remmina RDP window jumps workspaces, Super / Windows key is always active

[Sunil K Chopra]

There are 2 problems here that are preventing me from using Remmina.

1) The window jumps randomly from one workspace to another

2) In Windows 7, the Super / Windows key is stuck in the "on" position.

I have a 2 monitor set up. I opened an RDP connection to a Windows 7 machine. The window is defaulted to fullscreen. Initially, I see nothing. I'm pretty sure that the window has opened fullscreen on a workspace that I cannot currently see. This has been my experience with earlier versions of Remmina on Ubuntu 11.10.

I press Super + S to see all of my workspaces. I find the fullscreen Windows 7 desktop and click on it to drag it back to where I want it. However, after a click but before I can drag it, the window jumps to another workspace. I click there to drag it to my preferred workspace. It complies.

Now that it's on my preferred workspace, I double click on the workspace to zoom into it for use. I can click and interact on the Windows 7 desktop now, but things are about to get worse.

As I type, I notice that the letters I am typing are being understood on the Windows 7 desktop as "Windows +" the letter that I typed. So, if I type "d," then the desktop clears because the Windows 7 machine things that I typed "Windows + d." At this point, I can't use the desktop at all.

I had previously read, here: https://github.com/FreeRDP/Remmina/issues/7 that if I press the Super key outside of the window, it will disable the Super / Windows key stickiness. So, I click away from the Windows 7 window and press the Super key. I see the Unity Dash and click away from that.

Now, I click on the Windows 7 desktop, hoping that I can properly use it. However, with one click, the desktop goes AWOL to another workspace. I now have to track it down again. I press Super + S to find it. With one click it jumps to another workspace (again!), but it remains at this last one.

I zoom in, by double clicking on the workspace, and prepare to use the Windows 7 machine. However, the Super key solution was not effective, it's still stuck "on."

My information:

1) Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04

2) remmina:
  Installed: 1.0.0-1ubuntu6
  Candidate: 1.0.0-1ubuntu6
  Version table:
 *** 1.0.0-1ubuntu6 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.0.0-1ubuntu5 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

3) What I expected: to connect to a Windows 7 desktop in a fullscreen window and be able to click on it and type without the Super / Windows key stuck on and without the window jumping to another workspace at random.

4) What happened instead: the Windows 7 desktop jumps to another workspace at random and the Super / Windows key is stuck in the "on" position.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: remmina 1.0.0-1ubuntu6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed May 2 12:28:06 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: remmina
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[houdini68 (houdini68)]

I have exactly the same problem :

4) What happened instead: the Windows 7 desktop jumps to another workspace at random and the Super / Windows key is stuck in the "on" position.

THAT PREVENTS ME TO USE REMMINA.
I can understand that you don't have the time to correct all the problems but would you be kind at least to give us a workaround ?

Thanks in advance,

-Rudy-

[Sunil K Chopra (sunil-sunilkchopra)]

I've been able to sort of deal with this by turning on "Grab all keyboard events" (the keyboard-looking button) in the remote window and then pressing the super key inside the session. This will open the Start menu in Windows. Then press it again, the Start menu should go away and you will be able to type normally.

However, this does nothing to address the workspace-jumping issue. I just deal with it. Every time the screen jumps, I go chase it down. It's crazy and annoying.

[Rob Davenport (rob-davenport-9)]

I too experience this problem daily as I use Remmina to access multiple (2-4) virtual machines running Win7 or Server 2008.

It seems related to 12.04 release. Synaptic reports I have 1.0.0.1 installed (but the Help > About in Remmina reports 0.9.99.1 from 2010 (though the about box may be out of date - I hope).

The jumping from one monitor to another is very reproduceable for me:
1) Start Remmina
2) Launch connection full screen (double-click on connection in Remmina window), it appears on right-hand (2nd) monitor in full screen (good)
3) Click in connection window. (Everything seems normal - can interact with it and work fine)
4) Click outside connection window (click back into Ubuntu on left-hand (1st) monitor - often to start another connection to another machine, clicking on Remmina
5) Click back inside the connection window and it very often causes it to jump to the next workspace (upper right of the four).

Also, if I open multiple connections and, when focused on one I hit Alt-` to cycle between them, when releasing the Alt-` key to select a window, it almost always causes one or another of the open connection windows to jump to the upper-right workspace.
Repeated use of the Alt-` routine eventually has all the connection windows over in the upper-right workspace. (I thought they were disconnecting for a while but eventually figured out they were just jumping workspaces.

Though I'm not sure they are really there on that other workspace. If I use Expo mode (Super-S), I see them in the upper-right workspace, but when I double-click on that workspace, it enlarges but the connection windows aren't there. They're back on the upper-left workspace - so either they're *real* jumpy, or they aren't really moved. Strange.

If I start with them on the upper-right and do the same procedures, they move back to upper-left workspace (so it's not like I can just stay in the upper-right workspace to work).

I also experience the 'stuck key' problem - I *thought* it was the Control key that was getting stuck, but it could also be the Super/Win key.

I would *like* to get some stdout/stderr logs but when I run remmina from the command-line I get no output at all, even redirecting stdout/stderr. Strange. If I use Remmina's debug window I get a few messages about keystrokes (and only a couple of those) and nothing about errors. The man page is extremely uninformative as well.

Any suggestions on how to see stdout/stderr with this (do I need a debug build)? Or how do I enable logging and where do the log files go (if it exists)? Haven't seen any type of logging capability (other than the bug about remmina filling up the .xsession-errors log file).

[Rob Davenport (rob-davenport-9)]

Apparently remmina/rdesktop has no log capability.

http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=alpine.LFD.2.02.1103222119500.2718%40stella.lkpg.cendio.se&forum_name=rdesktop-users

Might have to rebuild in debug to look for problems.

[The_ERROR (spam-trash-2)]

HI,

I'm having absolutely same problem as described here, so no need to update those.

I thing, that these problem could be partially related also to this bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/remmina/+bug/999985 whre it is not possible to move remote window to another window in fullscreen. It looks little bit similar and maybe it is related to one change...?

[Rob Davenport (rob-davenport-9)]

Could be related, yes. I also have two monitors, and when going full-screen it sometimes jumps to the wrong monitor. But when losing and then regaining focus it often jumps to a different workspace - or appears to. Showing Expo mode shows it in the different workspace, and when I go there to move it back to the right one, it sometimes jump right back, so I'm not sure if it ever really left the correct workspace. I think so, but it's hard to prove without debugging it.

[Rob Davenport (rob-davenport-9)]

This bug report contains 2 bugs. The first (remmina jumping workspaces) is a duplicate of bug #980766, but the second issue (super key being stuck) is not a duplicate. It may be related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rdesktop/+bug/179846 but that's for rdesktop not specifically remmina (though I believe remmina uses rdesktop).

Can this bug report be modified to only refer to the stuck super key problem? Refer to the first issue as a duplicate of 980766, but leave this one open to solve the stuck key problem?

[JaccoH (jacco)]

I can confirm this issue. For me the superkey is always stuck because ElementaryOS uses the superkey for shortcuts as well. Any fix?

Cant I somehow block the superkey all together in remmina?

[Mike Butash (michael-butash)]

This has been plaguing me for years across ubuntu distributions, and began looking finally to see obviously I'm not alone. This single-handed breaks most means of rdp connectivity constantly for me under any flavor of linux, which is almost a constant thing for my job to deal with stupid windoze boxes, forcing me to usually just restart and re-login. Sucks when remote to a bunch of systems at once to constantly restart when it locks the key.