Host: 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Guest: 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise (created with VMware Converter 5.0.0-470252 from a Linux KVM Windows VM)
VMware Player version: VMware-Player-5.0.0-812388.x86_64
Basic problem: once the Windows guest gets focus from the keyboard and mouse at least once, Ctrl, Alt, and Right Shift begin behaving incorrectly in the Linux host environment, even if focus is in the Linux host environment, and they also persist even after shutting down the VM and quitting VMware Player. All of the keys seem to work fine inside of the Windows guest when it has the GUI focus, as expected.
Symptoms:
1. Right Shift key stops working altogether in the Linux host environment
2. Alt+tab in Linux host environment behaves differently (instead of activating the application selected, the applications' icons remain in the pop-up list, and it is necessary to press Enter to actually switch to the highlighted application)
3. Neither left nor right Ctrl work in the Linux environment. It is as if they are not held down at all.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Fresh boot of Ubuntu host environment, then start VMware Player and boot up Windows 7 VM.
2. Provide some kind of keyboard input to the Windows guest, e.g., click inside the Windows 7 login screen and enter your password. If your Windows guest doesn't require a password, then start a few applications and use Alt+tab to cycle between the in-guest applications (i.e., Alt+tab while the guest has the input focus).
3. Observe all of the Symptoms listed above
Work-arounds that I've discovered so far:
1. Quit all Linux applications, Log out of Ubuntu and log back in again
2. Play around with the keyboard layout in Ubuntu, switching to foreign keyboard layouts, and then back to English (US)
Honestly, it is tough for me to guess whether this is a bug in Ubuntu, the Unity interface, or in VMware (or somewhere else). I will follow-up if I discover more.
Thanks for any help, insight, etc. This is supremely annoying. Also, VirtualBox 4.1.12 works without issue on this same host environment.
Regards,
-Jon
Update 2012.09.24:
Exact same problem with a Windows 7 32-bit guest (which Player calls a "Workstation 6.5-7.x virtual machine"), which was originally installed in an older version of VMware Player.
The 64-bit Windows 7 guest is a "Workstation 8.0 virtual machine".
Both guests DO have VMware Tools installed and running: "Version 9.2.0, build-799703" in both of them.
If I open the Ubuntu Keyboard Layout such that it gives a full-screen graphical depiction of the keyboard and illuminates which keys have been pressed, it is clear that even these misbehaving keys (including Ctrl, which is behaving as though it is not pressed at all) are being detected by the Keyboard Layout app. So it seems like there is a fight going on with respect to exactly where in the stack VMware is grabbing keyboard activity.
Additional work-around: After quitting VMware Player, "Switch User Account" (by clicking on your username in the upper righthand corner of the screen (by default)) in Ubuntu to the Guest account, then switch back to your regular user. Everything seems to end up back to normal. It can easily be broken again by typing into a VM.