWare Server 1.0.5 build-80187
No compiz.

To quote kk "Selecting default layout in 'System -> Settings -> Keyboard and select layout' does NOT solve the problem."
However, setxkbmap works for me.

[gwi (george-willegers)]

Same problem here.

Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic.
VMware server 1,0.5 build 80187

setxkbmap brings back the function of the ctrl, shift and capslock keys, but now the alt-tab key combination no longer works (it works like a tab). Other alt-combinations work (like alt-F to activate the File menu in an application).

Before upgrading to Hardy I never had this problem.

[RVK (rohit61)]

Exact same problem on Fedora 9. Definitely not something to do with a particular distro - now seen across different Linux distributions.

setxkbmap fixes it for me.

Here's other details:
$ uname -s -r -v -m -p -i -o
Linux 2.6.25.3-18.fc9.i686 #1 SMP Tue May 13 05:38:53 EDT 2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

$ rpm -q --all | grep -i vmware
xorg-x11-drv-vmware-10.16.0-1.fc9.i386
VMware-server-1.0.5-80187.i386

[Shane Lazar (drsjlazar)]

I am also having the same problem... running on Xubuntu 8.04, with all updates installed and also when using Fluxbox. I do not use proprietary drivers and neither do I use Compiz. I am running VMWare Workstation version 6.0.3 build-80004 and kernel 2.6.24-17-generic. All applications crash when I try to input via keyboard to them except VMWare.

[cmoer (collin.moerman)]

I have the same issue, setxkbmap is a good workaround. I think we can throw out all the variables except VMware. Everyone has different kernels, video drivers, compix enabled/disabled, vmware tools installed/uninstalled, etc.

[Dirk (rptq)]

Feanor, there is one other variable that needs to stay in: xorg 7.3. That's what we also have in common. even the folks that report the same problem in a different distro.

[cmoer (collin.moerman)]

Good point Dirk, sorry, I brain-farted right past that one.

[Dirk (rptq)]

I think instead of posting more "me too" messages here, people should send emails to VMWare.
There is also a thread on their website (http://communities.vmware.com/thread/104635) but no replies from VMWare.

[captaintrav (captaintrav)]

I'd bet money this has something to do with the libraries VMWare ships with their product. The product installs it's own instead of using the system's which has resulted in some goofy stuff in the past. I'm experimenting with it to see which libraries in /usr/lib/vmware/lib can be removed successfully. So far I've removed /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.o and I haven't had the keyboard problem again.

[naught101 (naught101)]

I doubt it's just the vmware gtk libraries, since I, and a couple of
others, are getting this problem in kubuntu (kde3).

[starfear (utdilya)]

I solve this problem partly.

Edit -> Preferences -> Input -> Keyboard and Mouse

uncheck -> Grab keyboard ... on mouse click
check -> Grab keyboard ... on key press

If you don't in focus VM, you can press ctrl-alt-enter for full screen without problem.

Kubuntu 8.04, linux-rt, nvidia-glx, vmware-server 1.05.

[Bertrand Janin (bjanin)]

Following captaintrav's advice I removed the gtk library shipped with VMWare and stopped having issues with my keys not working. naught101, VMWare is shipping with GTK and you using KDE3 doesn't change that, I am myself using kubuntu.

[Bertrand Janin (bjanin)]

Ironically it seemed to work for a couple hours and right after I posted the previous comment it acted up again... so this is not a solution, I'm now using starfear's solution.

[Jan Wender (j-wender)]

I had the same problem on Hardy/amd64 on an T61p using VMWare Workstation 6.0.3. Since then I upgrade Hardy to current levels, and, probably more important, installed VMWare Workstation 6.5 Beta (build 91182). Since then the problem disappeared. Since the beta program is open (registration needed), maybe someone could try this?

[Dym (dmarszal)]

Installing VMWare Workstation 6.5 Beta DOES NOT fix the problem for me.

[xplong (xplong666)]

I have this problem with VMWare Workstation 6.5 Beta.
I put a shortcut in my desktop to setxkbdmap... When the problem begins I click the shortcut to fix the keys.

It's a bad solution but it works for me

[captaintrav (captaintrav)]

Anyone try reverting to Vmware Server 1.0.4 to confirm this is definately a VMware problem ? I believe you will need the any-any patch to test this on Hardy, though.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I think it would be useful if someone were to make a spreadsheet of the different packages and versions of vmware installed so some common theme can be found. The spreadsheet could be added to the bug as an attachment. I'd imagine it'd look something like:

| reporter | vmware version | vmware tools version | kernel version |

[Shane Lazar (drsjlazar)]

i think Xorg version should be included... since it might be something we all have in common...

if anyone is willing to take up the task of making this spreadsheet that would be great... if not I can create a spreadsheet on google docs and we can all add our info in there. i dont know how to grant public access for editing of google docs... if you know how to do that, please create a spreadsheet or tell me how it is done. if you dont mind giving me your gmail address i can add you as collaborators for the spreadsheet. i promise i wont spam you :D

[wzzrd (maxim)]

problem confirmed - no caps or shift for me - on hardy using latest kernel. upgrading to vmware workstation 6.0.4, released today, does not help. numlock, scrolllock, and either alt, ctrl, the windows keys; all stopped working. starting a terminal an pressing a key closes the terminal. not sure whether it crashed or just closes. no typing means no debugging ;-0

forgive me the lack of interpunction. i just doesn't work today ;-p

[wzzrd (maxim)]

it's a crash. when i press keys in nautilus - im trying to find setxkbmap, so i can try fixing, like suggested above - nautilus crashes and takes the whole desktop with it. it doesnt kill the x session though, so it comes back up right away. Running setxkbmap fixes problems. I love you for mentioning that, Brian. :) Interpunction is back!

[captaintrav (captaintrav)]

I just wanted to add that I uninstalled VMware workstation 6.0.3, and installed Server 1.0.4, which is quite old by now, on my AMD64 Hardy box, and I still have the same problem. So although it's not fair to say this isn't a VMWare problem, the problem is occuring somewhere outside VMWare... ie Xorg. since this is a new problem, but occurs with older versions of VMWare.

[boni635 (jacek-bonicki)]

Hi,

I've just noticed a possible security flaw. If one goes fullscreen with vmware workstation/server, so that the mentioned problem occurs, and then locks the computer (Lock screen), the lock screen app crashes as soon, as one tries to type in a password. The user has now access to the desktop WITHOUT giving any password. I realize that this is rather unlikely situation, but for those paranoid security freaks it might be worth mentioning. Also - is reporting this bug as a security problem going to speed up the fix? setxkbmap works, but it is still only a workaround.

Cheers
jacek

[krouskop (krouskop)]

I've had this problem occur on my workstation a few week ago, and I'm still running Gutsy and VMWare Server 1.0.4. A co-worker just had this happen with Hardy / VMWare Server 1.0.5, and then, after upgrading VMWare Server, VMWare Server 1.0.6. (So, this problem spans beyond a single version of Ubuntu or VMWare Server).

I've avoided recurrences of this problem by being very diligent to always leave the VM by pressing <control>-<alt> to make VMWare Console give up control.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

boni635, no doing that would not speed up getting this bug fixed. What would speed things up is if people would follow the directions given by the bug triagers in comments #1, #46, and #97 provide the requested information.

[Bertrand Janin (bjanin)]

VMWare Workstation: 6.0.3 build-80004
VMWare Tools: 7.2.9 build-80004
Ubuntu: 8.04
Kernel: 2.6.24-17-generic
xserver-xorg: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10

[Matthew Fedderly (mdfedderly)]

sorry about that, mis-clicked on the 'this needs fixing here' button.

[Steve Beattie (sbeattie)]

In my case, the caps-lock key also stops working, which I have mapped via xmodmap to Mod3. It happens reliably when I do ctrl-alt-enter to enter fullscreen mode, and then ctrl-alt to get back out to the host OS; it doesn't appear to happen if I don't enter fullscreen mode (even if I use ctrl-alt to take focus away from the guest).

VMware server: 1.0.6 build-91891
VMware tools: 1.0.6 build-91891
kernel: Ubuntu 2.6.24-17.31-generic (x86_64)
X server: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.1
X driver: intel

(I have -proposed enabled as well)

[BassKozz (basskozz+ubuntu)]

I also am having the same problems, in the past I've changed my keyboard layout (as previously mentioned) to temporarily fix it, but I will now try using the "setxkbmap" fix that I picked up here, and I'll report back with my findings. I am using a Dual-Monitor setup so removing VMware Tools completely wouldn't be prudent for switching back-and-forth between display's (2 VM's - I run one VM on each monitor).

Question to anyone using the "setxkbmap" work-around, does it only fix the problem temporarly or for the duration of the uptime (until you shutdown or reboot)???

Also I posted a thread on VMware's forums here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/150155?tstart=0
Hopefully someone from VMware will update the VMware Tools to fix this issue.

---
Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit (UpToDate)
VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057
VMware Tools 7.2.9, build-80004

"Xorg -version" output:
X.Org X Server 1.4.0.90
Release Date: 5 September 2007
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux Ubuntu (xorg-server 2:1.4.1~git20080131-1ubuntu9)
Current Operating System: Linux user 2.6.24-18-generic #1 SMP Wed May 28 19:28:38 UTC 2008 x86_64
Build Date: 15 April 2008 05:41:18PM

[fjanoski (janoski)]

Same problems: seems that regardless of the application launched in the host OS - terminal, mousepad, etc. the app immediately crashes (closes). Something with stdin???

Xubuntu 8.04 32-bit Host OS
VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057

[Oren Held (oren-held)]

Okay, let's make some order. We have two separate bugs here:
1. VMware bug: VMware deletes the modifier keys: in VMware console, being focused on the guest OS, holding Ctrl down while moving the mouse out into the host machine, then leaving Ctrl.
This causes all the modifier keys to be deleted : 'xmodmap' command returns an empty list.

2. GTK/GDK bug: when modifier list is empty, gtk apps tend to crash (segmentation fault) on a keypress. This is the relevant GTK ticket. http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508751

Of course, bug #1 leads to bug #2, but these are separate issues.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

There's a duplicate bug report on this bug at <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/187165" title="keyboard shift control stop workin when using vmware">bug 187165</a>

Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit Host OS
VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057

[floid (jkanowitz)]

Never noticed this before, but by holding a modifier, it can also be reproduced with a fresh install of VMWare Player 2.0.4 build-93057 (modules built against 8-Jun-2008's current 2.6.24-18 kernel, all 32-bit).

As annoying, but thankfully less fatal, is a related bug where keyboard LED state desynchronizes (Num/Scroll/Caps-Lock). That seems "sort of fixed" to the extent that vmplayer now doesn't toggle the LEDs at all, and state is appropriately preserved when switching focus out of the VM. Unfortunately the vmplayer is an "unsupported" product, so it's difficult to flag down someone at VMWare to tell them there's an issue.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Can't see why to flag someone at VMWare, when Gutsy (Ubuntu 7.10) doesn't have any sort of problems with the VMWare.

[BassKozz (basskozz+ubuntu)]

"Can't see why to flag someone at VMWare, when Gutsy (Ubuntu 7.10) doesn't have any sort of problems with the VMWare."
Not true, I had these problems in both Gusty and Hardy.

[krouskop (krouskop)]

@Millerman, per "when Gutsy (Ubuntu 7.10) doesn't have any sort of problems with the VMWare" -- Please see my comment above (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/195982/comments/103) -- I've experienced this exact problem under Gusty.

[Dirk (rptq)]

@krouskop, which problem are you referring to exactly? The xmodmap problem can be reproduced in at least two ways: (1) hold the ctrl key while you move the mouse from the guest to the host as described by Oren Held in #110, (2) going full screen with CTRL+ALT+ENTER while VM option "Grab keyboard and mouse input on mouse click" is switched on. I can reproduce both on my Hardy machine (x.org 7.3, VMWare WS 6.0.3 and 6.0.4), but my Gutsy laptop (x.org 7.2, VMWare WS 6.0.3 and 6.0.4) does not run into the xmodmap problem.

Have a look at http://communities.vmware.com/message/966014
There are quite few reports about the same problem in different distros. What we all have in common is the upgrade to x.org 7.3.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

VMWare under Gutsy...

Problems with Gutsy as well?
Ok... That's news to me, since I used VMWare under Gutsy without any kind of issues. The problems started when I migrated to Hardy (8.04). I even copied the VMWare binaries from my working Gutsy installation into Hardy, just to see if there had been any issues during compilation. But, the problems were exactly the same.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Could be problems with x.org 7.3 then, since Gutsy on x.org 7.2 seems work fine. So... Should we have a talk with the x.org or the VMWare -guys?

[Jonathan Bower (jonathanbower)]

I use Gutsy and have this problem.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Jonathan Bower...
Which x.org version are you on?

[Dym (dmarszal)]

I'm using Xorg 7.3.
It seems the problem occurs to all people using Xorg 7.3.

[BassKozz (basskozz+ubuntu)]

Another (possibly related) issue I am having is, I have the "Lock Screen" item added to my panel (Right-click on panel ->Add to Panel...->Lock Screen) and it stops working as soon as my keyboard issues arise. And "setxkbmap" doesn't fix it nor does going into the keyboard layout and resetting the layout.

[Oren Held (oren-held)]

Doesn't happen on CentOS 5 / RedHat EL 5 (VMware Server 1.0.5).
This might confirm that the problem is indeed related Xorg version (CentOS 5 has Xorg 7.1.1), though there are more variables (gtk version, kernel etc)

[coreyfro (coreyfro)]

I have this problem as well. It happens in all guest OS's. I resolve the issue by using RDP in to my Windows guests instead of directly viewing the VM. My Linux VM's I never directly interface anyway.

8.04 AMD64 Nvidia, all standard 8.04 build versions. Vmware 6.5 beta

[Setya (jsetya)]

I also experience the problem but mine is VMware Server 1.0.6 on Xubuntu Hardy. I can't even type a single keystroke on console terminal. The Capslock, Shift & Ctrl keys dies.

[tocals (carlos-listas)]

I also expericne the problem with vmware-server 1.0.5-80187
The VMWare console terminal works, but when I return to Ubuntu the shift and ctrl keys dies.

Linux tocals-laptop 2.6.24-18-generic #1 SMP Wed May 28 20:27:26 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

ii xorg 1:7.3+10ubuntu10 X.Org X Window System
ii xserver-xorg 1:7.3+10ubuntu10 the X.Org X server
ii xserver-xorg-core 2:1.4.1~git20080131-1ubuntu9.2 Xorg X server - core server

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

Yet another report, but I can reproduce it and have some interesting observations.

HP Compaq nx6325 running Kubuntu Hardy (8.04) running KDE3
uname -a:
Linux 2.6.24-18-generic #1 SMP Wed May 28 19:28:38 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
VMware Server 1.0.6 build-91891
xserver-xorg 1:7.3+10ubuntu10
xserver-xorg-core 2:1.4.1~git20080131-1ub
(by the way, you can get the above from the command "dpkg -l")
graphics card: ATI Radeon
driver: ati

Interestingly I also had the issue on this machine running Dapper and VMware server a year ago, which I guess rules out xserver 7.3. It disappeared when I stopped using VMWare. At that time I though it was triggered by excessive memory usage, as I only had 1GB but now I have 3GB and only using just over 2.
I believe my old setup was VMware-server-1.0.5-80187 and Kubuntu Dapper (6.06?) i386 (not AMD64). The old setup compiled perfectly, both vmware host and tools.
On my current setup I had to apply vmware-any-any-update117 to get the VMware host to compile, and open-vm-tools-2008.04.14-87182 to get the VMware tools to compile. I had the issue both before and after I got VMware tools properly installed.

I also have the annoying keyboard auto-repeat issue (while typing in the VM, sometimes (or, quite often actually) your keystrokes will be repeated).

steps to reproduce:
NOTE: I have put a lot of time into reproducing exactly the steps needed. The following is the bare minimum of what I need to do to reproduce it. Anything else is irrelevant (in my case). For example, it works fine if I switch to full screen without first clicking inside the VM.
- have a vm running
- switch to vmware
- move the mouse into and click inside the vm
- press ctrl-alt-enter to make it full screen
- press ctrl-alt to revert back to windowed mode
now the problem is there:
ctrl and caps/num/scroll lock does not work
the alt key, including alt-tab works, but when pressing alt-tab it does not release the alt key, meaning i have to press any other key, or tab without alt, to actually switch to another program. It's like I am till holding the alt key.
I do *not* however have the unstability issue. I can continue running anything I want, so it's easy for me to test various proposed solutions.
Note: I can *not* reproduce it by holding the ctrl key while moving the mouse from the guest to the host

both of these methods can be used as workaround, reverting the effect of the issue:
- running setxkbmap
- running System Settings - Regional & Language - then selecting Enable keyboard layouts and applying the changes (or if it's already enabled, disable it - apply - then enable and apply)

Interesting things from /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver "kbd"
        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

When it's working fine, I get this output from xmodmap:
xmodmap: up to 2 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0x42)
control ...

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

New observation:

It can also be reproduced this way:
click inside the VM
hold any of Shift, Ctrl or Alt keys down while moving the mouse out of the VM window

Note: If I switch to the VM by simply alt-tabbing to it, then pressing Ctrl-Alt-Enter to full screen it, then Crtl-Alt to release, I do *not* get this problem. It *only* occurs when I:
1. Click inside the VM and
2. Hold any of the Ctrl, Alt and/or shift keys while releasing the keyboard/mouse to the host OS (which you obviously do when you press Crtl-Alt to revert back to windowed mode, as the cursor is then released from the VM).

[van_Zeller (vascovanzeller)]

I also have this problem. I am however relatively new to linux. How can I help? How do I log stuff?

PS - One thing confuses me: one of the workarounds for this problem is to run setxkbmap. But if I press any key on the console it will immediately crash!:/

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

van_Zeller, set up a desktop shortcut to setxkbmap.
In Gnome, right-click the desktop and select "Create launcher"
In KDE, right-click the desktop and select "Create new" - "Link to application"
Then when you have the problem, just select an empty desktop (assuming you have more than one and leave at lease one empty) and click your setxkbmap icon.

[van_Zeller (vascovanzeller)]

Thank you Ronny

That's what I did (sort of), since I'm using the AWN dock. Tomorrow I'll write about this in the ubuntu forums, guess its all I can do. Thanks for the tip though.

[trmentry (trmentry)]

I'm running Hardy on a laptop and ran into this issue after the I updated. However its been awhile since I ran vmware so not sure if it was the update I did or was previous.

Linux kessel 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Jun 4 16:35:01 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

I'm running VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057.

The one thing I notice is that my shift key works fine in the VM, but not in the host.

Running 'setxkbmap' seems to be a work around.

If you need more information, please let me know and I can post.

[krouskop (krouskop)]

I hate to add a comment that I can't speak to directly, but a co-worker has recommend a potential fix outlined here: http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html

--quote--

The solution:
Apparently it is an issue with the evdev input driver. Thanks to "doranikov", The solution is simple: Tell VMWare what your keyboard really does! Put this in ~/.vmware/config:

    xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
    xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
    xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
    xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
    xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
    xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
    xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
    xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
    xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
    xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
    xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
    xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
    xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
    xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
    xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
    xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
    xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
    xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
    xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu

done!

--/quote--

If I get around to trying this, I'll comment here as to if it helped or not. (For now I'm content with keeping a launcher shortcut in my top panel to setxkbmap).

[Ian Kelling (iank)]

I have this bug and I'm running Gentoo, so its definitely a vmware issue.
krouskop, it would be nice to know how to get those values for the keyboard configuration as they obviously change for different keyboards/countries. I am posting the same comment in the linked blog.

[Oren Held (oren-held)]

I'm almost sorry to add yet-another comment to this evil bug page.. :)

The GTK sub-problem (gtk apps crash on a key press) was fixed in svn few days ago.

Relevant links:
1. GTK bugzilla: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508751
2. GTK diff: http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/gtk%2B/trunk/gdk/x11/gdkkeys-x11.c?r1=19579&r2=20413
3. Ubuntu bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/180626

[Chris Bamford (chris-bamford)]

I too have this problem - but it only appeared after I added a Windows XP guest to my Linux VMWare host (prior to that I only had a Linux guest and it worked fine). Dunno if that helps.

I did try the solution suggested above (http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html) by krouskop where you add a number of lines to ~.vmware/config and it appears to be working (after restarting the VMWare service).

Thanks guys!

[willdeans (william-deans)]

I am having the same problem with the latest, as of posting, vmplayer and a fully patched Fedora 9 with XP guest os.

Approaching the problem from a different angle:
If the belief here is that this is most likely a VMWare issue then please go to the vmware forum and leave a message there as well. VMWare doesn't support your distribution but perhaps if there is enough noise they will fix the issue anyway.

PS: While you are at it ask them to make it so you don't have to use the any-any patch. They know what changes need to be made as they are within the any-any patch. How hard could it be to apply them?

Thanks!

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I have no config file in my ~/.vmware directory. Should create one using the information from comment 133 or would I need more information in it?

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

Unfortunately the suggestion from comment 133 does not make a difference.
As Brian observed above, there's no config file in ~/.vmware.
I tried both creating one and adding the content suggested and adding it to /etc/vmware/config, none of which worked.
To the ones suggesting posting this somewhere else: It's very difficult at the current stage to say if this is a problem with xorg or vmware or even another component, which is why several of the posters have posted in vmware forums and other places as well.

[Dan Am (da-lonx)]

i can confirm the bug on my hp 6710b running vmware workstation 6

[BassKozz (basskozz+ubuntu)]

The Bug Description Says: "After a day or so of running"
For me it's more like a couple of hours or minutes depending on variables I've yet to have figured out what the exact cause is.

Someone over on the VMware forums has posted a way to reproduce the problem immediatly:
"steps to reproduce:
NOTE: I have put a lot of time into reproducing exactly the steps needed. The following is the bare minimum of what I need to do to reproduce it. Anything else is irrelevant (in my case). For example, it works fine if I switch to full screen without first clicking inside the VM.

    * have a vm running
    * switch to vmware
    * move the mouse into and click inside the vm
    * press ctrl-alt-enter to make it full screen
    * press ctrl-alt to revert back to windowed mode

now the problem is there
<<<...EXCERPT...>>>
Another observation:

It can also be reproduced this way:
click inside the VM
hold any of Shift, Ctrl or Alt keys down while moving the mouse out of the VM window

Note: If I switch to the VM by simply alt-tabbing to it, then pressing Ctrl-Alt-Enter to full screen it, then Crtl-Alt to release, I do not get this problem. It only occurs when I:
1. Click inside the VM and
2. Hold any of the Ctrl, Alt and/or shift keys while releasing the keyboard/mouse to the host OS (which you obviously do when you press Crtl-Alt to revert back to windowed mode, as the cursor is then released from the VM)."

Check it out here for the full scoop: http://communities.vmware.com/message/973212#973212

p.s. When is this going to be assigned to someone so we can get a fix? Or is Ubuntu/Xorg/VMware going to keep passing the buck?

[Andy Brook (javahollic)]

Just seen this today, been driving me nuts for a month or two. Just as BassKozz, I have VM's (vmware server) that are running where correct behaviour is observed, however, keyboard lights stop responding after some period of time, an X reboot (gdm restart) solves it.

I cant apply the previous comments regarding the ~/.vmware/config file, I dont have one in my version of vmware. next time I'll try taking out vmware now thats been possibly pinpointed.

[juergi (juergi)]

For VMWare Server the workaround described at http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html should be applied to /usr/lib/vmware/config.

[mathew (meta23)]

I started getting this problem after upgrading to 8.04 LTS. I didn't get it with 7.10.

I do use VMware and the nVidia proprietary drivers.

setxkbmap fixes it for me.

[Colin Alston (colina)]

"For VMWare Server the workaround described at http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html should be applied to /usr/lib/vmware/config."

This worked for me by the way and fixes it. The setxkbmap trick did not work. It did fix my SHIFT and CTRL meta's but it did not resolve my ALT key.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

""For VMWare Server the workaround described at http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html should be applied to /usr/lib/vmware/config."
This worked for me by the way and fixes it. The setxkbmap trick did not work. It did fix my SHIFT and CTRL meta's but it did not resolve my ALT key."

Tried that on VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057, but didn't work. Caps Lock and and other key are still screwed up. Everytime I leave VMWare, I have to run "etxkbmap" in order to make the keyboard "normal" again.

[Cymen Vig (cymenvig)]

At first the "nthrb..." work around didn't work for me but it seems to be working after:

1) using xev and making sure each key is set correctly
2) making sure delete and backspace were defined
3) creating it as /etc/vmware/config with root permissions and symlinking it to my ~/.vmware/ so vmware can't blow it away (when run under my privileges)

I think the key things are #1 and #2. Here is the steps I took for a ThinkPad T61p with US keyboard layout:

http://cymen.org/blog/2008/07/11/vmware-linux-windows-host-keyboard-annoyances/

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Sort of sounds similar to bug 196277; check upstream's explanation of that issue and see if it makes sense for this one too. (Unfortunately we're no where near a solution to that one.)

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

In my view, I don't think they are very similar - 196277 is consistently reproducible, relates to not being able to switch keyboard layouts using the shortcut keys when autoboot is enabled, and doesn't say that the shift/ctrl keys stop working completely.

On the other hand, this bug occcurs randomly (although I do find it can be reproduced with the sequence that BassKozz reported), I don't think it is related to at all to autologin, and when it happens, the shift/ctrl/alt keys stop working completely for *all* keys.

Another difference is that when it happens, typing keys in other applications (eg the keyboard layout window) usually causes them to crash and I don't think anyone in 196277 has seen that problem.

[Jack Knight (jfk)]

None of the workarounds mentioned here or in the direct links worked for me. However the script in this thread:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1006547#1006547

did give me a workaround. I didn't put it in a cron job like the author suggested, but just made a panel shortcut.

[Adam Simpkins (simpkins)]

I saw this problem recently on a system running a very old version of Debian
testing. It's running xserver-xorg 6.8.2.dfsg.1-11 and VMware Workstation
5.5.6.

It looks like this is a problem with VMware, not with the X server or anything
else. VMware apparently clears all the modifier maps when it grabs keyboard
and mouse focus, and then "resets" them to their original values when it loses
focus. I verified this by running the following in an xterm:

   while true; do xmodmap -pm; sleep 5; done

This prints out the current modifier maps every 5 seconds. I then used VMware
while this was running. When one of the guest machines has keyboard and mouse
focus, all the modifier maps become completely empty. When VMware releases the
keyboard and mouse grab (either by pressing Ctrl+Alt or moving the mouse out of
the guest window), the modifier maps are reset to normal. I unfortunately
don't have ltrace installed on this machine, so I can't tell exactly what X
calls vmware is making underneath, but it definitely looks like this is
VMware's doing.

My guess is that VMware "forgets" to reset the modifier map in some scenario
after it releases the keyboard/mouse grab.

I haven't reproduced the problem again since I first saw it. (I originally saw
it after I installed a Linux guest OS and installed VMware Tools on it. After
I encountered the problem, I reverted to a snapshot of the guest that didn't
have VMware Tools installed. I haven't seen the problem since. However, I'm
not positive that VMware Tools was what caused the problem, since I only have
this one data point.)

[Greg Manrodt (greg-manrodts)]

I installed Ubuntu 8.01 a few weeks ago. After installing VMWare Server, I also experienced the above. I am running this on a Dell Precision M65 laptop (using the ATI drivers). The ONLY time I experience this issue is when running VM, and shift, alt, ctrl all are disabled. In addition, when I open a new application (such as FireFox) they immediately crash. I have not experienced Ubuntu crashing.

The only fix I have found that works is a reboot, but I have not yet tried setxkbmap or logout/in.

[adam1mc (adam1mc)]

I am having this same issue and I'm about to start pulling my hair out. This is the most annoying bug ever as I use VM continually throughout the day and about 30-40 times I have to reset the keyboard to fix this issue. I have a workaround that doesn't involve a reboot but still.. what a pain in the arse. I never thought I'd see the day where I would say "Damn.. I miss my Windows box. At least everything worked when I used Windows...." ug....

The workaround...

System > Preferences > Keyboard >> Layouts

Add another keyboard in this area. I have the Spain version added.
Whenever the box messes up, go into this layout area and just switch the two layouts around. Then switch them right back again.

Bam.. that fixes the issue (for now)

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

setxkbmap will probably work for you as well then.
An easier workaround for you would be to create a link on the desktop or
something that starts setxkbmap, or just run it from the console, like I do.
This makes it more bearable, but I have to emphasize that this is *not*
a fix, it's an ugly hack of a workaround, so this issue is definitely
not solved yet.

adam1mc wrote:
> I am having this same issue and I'm about to start pulling my hair out.
> This is the most annoying bug ever as I use VM continually throughout
> the day and about 30-40 times I have to reset the keyboard to fix this
> issue. I have a workaround that doesn't involve a reboot but still..
> what a pain in the arse. I never thought I'd see the day where I would
> say "Damn.. I miss my Windows box. At least everything worked when I
> used Windows...." ug....
>
> The workaround...
>
> System > Preferences > Keyboard >> Layouts
>
> Add another keyboard in this area. I have the Spain version added.
> Whenever the box messes up, go into this layout area and just switch the two layouts around. Then switch them right back again.
>
> Bam.. that fixes the issue (for now)
>
>

[willdeans (william-deans)]

Greetings,

I opened up an official vmware support ticket because having to use setxkbmap constantly was really getting on my nerves and everyone else seems to be having problems with this as well. We will see what they say. If anyone has anything they think I should mention in particular about this specific issue please feel free to tell me and if I can I will pass it along to them. I also included in the support ticket a link to this discussion.

Hope this helps,
William Deans

================================================================
VMWare Initial Response 080801_0915
================================================================

Dear William Deans,

Thank you for requesting support from VMware for VMware Workstation 6 (for Linux systems)
Your Support Request Report Number is 1127335961

A copy of your Support Request is included at the end of this message.
You may review the status of your Support Request at anytime by accessing: http://www.vmware.com/support/sr/sr_history.jsp

We also offer several Web-based resources to assist our customers in finding answers to their questions quickly. Many issues reported by users are addressed and posted in our knowledgebase which you can access at: http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_alp.php

In addition, VMTN discussion forums are available at: http://www.vmware.com/community/index.jspa for the VMware user community to share work-arounds, fixes, technical tips, and other valuable information about using our products.

Based on the support contract you purchased with your VMware software, you are entitled to Complimentary 30 Days Support. We will review your Support Request and respond appropriately based on the severity of your issue in accordance with our response policy at: http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/response.html

Thank you for using VMware software.

Sincerely,
VMware Customer Service

You filed the following Support Request:

Customer Email: williaxxxx
Account: Default Support Account
Phone: xxxxxxxxxx
Contact: William Deans
Entitlement: Complimentary 30 Days Support
Region: NASA-EST
Commit Time: 08/04/2008 06:09:43 (PST)
Product: VMware Workstation 6 (for Linux systems)
Severity of Support Request: 2
Description of Support Request: I am having this problem. I have found setxkbmap is not an acceptable workaround.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/gentoo/+bug/195982
Date Entered: 08/01/2008 06:09:39
Support Request ID: 1127335961
Preferred Contact Method: Phone
Preferred Phone# xxxxxxxxxx

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

This bug is also present in vmware-server 2 RC1 (ie in the vmware-vmrc console program).

[John (reinisjohn)]

This bug I saw in any version 6.XXXX of vmware workstation.
More important it does not care I use a language-independant (english only, NO ANY multimedia buttons 104,105) or for instance french-language+multimedia buttons like webbroweser, sound etc.

I think vmware team should post their
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/en or whatever vmware team use.
After that is maybe check what is wrong / differences between vmware development team xkb configuration and ours.

[Ravindran K (ravindran-k)]

Greetings to all,

Me too facing the same issue. Tired of logging off and logging on. Somehow, got Vmware working in 2.6.26-5 kernel today. But looks like the frequency of the issues increased after this. Earlier it was once or twice in a day. Now, every few mins this is happenning.

Regs,
Ravindran

[Kostanos (kostanos)]

Today I had the same issue,
I have the last updates of my Ubuntu 8.04. kernel: 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Fri Jul 11 23:41:49 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
And VMware Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057 with XP virtual PC in it.

[James M. Ward (jmw86069)]

Just adding a brief comment -- I had this issue occur, and resolved it (apparently, and once-only so far) by using gconf-editor to removing the keyboard mapping of Shift-F19. F19? Sounds like a grep may find a typo? I didn't see F19 mentioned in the comments above yet, so I hope it helps.

[floid (jkanowitz)]

I haven't looked at that mapping yet, but FWIW, function keys go up to F19 on recent Mac keyboards.

[rawdmon (raw-dmon)]

I have been experiencing this on a regular basis with VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057. I am running an AMD Phenom 9850+ BE with the 64bit version of Kubuntu. My kernel version is 2.6.24-19 I am running KDE4 and I am using the Nvidia Xorg driver. I'm glad that the "setxkbmap" workaround was posted. Up to now I've just been logging out of KDE4 and logging back in which is a total pain. I havn't noticed any actual application stability issues on the Linux side while running VMWare as some have reported, but this keyboard issue is extremely irritating. My system is currently up to date with the latest versions of everything.

[rawdmon (raw-dmon)]

Oh, and just to add, my keyboard is attached to a KVM as well, not sure if that's part of the cause.

[Andrew Eidsness (andrewe)]

Here's a workaround that I haven't heard mentioned yet. I'm using VMWare workstation to run winxp on ubuntu 8.04. I had the same problems described in this email when running the vmware session in full screen mode. The setxkbmap worked for me, but was a annoying to have to repeatedly apply.

What I've been doing instead (for about a month now without noticable problems) is to launch the vmware session and then use remote desktop to access the session and run in full screen mode. Its a bit convoluted (remote desktop to vmware session) but seems to work.

[Thommie Rother (t-rother)]

Just for info:
I see the same behaviour on a Opensuse 11 host running VMware workstation 6.04 with a freshly installed Win XP guest.. Would be interesting to see the reaction of VMware guys upon willdeans support ticket in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/195982/comments/155

Will, any update on your request yet?

Bye, Thommie

[willdeans (william-deans)]

VMWARE said Ubuntu 8.04 isn't supported and refused to look at the issue.

On 8/24/08, Thommie Rother <email address hidden> wrote:
> Just for info:
> I see the same behaviour on a Opensuse 11 host running VMware workstation
> 6.04 with a freshly installed Win XP guest.. Would be interesting to see the
> reaction of VMware guys upon willdeans support ticket in
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/195982/comments/155
>
> Will, any update on your request yet?
>
> Bye, Thommie
>
> --
> Shift key (and caps lock) stop working when using VMWare
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/195982
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in The Linux Kernel: Invalid
> Status in "linux" source package in Ubuntu: New
> Status in "xorg" source package in Ubuntu: Triaged
> Status in Gentoo Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> After a day or so of running the shift key mysteriously stops working as
> does the cap lock. In other words I cannot enter shifted characters of any
> kind. The keyboard is connected to a KVM and all other systems respond to it
> properly. In additional any VMWare sessions I have open respond correctly.
> So I have the condition where all non-vmware applications in Ubuntu Hardy
> (all updates applied as of 2008-02-26 at 12:43 UTC) fail to recognize the
> shift key BUT applications within an active (a paused/restarted session also
> works) VMWare sessions running DO recognize the key.
>
> When this condition occurs ALL applications (except those within a VMWare
> session) are also unstable and will usually crash within a few keystrokes.If
> I continue to operate in this mode. I cannot pinpoint what, if any,
> application triggers this. It has always happened while working within
> terminal/browser/vmware sessions and NOT when opening a new application. It
> could be related to the KVM switch, but none of my other systems (2
> Mandriva, 1 Windows) are affected by this.
>
> This bug has been present on my system for a number of days across daily
> updates and reboots (if the update requested it) and I think since I
> installed Hardy Alpha 1.
>
> A work around: log off and back on. A reboot/restart does not appear to be
> needed.
>
> Error logs show some unusual activity.
>
> --- MARK ----
> ...
> ... kernel ... rtc lost 7 interrupts ...
> --- MARK ---
> ....
>
> Plus some segfaults indicating which application crashed as I tried to type
> into it (mouse works fine).
>
> System: HP dv9743cl (which otherwise works lovely)
> Ubuntu: Hardy 8.04 (from lsb-release)
>
> ----
> TEST CASE:
> 1. Click inside the VM and
>
> 2. Hold any of the Ctrl, Alt and/or shift keys while releasing the
> keyboard/mouse to the host OS (which you obviously do when you press
> Crtl-Alt to revert back to windowed mode, as the cursor is then released
> from the VM).
>
> WORKAROUND:
> After this happens to recover your keyboard execute 'setxkbmap' in a
> terminal
>

[rawdmon (raw-dmon)]

Yeh, which would be valid if only people with Ubuntu 8.04 were experiencing this issue, which is not the case since I've been seeing reports of this issue from people running all different types of Linux distros. If they are not prepared to investigate what is causing this issue then they might as well just refund my $198. It's insulting to think that a piece of software which I paid for is suddenly "not supported" in one Linux distro over another.

[Thommie Rother (t-rother)]

A pretty simple (lazy) answer from VMware, I think ... They will have to solve that issue anyway. This is the list of "officially supported host systems" for Ubuntu and Suse (source: http://pubs.vmware.com/ws6_ace2/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm):

----------
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, 9 SP1, 9 SP2, 9 SP3
(Listed versions are also supported with no service pack.)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, stock 2.4.19

openSUSE 10.3
openSUSE 10.2 (formerly known as SUSE Linux 10.2)
SUSE Linux 10.1
SUSE Linux 10
SUSE Linux 9.3
SUSE Linux 9.2, SP1)
SUSE Linux 9.1 — stock 2.6.4-52
SUSE Linux 9.0 — stock 2.4.21-99
SUSE Linux 8.2 — stock 2.4.20

Ubuntu Linux 7.04
Ubuntu Linux 6.10
Ubuntu Linux 6.06
Ubuntu Linux 5.10
Ubuntu Linux 5.04
----------

Maybe its useful if someone can confirm that this issue is also present on one of those distros. I would believe that is has no connection to the distro, but to the kernel?

[rawdmon (raw-dmon)]

Yeh, I actually just put in an official support request with VMWare since my 30 days of complimentary support should still be valid at this point. We'll see what they say...

[rawdmon (raw-dmon)]

Oh, and just to point out that Andrés P. Ferrando posted above that he is using OpenSUSE 10.2 (which is on the list of supported distros) and is also experiencing this issue. This is definitely not related to one specific distro.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

As I pointed out far earlier in this bug discussion...

I didn't have any issues with Gutsy 7.10 running on x.org 7.2, before upgrading to Hardy 8.04 which is running x.org 7.3 version. I believe that users still running Gutsy and downloaded x.org updates to 7.3 faces the same problems as as Hardy 8.04 users do.

I believe the other distros such as Centos etc also have the same problem after upgraded to v7.3 of x.org. So the question I would like ask is:
-What is with the x.org 7.3 version? Any major differences?

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Just wanted to add to my previous posting...

If it turns out to be an "issue" with the newer x.org v7.3, that may be somewhat different from the v7.2, I'll would anyhow consider the whole problem as a VMWare problem that has to be fixed by the VMWare team. If VMWare isn't fully compatible with x.org v7.3, then it must be their mission to make it compatible.

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

I remember having this problem even with Dapper, that's so long time ago
I can't even remember the version number... I have no idea what x.org
version I used back then, but surely it can't have been v.7.3?
At that time, as I didn't manage to solve it and didn't really need
VMWare, I just stopped using it. It's only when I reinstalled it on
Gutsy (7.10), and then Hardy (8.04) that I really tried hard finding a
solution and have been using setxbmap ever since. But mostly I avoid the
problem by not triggering it, for example by:
When switching the VM for using it in windowed mode, give the VM the
keyb and mouse by clicking inside the window and release it with Crtl-Alt.
When switching the VM for using it in full screen, do NOT click inside
the VM to give it keyb/mouse, but rather press Crtl-Alt-Enter when
VMWare viewer is the active window. Release with Crtl-Alt as usual.

If I accidentally switch to full screen mode after using the VM in
windowed mode, there's a 100% chance the problem will occur, so when
that happens I just run setxkbmap.

I know, not a solution, but at least it's livable. As I'm using the free
version of vmware, I can live with it until:
1. They fix it
2. VirtualBox becomes stable enough to use

Ronny.

Milleman wrote:
> Just wanted to add to my previous posting...
>
> If it turns out to be an "issue" with the newer x.org v7.3, that may be
> somewhat different from the v7.2, I'll would anyhow consider the whole
> problem as a VMWare problem that has to be fixed by the VMWare team. If
> VMWare isn't fully compatible with x.org v7.3, then it must be their
> mission to make it compatible.
>
>

[willdeans (william-deans)]

Greetings,

I would like this problem fixed. How about you?

a) Does VMWare have a physical office in Manhattan by chance? How about
near Fort Lauderdale, FL?
b) Does anyone know the e-mail address or name and physical location of a
VMWare software developer?
c) Will anyone physically join me in going there? (NYC is also a great place
for a trip!)

Thanks!

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Ronny Ager-Wick <email address hidden>wrote:

> I remember having this problem even with Dapper, that's so long time ago
> I can't even remember the version number... I have no idea what x.org
> version I used back then, but surely it can't have been v.7.3?
> At that time, as I didn't manage to solve it and didn't really need
> VMWare, I just stopped using it. It's only when I reinstalled it on
> Gutsy (7.10), and then Hardy (8.04) that I really tried hard finding a
> solution and have been using setxbmap ever since. But mostly I avoid the
> problem by not triggering it, for example by:
> When switching the VM for using it in windowed mode, give the VM the
> keyb and mouse by clicking inside the window and release it with Crtl-Alt.
> When switching the VM for using it in full screen, do NOT click inside
> the VM to give it keyb/mouse, but rather press Crtl-Alt-Enter when
> VMWare viewer is the active window. Release with Crtl-Alt as usual.
>
> If I accidentally switch to full screen mode after using the VM in
> windowed mode, there's a 100% chance the problem will occur, so when
> that happens I just run setxkbmap.
>
> I know, not a solution, but at least it's livable. As I'm using the free
> version of vmware, I can live with it until:
> 1. They fix it
> 2. VirtualBox becomes stable enough to use
>
> Ronny.
>
> Milleman wrote:
> > Just wanted to add to my previous posting...
> >
> > If it turns out to be an "issue" with the newer x.org v7.3, that may be
> > somewhat different from the v7.2, I'll would anyhow consider the whole
> > problem as a VMWare problem that has to be fixed by the VMWare team. If
> > VMWare isn't fully compatible with x.org v7.3, then it must be their
> > mission to make it compatible.
> >
> >
>
> --
> Shift key (and caps lock) stop working when using VMWare
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/195982
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in The Linux Kernel: Invalid
> Status in "linux" source package in Ubuntu: New
> Status in "xorg" source package in Ubuntu: Triaged
> Status in Gentoo Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> After a day or so of running the shift key mysteriously stops working as
> does the cap lock. In other words I cannot enter shifted characters of any
> kind. The keyboard is connected to a KVM and all other systems respond to it
> properly. In additional any VMWare sessions I have open respond correctly.
> So I have the condition where all non-vmware applications in Ubuntu Hardy
> (all updates applied as of 2008-02-26 at 12:43 UTC) fail to recognize the
> shift key BUT applications within an active (a paused/restarted session also
> works) VMWare sessions running DO recognize the key.
>
> When this condition occurs ALL applications (except those within a VMWar...

[toobuntu (toobuntu)]

FWIW, I had thought that this was due to my keyboard mistakes, e.g. pressing Ctrl+Space instead of Ctrl+Alt, and so I disabled the SCIM triggers as follows:

System->Preferences->SCIM Input Method Setup

->FrontEnd->Global Setup
 ->Trigger (delete Ctrl+Space)
 ->Next Input Method (del Ctrl+Alt+Down)
 ->Previous Input Method (del Ctrl+Alt+Up)
 ->Show Input Method Menu (del Ctrl+Alt+Right)
->IMEngine->Generic Table
 ->Full Width Letter (del Shift+Space)

This did not help, however. This condition is reproducible for me, as someone noted above, by holding down Ctrl+Alt while dragging the mouse out of a vmware-server 1.0.6 console running a Windows VM with VMware Tools installed.

A custom panel launcher to run setxkbmap is a workaround that works for me.

Specs:
$ vmware -v
VMware Server 1.0.6 build-91891

$ uname -srvmo
Linux 2.6.24-19-server #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 23:54:28 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

$ apt-cache policy xorg
xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2
  Candidate: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:7.3+10ubuntu10 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Roland (roland1979)]

Thanks for pointing out the workaround with "setxkbmap". This works for me, too. In the past I was used to reboot the machine for this (could not pinpoint the issue).

I'm using the current Ubuntu Hardy and the problem is still there (VMware Workstation 6.0.4 with Windows guests)

[KristerL (draengen)]

If the setxkbmap workaround works, you can use a script like the one below for convenience, run it
in the background while running vmware.

It works for me, and although the script resets the keymap even when the VM is active,
I have not noticed any side-effects in the virtual machines.

######################################################################
# Set environment
waitsecs=5

# Run the loop
while true; do

    # Check that the modifier keys exists
    xmodmap -pm | grep 'Alt_L' > /dev/null
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then

        # Fix X keyboard map if not found
        echo "`date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` : X keyboard map fixed."
        setxkbmap
    fi

    # Wait before running again
    sleep $waitsecs

done
######################################################################

/Krister Lundmark

[Alex F (frase)]

I regularly use two different Ubuntu Hardy machines -- one at home, and one at work. I've had this same problem off and on for the last month or two on my work machine, but never on my home machine.

Similarities:
- both are desktops with NVidia graphics cards
- both use the proprietary NVidia driver
- both use Gnome
- both are kept fully up-to-date from the repositories
- both use kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
- both use xserver-xorg 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2 and xserver-xorg-core 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2

Differences:
- at work Hardy was upgraded from Gutsy; at home Hardy was installed clean
- at work I run 32bit Hardy on (I think?) an Intel; at home I run 64bit on an AMD64
- at work I have VMware Workstation (5.5.7 build-91707, with anyany116) running constantly (Windows 2000 on the VM); at home I do not use it at all
- at work I have Compiz enabled; at home I do not
- at work my keyboard, mouse and monitor are connected via KVM; at home they are connected directly

Comments:
- My (Win2k) VM at work does have VMware Tools installed.
- I have only ever noticed the problem while releasing control from the VM to the (Ubuntu) host, but it doesn't happen every time I do so, and correlation is not causation. Nonetheless, others seem to also only have the problem when releasing from VMware to the host.
- I never use my VM fullscreen so in my case, it isn't related to CTRL-ALT-ENTER.
- My VM is set to release control when the mouse leaves the window, so I always do it that way -- I never use CTRL-ALT to release control.
- When it does happen, SHIFT, CTRL and ALT stop responding in Ubuntu or any running program, but continue to work normally in the VM. I haven't noticed how CAPSLOCK behaves in my case.
- Existing Ubuntu apps keep running normally, but new apps generally crash the moment I press any key with them focused, including Terminal. I don't know how long existing apps would continue to run since I can't work that way, so I have to log out and back in to restore the keyboard pretty quickly.
- I didn't know about the 'setxkbmap' solution so I've never tried that.

Here's hoping for a solid solution soon. :/

[Kzin (wmkzin)]

A note that for me it seems to happen when focus is grabbed by another process... For example, while I am typing in my VM, aMSN pops up and minimizes a chat window, stealing focus for a moment. Or if I am holding a key while I change my focus. Its really hard to replicate but I am getting closer to narrowing down the times at which it happens.

[James M. Ward (jmw86069)]

I had the same thing happen again -- and couldn't find the reference
to Shift-F19 at first. I'm guessing this issue isn't necessarily with
VMWare (since I don't have that) but with keyboard remapping. I had
re-installed compiz after building it fresh for other reasons, and
forgot that it may have introduced Shift-key remapping. Ultimately I
found a reference to F19 in the General part of the
compiz-configuration-manager app. But I think the issue is just that
Shift-[blah] is remapped, and since my computer doesn't know why the
hell anyone wants 19 function keys (just kidding, I guess with a Mac
it counters just having the one big paw button on the mouse) it
probably has in the system "Shift" goes to "whatever." Once I changed
F19 to something it recognized, problem solved. It may not help
VMWare specifically, but I wanted to write it down so maybe somebody
can find the solution via Google. :-)

Good luck!

[Kzin (wmkzin)]

To all suffering from this issue...
It would seem that it is harder to track down what causes this issue. I did some googling and found it to cross distros, so perhaps its a kernel problem? A problem with vmware tools? Vmware itself?

Ok, so all said and done I just want to be able to use my kb without rebooting when this happens. I stumbled across the following page;

http://www.makesweet.com/bozo/2008/04/09/vmware-stops-shiftctrlalt-key-from-working/

Why not? I decided to try, the only problem is that when I open a terminal and press a key the terminal closes. Workaround? I copied the text from the browser (including the newline) and pasted that into the terminal and voila, it worked!

The text, if you are stumped and need to copy/paste from your terminal is...
setxkbmap

K, so for Ubuntu, which is Gnome based, I made a little script called fix kb and dropped it in /usr/sbin, chmod a+x... Contents as follows

#!/bin/sh

zenity --question --text "Go ahead and reset the keyboard map?"
if [ $? = 0 ];
then
 setxkbmap
 zenity --info --text "Done"
fi

I then right-clicked on my panel, add to panel, custom application launcher, put in the path to my app and now I have a clickable icon on my menubar so I don't have to mess around with copy/paste from a browser.

I hope this helps point those looking into this bug in the right direction somehow, and really hopes it helps those who are as stumped as I am with this issue and really don't mind a lill button to click on to fix it in the meantime.

[Kzin (wmkzin)]

Oh blast I am a retard, that whole post was not supposed to go on this website as you already have the answer here. I have too many windows open sorry for repost of info.

Oh well, I'll link back to this bug from the other forum I was posting to.

[floid (jkanowitz)]

When evaluating the 2.6.26 kernel proposed for Intrepid, I found that my experience of the bug (keyboard LEDs desynchronized from Caps/NumLock state) changed somewhat:

Within vmplayer: the LEDs do not toggle with the VM's state, but
Natively: When returning focus to the native environment the state before focus went to the VM is preserved/represented accurately.

This also involved upgrading to the latest version of vmplayer, installing all available Hardy updates as of last week (week of 9/7/08) or so, rebuilding the modules as required, etc.

As a heads-up, 2.6.27 (also proposed for Intrepid) removes some facilities VMWare relies on, so building the modules against same might not be possible at "this time" (unless they've released a new version since I did that testing ~last week). I have no strong opinion as to whether that's a mark against 2.6.27 (both kernels resolve my other pet bugs, and if whatever API that was is departing Linux it'll have to be dealt with someday), just warning to expect VMWare headaches if testing it right now.

[Jamin W. Collins (jcollins)]

I can confirm Adam Simpkins' assessment of the situation in comment 151. VMWare is definitely clearing the keyboard map upon focus and failing to reset it if you can move the mouse out of the window with CTRL held down. I can reproduce this 100% of the time.

Ubuntu 8.04.1 (fully updated)
VMWare Player 2.0.5 build-109488
Gnome Desktop
Lenovo Thinkpad T61p
Nvidia proprietary drivers (package version 169.12+2.6.24.13-19.45)
Guest OS - Windows XP Pro SP3 (with VMWare Tools)

[WEARENOTALONE (wearenotalone)]

Updating to VMWare Workstation 6.5 seems to fix this problem for Debian Lenny.

Debian Lenny (fully updated: 25.09.2008)
VMWare Workstation 6.5.0 build-118166
NVidia proprietary drivers (173.14.09-5+2.6.26.5)
2.6.26.5 custom-built Kernel
Guest OS - Windows XP Pro SP3 (with VMWare Tools)

[Sachin (sbangali)]

I think I am facing a similar problem.
Host: Ubuntu
Guest: Win XP
I had Ubuntu 8.0.4 and VMWare 1.X. Upgraded to Ubuntu 8.10 and VMWare 2.0 and started facing issues.

1. Could not hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to login to Win XP. As soon as I hit the 3 keys it 'releases' control from the guest to the host. I have currently set up autologin for the win xp to by pass this issue.
2. Arrow Keys, Insert, Home, Page Up, Page Down, Delete, End dont work. The corresponding keys on the numeric pad when Num Lock is turned off work fine.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[MyFlower (myflower)]

 I found strength behavior - someone could call it trick. If you press ALT, keep it pressed, press SHIFT and release ALT [while still keeping SHIFT pressed], I`m able to write symbols and capitals with SHIFT... =D keep fighting...

[James Sears (james-hn-sears)]

As of 20081024, with all Hardy Heron updates, this loss of copy/paste type keys is still happening.

It seems to happen for me, almost regularly, when switching back from a VMWare XP guest to the ubuntu host.

Switching keyboard preferences - e.g. to a new keyboard layout - returns copy/page type keys back to ubuntu.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Sounding like this isn't an xorg bug really, but bumping it over to the keyboard bug queue so someone can review more carefully.

[Dan McGarry (dmcgarry-cns)]

This seems to be a VMWare bug, caused by its inability to properly read (or keep) the keymappings. The following workaround apparently addresses all of the issues raised above:

http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html

IME, it does at least address the issues raised in comment 187 and (so far) has kept any of the other keyboard related issues for me on Ubuntu 8.10 running VMWare Workstation 6.5.

[CadetD (ubuntu-thecadets)]

I upgraded to the latest version of VMWare (6.5) and have not had this problem for a week. Used to be several times a day.

[Ralph D. Ungermann (ralph-d)]

Sachin wrote on 2008-10-16:
1. Could not hit Ctrl+Alt+Del...
2. Arrow Keys, Insert, Home, Page Up, Page Down, Delete, End dont work...

This is probably unrelated to the bug discussed here. See
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/177010

[Dejan (dejan-rodiger)]

hi all,

you will not see big letters in my comment because of the shift problem.
i am using intrepid as host which is updated to kernel 2.6.27-8-generic, vmware is version 2.0.
before i even start any of the vm machines, i have problem with the keyboard. yes, vmware service is started.
in gnome-terminal, when i press shift, it changes from filled square to non filled square.
i can't press shift characters and workaround is to press alt, then press shift, then release alt and then desired letter.
with this trick i can enter my password now.

i used solution 2. from here http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html and keyboard is working in my vmware machines (winxp pro sp3), but not in my host linux.
strange thing is this happened yesterday.

setxkbmap didn't worked for me.

i am using only croatian keyboard layout on my lenovo r60 with ati video card.

keyboard is working ok in my console ctrl-alt-f5

[cengopon (pognonec)]

Hi there,

I had the same problem: shift key suddenly stopped working, after having played around with cubes in Compiz. I turned off the System/Preferences/Appearance/Visual effects to none, and shift key magically came back. Don't ask me why, but now, I won't show off with Compiz anymore (or should I write: compiz?).
It may have to do with the video card (I am on Dell XPS M1130, on 8.10 Intrepid) with the NVIDIA driver 173 (I had problems with the 177).

[Dejan (dejan-rodiger)]

Philippe you are correct.

Here is the solution:
Open Compiz Settings Manager, open General Options, open Commands tab.
Open Key Bindings and disable F19 key on Run command 0.

[cengopon (pognonec)]

Great job, Dejan!
Now I can show off with Compiz AND use the shift key
;-)

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

As per comment #191, this isn't an xkeyboard-config bug, so canceling that task.

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

I have never seen this bug before, but all of a sudden it has surfaced consistently with Jaunty. The workaround of running

  setxkbmap

in a terminal window does correct the lack of modifier keys.

VMware Workstation 6.5. Interestingly, I have never seen this with Fedora 9, Fedora 10, Gutsy, Hardy, Intrepid, or even Jaunty until recently. And I still can't reproduce it anywhere other than with Jaunty.

[oleibrock (oliver-leibrock)]

Hi all,

I do have same issue on an acer Laptop with ATI graphic card and VMware Server 1.0.8 build-126538 on Ubuntu 8.04.

Keyboard is working some time in both environments (vmware session eqaul with OS is booted and Ubuntu Host). Whatever happend after some time keyboard and ctrl/alt /shift keys are no more working on the host but still in guest.

Only chance to fix was to logout and login again.

"sudo setxkbmap" saved my live from today on.

Thanks for this.

Cheers

 Oliver

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Hi,

The VMWare keybord vs Linux (Ubuntu only?) issue continues. In 8.10 the after effects of using VMWare Desktop in Ubuntu where easily solved by executing the "setxkbmap" after switching back to the host.

But... in Ubuntu 8.10 it have turned to the worse. Now the "setxkbmap" doesn't have any effect any longer. It messes up the shift and ctrl keys so I can't make the "shift-ctrl-v" for copying text into a text terminal. In the VMWare client, the "Alt Gr" - key have turned into an "enter" -key, for example making a newline when pressed in text editor. This means that I can't use some keys to produce certain characters when switching to a VMWare client.

I still hope that there will be a solution to this problem, as I do love to use Ubuntu.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Made a typo in the second sentence. Should be 8.04, not 8.10!
==========================================

Hi,

The VMWare keybord vs Linux (Ubuntu only?) issue continues. In 8.04, the after effects of using VMWare Desktop in Ubuntu where easily solved by executing the "setxkbmap" after switching back to the host.

But... in Ubuntu 8.10 it have turned to the worse. Now the "setxkbmap" doesn't have any effect any longer. It messes up the shift and ctrl keys so I can't make the "shift-ctrl-v" for copying text into a text terminal. In the VMWare client, the "Alt Gr" - key have turned into an "enter" -key, for example making a newline when pressed in text editor. This means that I can't use some keys to produce certain characters when switching to a VMWare client.

I still hope that there will be a solution to this problem, as I do love to use Ubuntu.

[KJ (cortexbuster)]

Hi,
this problem persists in 9.04 jaunty beta with all updates installed. but setxkbmap does work for me to work around the issue. but as it occurs ever time I'm in the vmware console (I run vmware server 2.01) it's very very very annoying. are there other ways to resolve this issue?

[Michael Kofler (michael-kofler)]

I finally switched to Virtual Box a week ago (after having used VMware products for about 10 years!). VMware was great for a long time, but I had simply too much different stability problems during the last year (keyboard, network, X). Virtual Box certainly is no perfect product, but at least for the last week, it just worked. I need Win XP for some aspects of my work, and I need to run it flawlessly. Virtual Box seems to offer what I need.

[Ratius (ratius)]

The bug happened to me as well on Jaunty which I have upgraded today. The "setxkbmap" worked fine for me.

This happened on a 64bits operating system, VMware workstation 6.5.0, and it had never occured to me on intrepid. After using the "setxkbmap" command, switching back and forth with the guest and host didn't turn off the key modifiers again but I haven't tested much yet.

[danhar (dan-harenberg)]

I can reproduce the bug on a fresh install of Kubuntu Jaunty (latest, all updates). Happens nearly always when I have a VmWare virtual machine running and perform some action in it, but not if it's running in the background, i.e. no focus and no mouse action in it. Running VmWare Server 2.0.0 Build 122956 with the Vsock patch applied and the keyboard patch so that in the virtual machine, the keys are mapped correctly (xkeymap.noKeycodeMap = "TRUE"
 in /etc/vmware/config). setxkbmap works but have to issue the command every time after I did something in the virtual machine.

Hope that is of some help. I am quite a newbie here so let me know if there is anything I can do (like sending reports, which ones and how).

[Mark (darck1)]

I can also reproduce this bug. I'm running Win XP Professional on my Ubuntu Jaunty box (latest all updates). The version of Vmware Workstation I am using is 6.5.0 build-118166. I have VMTools installed. I have xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true in my ~/.vmware/config because otherwise my keymap wouldn't work. Typing setxkbmap in a console worked for me.

This happened several times when I was switching often between my VM and my desktop. I was copying/pasting from the VM to OpenOffice.

[hkais (r-2)]

Hello I can also report this issue. I have 2-3 times a week the issue. Additionally enough my passwords must have special chars, so I am often lost, if my screensaver locks...

I am running jaunty 32 bit with latest updates. VMware 6.5.2. I tried both the generic kernel and the server kernel.
In both configs I get the really odd error, that my especially SHIFT isn't working any more.

How can I support to figure out, there the root-cause of this error is?

[kernel-janitor (kernel-janitor)]

Hi robb-canfield,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ . Please then run following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux-image-`uname -r` 195982

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Executive (ooo-biodef)]

I have two Ubuntu machines, one is running 8.04 LTS 64bit Server edition and the other is 9.04 64bit Desktop edition.

I have installed VMware Server on the 8.04 server and I am accessing it with Firefox via HTTPS.

I have the problem being discussed here and running setxkbmap restores my keyboard mapping so that the Ctrl and Alt keys start working again both in the Desktop and Server windows.

My guess is that this problem is related to VMware setting the keyboard mapping on the host, to match the mapping on the virtual machine.

Problem could be, I have a 105 key USB keyboard on my workstation but vmware has a 102/3 key virtual keyboard attached to the virtual machines (I have 1 Redhat and 1 Windows 2003 server running as virtual machines)

This could also be related to how WMvare "grabs" the keyboard. I don't know.. Fact is I don't think this is a OS problem at all. I belive the OS is behaving as it should.-

[hkais (r-2)]

Hello all,

I switched pretty luckily to karmic/9.10 and hoped some of the previous issues will be gone...

This issue also affects now 9.10/karmic...

How can I help to find the bug?

[d2globalinc (shane-2710studios)]

Same issue here with karmic - troubleshooting the issue more - don't remember having this problem before. Using vmware workstation 7 - and I recalled that I used to have some settings in the /etc/vmware/config file for keyboard mapping for some arrow key fix for workstation 6.. I decided to re-input those mappings into my /etc/vmware/config file to see if it helps resolve this issue.. I'll post back my findings.. This is what I put at the end of my /etc/vmware/config file - incase anyone else would like to test their findings as well.

xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu

[Kikker46 (kikker46)]

I have those already in the script and thus this is not fixing that issue with me. (Ubuntu 9.04)
I updated to VMware Workstation 7, so I might need to remove them, will check this out and comment my findings.

[Randy Syring (rsyring)]

I also have this problem on 9.10 x86_64 and vmware workstation 7.0.

[Roland (roland1979)]

I can confirm post 214 (Ubuntu 9.10 x86_64 and VMware Workstation 7.0). Executing "setxkbmap" still works as a workaround.

[Jim Lehmer (jim-lehmer)]

Getting this behavior in 64-bit Mint 8 (built on Ubuntu Karmic Koala) running VMWare Server 2. As with others, setxkbmap works as a workaround, and the behavior doesn't affect the guests, just the host.

[James Baron (james-bluebaron)]

I don't know if this is the same issue that everyone else has had, but I know this has happened to me on multiple systems: My CTRL and ALT keys lock and are on constantly. When I press 'F', the computer acts as if I'm pressing CTRL + 'F'. If anyone else has had this problem, try the following: Tap back and forth rapidly between the CTRL + ALT keys, then sometimes I do the shift keys as well for good measure. The keyboard starts working.

[Nelly (launch-ecostat)]

Hello,

I have the same problem.
I am using Ubuntu 10.04
VMware player 3.0.1 build-227600
I have had the problem now twice, so I cannot say much about the regularity.
setxkbmap works.
I am using this configuration for several months. The problem with non-working SHIFT, CTRL and ALT keys occurred only in the last week. The only change in the configuration (except for the usual updates) is: a new keyboard and a new mouse.
I have now a keyboard without a numeric keyboard (to minimize RSI problems, the new keyboard is only 30 cm width instead of 45 cm, so that the right hand is in a better position to hold the mouse).
And the second time I had this problem (I cann't remember about the first one), the virtual PC had crashed, and when started again, it said it could not grab the keyboard. I have had this message before (before and I believe also after the keyboard change), without any consequences for the SHIFT etc. keys.

[Nelly (launch-ecostat)]

Hello,

In addition to my previous remarks (#218):
I had another occurrence. Just before, my Virtual PC crashed. It had some message, but that disappeared before I could read it.

[alain57 (alain57)]

same problem on ubuntu 10.10 with VMware Player 3.1.2 build-301548
my host is ubuntu 10.10 x64
my vm is ubuntu 10.04 x86

on a forum i found this solution, that work on my computer

just create an executable file with this content (and run the magic command if you loose ctrl or other keys ...

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/xmodmap - << XXX
clear shift
add shift = Shift_L Shift_R
clear lock
add lock = Caps_Lock
clear control
add control = Control_L Control_R
clear mod1
add mod1 = Alt_L Alt_R
clear mod2
add mod2 = Num_Lock
clear mod3
clear mod4
add mod4 = Super_L Super_R
clear mod5
add mod5 = Scroll_Lock
XXX

[Bart Janssens (bartholomeus-j)]

Hi,

The exact same thing happens to me on a clean beta Natty with only Vmware Player (version 3.1.4 build-385536) installed on top of that. It is not persistent and I have not yet figured out what triggers it.

As told above, running 'setxkbmap' gets all the keys working again.

[John Faith (jfaith7)]

The behavior I saw before shift, ctrl stopped working was that all keyboard events and the mouse state were captured. The mouse moved, but stayed as the guest OS's mouse icon (vs Kubuntu's). I could not get to a local console and had to remotely kill the vmplayer process to get back any control. I also tried "export VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK=yes" in /usr/bin/vmplayer, which seemed to make the problem happen less frequently, but it still happens.

I'm using Natty and VmWare player 3.1.4 build-385536

[thejpster (ubuntu-thejpster)]

This happens for me on Maverick with Vmware Workstation 7.1.4 build-385536. Sometimes, I don't notice it's a problem (say, I'm working in the VM where the keys still work fine), I go away for a while, the screensaver activates and I find I'm unable to enter my password. I have to kill gnome-screensaver from another machine using SSH, then run setxkbmap to fix it.

[Hans Meine (hans-meine)]

I have no problem with Shift or Alt, but with Ctrl, everytime when I leave the vmware player on natty (Kubuntu, no Unity or the like here).
(I am using the Neo keyboard layout, so I have no CapsLock key to test.)

Unfortunately, this bugreport seems to be a big mess:
* People having problems with different keys,
* with or without(?) varying(?) virtualization solutions,
* sometimes mentioning new HID hardware (applies to me, too [1]),
* sometimes mentioning graphics drivers (closed-source NVidia for me, too),
* with varying software and kernel versions,
* and with different proposed workarounds (calling 'setxkbmap' being the most efficient one AFAICS).

And for me, I can only say that I did not have this problem in the past, but I am not sure which of the many things that changed in the meantime caused this:
* upgrading from Maverick to Natty
* installing the new keyboard [1]
* performing daily Ubuntu software updates
* updating VMWare player
* /not/ using Unity ;-) but KDE (half-jokingly, after all vmware-player has an "Enter Unity" menu entry)
* using Ctrl-Alt to release the kbd grab

The latter seems to be the most likely to me; in the past, I just moved the mouse to the top to reveal and focus the menubar and then used Ctrl-F2 to change the virtual desktop, but that does not work anymore. So I had to learn about Ctrl-Alt, but now I have the problem with Ctrl stopping to work. (It's always Ctrl, but never Alt, independent of the order in which I press or release the two.)

[1] Got a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard recently.

[Tom (thomasmca)]

I still have the fubar keyboard problem when switching between my host (64bit Kubuntu Natty 11.04) and guest (32bit Microcrap Windoze 7) via VMWare Workstation 7.1.5.

Sometimes the Ctrl key stops responding, sometimes Alt-Tab stops responding. I have not noticed if both are broken at the same time. Running setxkbmap fixes it for the current session.

I always use Ctrl-Alt to switch the focus to the host, then Alt-Tab to switch the active app. I've never used CTRL-ALT-ENTER, partly because I always use Quick Switch to make my VM "almost" full-screen.

Hardware specs:
* Dell Precision M6500
* Video: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series
* Processor: I7-620M, 2.66, 4 MB, Arrandale, C2
* Display: LCD, 17WUXGA, Samsung
* Video Driver: fglrx

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

fwiw, I just ran into the fubar keyboard problem with vmplayer 5.0.1 in Ubuntu 12.10, but found a workaround. Every single time that my mouse went into the vmplayer window, vmplayer trashed all the modifier keys so that CTRL, SHIFT, ALT all stopped working. xmodmap showed:

shift
lock
control
mod1
mod2
mod3
mod4
mod5

Running setxkbmap reset the modifiers correctly, but of course it was a huge PITA to do that every time the mouse went over the vmplayer window.

However, vmplayer worked fine for another user, so I compared our default xmodmaps:

shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0x42)
control Control_L (0x25), Control_R (0x69)
mod1 Alt_L (0x40), Alt_R (0x6c), Meta_L (0xcd)
mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3 Control_R (0x69)
mod4 Super_L (0x85), Super_R (0x86), Super_L (0xce), Hyper_L (0xcf)
mod5 ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c), Mode_switch (0xcb)

The only difference was that mine had the "mod3 Control_R (0x69)" line, whereas the other user had a blank mod3 line.

After issuing xmodmap -e "clear mod3" for my user so the two maps matched, vmplayer stopped trashing the keyboard modifiers for my user.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

robb, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11-rc5

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, please comment as to why specifically you were unable to test it and add the following tags:
kernel-unable-to-test-upstream
kernel-unable-to-test-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Ádám T. Nagy (tnagy.adam)]

Hi everyone,

The issue seems to be reproducible the following way:

0. I am on Ubuntu 12.04.4
1. Install VMWare Player 6.0.2 or 6.0.3
2. Run a VM
3. Go To System settings in Host Ubuntu - Keyboard Layout / Options /Caps Lock behavior ->
Make Caps Lock an additional Control but keep Caps_Lock keysym
4. After this, swinging the mouse over a virtual machine's desktop triggers the issue.
5. Running setxkbmap in terminal is a good workaround

I finally remembered that I changed the keyboard layout with this modification (thanks to this comment: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xkeyboard-config/+bug/195982/comments/226) I had this for a few days but this issue was really a pain.

Hope you can solve it on Ubuntu side

Cheers,
Adam

[Nathan (nathansmith-2003)]

For me, it turned out that the "Caps Lock as an extra control key" was the culprit. xmodmap was

xmodmap: up to 4 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0x42)
control Control_L (0x25), Caps_Lock (0x42), Control_R (0x69)
mod1 Alt_L (0x40), Alt_R (0x6c), Meta_L (0xcd)
mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4 Super_L (0x85), Super_R (0x86), Super_L (0xce), Hyper_L (0xcf)
mod5 ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c), Mode_switch (0xcb)

I removed the Caps_Lock (0x42) from the control line and the problem went away. VMWare stopped flushing my mappings and my keys all worked the same as before. Somehow my CapsLock is still mapped as a control key as well.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Closing this bug with Won't fix as this kernel is no longer supported.
Please feel free to open a new bug report if you're still experiencing this on a newer release (Bionic 18.04.3 / Disco 19.04)
Thanks!

[Gary Clayburg (gclayburg)]

Ok I see this issue is closed as its quite old. Is this particular issue tracked somewhere else?

I just upgraded my Ubuntu 16.04 system to Ubuntu 18.04.5 and this issue still exists for me.

what I'd like to be able to do is:
1. configure my keyboard on the host laptop to map "Caps Lock as an extra control key"
2. launch a vm in vmware player on the laptop
3. Use both the left and right shift keys inside any window on the host laptop.

The workaround of running "setxkbmap" does get around the issue somewhat. For me it does allow the right shift key to start working again. However, it doesn't fix everything. For example, I notice that I can no longer use a the Alt-F1 keyboard shortcut in IntelliJ IDEA. The only workaround I have found for this is to restart the entire laptop after using any vm in vmware player or just not use Alt-F1 keystroke.

I do recall having to do some keyboard mapping a long time ago so that IntelliJ could process Alt-F1 and not Ubuntu itself.

Does anyone know if Ubuntu 20.04 magically makes this issue go away?

One other thing I remembered. I had a similar but a little different issue some years ago with the "caps lock as extra control key" setting when using synergy. More details here:

https://github.com/symless/synergy-core/issues/4658

AFAIK, that issue was never resolved either.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

@Gary: Please submit a new bug report. You won't call anyone's attention by a comment on this old closed one.

[Ronny Ager-Wick (ronny-ager-wick)]

Wow, I did not expect this bug from 2008 to resurface in 2021!

To quote myself in 2008:
> As I'm using the free version of vmware, I can live with it until:
> 1. They fix it
> 2. VirtualBox becomes stable enough to use

#2 happened many *many* years ago, so I can no longer test this issue, that was never really resolved beyond the sort-of-workaround with setxkbmap in over 12 years...

[Gary Clayburg (gclayburg)]

Ok, so I went back and re-read some of the most recent comments here - especially #226 and #229.

This is what works for me:
$ alias vmware="xmodmap -e 'remove control = Caps_Lock ' && /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer"

If I start vmware with this alias, the keyboard on the host does not get corrupted when the mouse leaves the window. Well, sorta. I've used this for a few days and it was working until just now as i type this message. So this fix is not perfect. But this 2 step fix seems to get around the issue:
$ setxkbmap
$ alias vmware="xmodmap -e 'remove control = Caps_Lock '

To me this really looks more like a vmware bug. I plan on filing an issue there.