Virtualbox VRDP repeating / stuck keys

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sai-mike
Posts: 6
Joined: 12. Apr 2021, 03:03

Virtualbox VRDP repeating / stuck keys

Post by sai-mike »

I have several Windows 7 guests running headless on a Debian 9 host. Each guest is configured with a bridged network adapter and assigned a static IP address. Each guest is also configured with a unique remote display port. Each guest also has Windows remote desktop connections enabled.

I find the performance is better connecting with RDP to the Windows machine using the static IP and that is how I normally connect. On occasions, there will be some problem with the Windows start-up and then I need to connect using Virtualbox VRDP to fix the problem. If I am on the local network, both methods work fine. However if I connect remotely over a slow connection (satellite) Microsoft RDP works fine (albeit a little clunky over satellite) and Virtualbox RDP is almost completely unusable. The VRDP problem is repeating keystrokes like having a stuck key on the keyboard. The mouse works fine, but for every key typed on the keyboard I get a random number of repeats. For example, type the word 'issue' and I get iiiiisssssssssuuuuuueeeee on the remote machine. If I type very slowly letting each character appear on-screen before typing the next, I can sometimes get a complete word typed with no repeats.

Has anyone ever seen this problem or have any ideas to try for a fix? Thanks.
cliffbird
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Jan 2020, 21:04

Re: Virtualbox VRDP repeating / stuck keys

Post by cliffbird »

I definitely run into this and it's easy to see the difference between directly RDP-ing to the Windows VM vs. RDP-ing via VBox.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Virtualbox VRDP repeating / stuck keys

Post by scottgus1 »

RDPing into the Virtualbox server is like using an RDP-enabled KVM: you're actually remoting into the monitor outputs and keyboard/mouse inputs. So it will be slower than fully-integrated VM-OS-served RDP.

As for the repeat keys, I'm not certain how to troubleshoot that, except to note that a 'key' sent by a keyboard is usually a "key down" code then a "key up" code. I could surmise that if the key activity is passed super slowly, the Virtualbox server could receive key down, then the local key repeat rate takes over before the key up code can get sent through. Perhaps a really slow internet connection? What's the bps of the connection when the key repeats happen?
sai-mike
Posts: 6
Joined: 12. Apr 2021, 03:03

Re: Virtualbox VRDP repeating / stuck keys

Post by sai-mike »

My speeds are 15 Mbps down and 2.8 Mbps up. I just noticed that Ookla is reporting three latency values - idle, download, & upload. Mine are 719, 900, 1302. So if this were a speed or latency issue, it seems it would occur on both Server RDP and VM-OS RDP? I have never heard of WIndows RDP buffering key up & down codes?
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