[VMWare Workstation] keyboard shift control stop working

[HellMind]

just use it a couple minutes and you will see that
your keyboard outside the vm client stop working
correctly
no capslock, shift nor control is working

im using hardy heron latest
vmware workstation 6 v6.0.2 build-59824

you will see too that the clipboard get
desyncronized between the host and the client
maybe that got something to do with it

i will try vmware player pack to see if the bug remains

also eventually when you try to open app like terms
they will crash after you press any key.

[HellMind (hellmind)]

with vmplayer occurs the same
i don't really know when or why it happens

[Aaron Luchko (aaron-luchko)]

i've encountered this bug as well both on kubuntu and on fedora. these were completely different systems without any shared configuration files and using different virtual machines.

[Benson Joeris (bjoeris)]

I have also run into this bug on the latest version of Hardy using VMWare Server 1.0.4 build-56528. The guest is windows xp pro, with vmware tools installed.

This seems to be consistently reproducible by first giving the virtual machine control of the mouse and keyboard (clicking on the virtual machine console) and then switching to full screen mode (ctrl-alt-enter). Switching to full screen when the host has control of the keyboard and mouse does not cause the error.

Here are a few other symptoms that might help track it down.

- When this happens, typing in certain programs (e.g. the address bar in nautilus) cause them to freeze and/or crash
- ctrl-alt-backspace does nothing
- ctrl-alt-F* seem to be the same as alt-F* except that F1 and F2 also crash Metacity
- Restarting X (by logging out and back in) fixes the problem

Hope this helps someone to fix this very annoying bug.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

It is possible to get your keys working again by executing 'setxkbmap' in a terminal.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

I can confirm that problem in the 64 bit Hardy.
Very annoying indeed, since I use VMWare a lot before deploying installations to real computers.

At first I were thinking it could be a problem with VMWare itself, since I installed the latest verion when I migrated to Hardy Heron (VMware-workstation-6.0.3-80004.x86_64). But after I copied the files from the earlier version (VMware-workstation-6.0.2-59824.x86_64) and noticed the same problem (which didn't exist in Gutsy), I realized it was Hardy that probably had issues.

If I start a virtual computer, the Num and Caps LEDs on the keyboard doesn't work any more inside that computer. Shift works though. But switching to the host OS (Hardy), the keyboard is totally screwed up. Every application you start and try to enter text from the keyboard, will kill the application. Text Editor, Firefox, Open Word etc. Every application in focus will get killed when you type anything on the keyboard.

Brian...
I tested the "setxkbmap" (which was very hard since the terminal gets killed every time I type something). Running it, will reset the keyboard and everything is back to normal again. The keyboard LEDs on the host is working again as well. The keyboard LEDs on the Virtual computer doesn't still though.

/Peter

[kantoka (kantoka)]

What is the activity regarding this bug?
It's 4 months now since the first report and still no action taken?
Maybe I'll have to revert to Gutsy then, in order run VMWare without problems...

[Aaron Luchko (aaron-luchko)]

Just to follow up on Brian's workaround the setxkbmap works for me as well (though I sometimes have to run it a couple times). I found it very useful to add setxkbmap right to the panel so it's a simple click to fix my keyboard when it happens.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

It works, but...
It's a little bit Flintstones about it... Were just wondering about the priority of this bug, as I'll convinced that others use VMWare as well when testing software and deploying distributions for any reason. It's Hardy related for sure, since Gutsy didn't have any issues at all with VMWare. The importance of this bug is still "Undecided", which makes me feel like nobody cares about it.

If I were a programmer myself, I could help the Ubuntu community trying to solves this and other issues. But I'm only a user/administrator... :(

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This bug is probably a duplicate of bug 195982, which incidentally has a priority of High. Please visit that bug report to see if you can add any further information to it. I'd like to mark this as a duplicate of it if there aren't any objections.

[kantoka (kantoka)]

Looks like the same bug to me, Brian. Mark it as a dup, is a good idea. :)

[penalvch (penalvch)]

HellMind, 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.

[Roel Brook (rainmaker52)]

I can confirm this is still an issue in VMWare Workstation 2013 Beta, and I believe in 9.0.2 too.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Roel Brook, if you have a bug in Ubuntu, the Ubuntu Kernel team, Ubuntu Bug Control team, and Ubuntu Bug Squad would like you to please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal while booted into a Ubuntu repository kernel (not a mainline one) via:
ubuntu-bug linux

For more on this, please read the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Kernel Team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelTeamBugPolicies#Filing_Kernel_Bug_reports
Ubuntu Community: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report would delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

No need exists to comment here at this time. After reading the above documention in it's entirety, if you have further questions, you are welcome to redirect them to the appropriate mailing list or forum via http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists , or you may contact me directly.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]