XP Guest "L" key locks screen

[matsch]

I have XP installed as a guest on Mac OSX running on a MacBookPro. When I type in an IE or Chrome window and get to an "L" the screen locks and displays the unlock window.

I haven't seen it reported already.

This is my first post, let me know if you need additional information. I've attached the vbox log.

Thanks,
Matt

[matsch]

I forgot to include that I'm running VirtualBox 3.2 Beta 3.

[michael-a]

Are you sure this does not happen in the stable versions, too?

WIN+L is the lock screen shortcut.

I've had some keyboard issues for a while now (3.1.x ?) where certain keys get "stuck" (on or off) while using vbox.


1. WIN gets stuck (on)

I'm not sure when this happens, but it's very annoying. When this happens, typing any key sends WIN+key instead of just key. This tends to play havoc with the desktop because WIN+key shortcuts perform lots of system/window functions.

Pressing WIN again (by itself) fixes this.


2. CAPS gets stuck (off)

This happens when CAPS lock is pressed (hurriedly) in combination with other keys while typing. When this happens, I'll press CAPS, start typing some letters, and notice they're lowercase while the light on the keyboard clearly indicates CAPS.

Pressing CAPS again (twice by itself) fixes this.


There's probably some bug(s) in the input logic.

[matsch]

Thanks, that must have been it, of course it had to happen right after I upgraded to Beta 3. Since I'm using a MacBookPro, I don't have the Win-key light, so I really appreciate your post.

Matt

[Sasquatch]

VB might translate the command (or apple logo) key to the win key. See which key calls forth the start menu, then you know which one is the win key. I just booted an XP VM on my Ubuntu 10.04 system (PC, not a Mac) and it doesn't lock when I press the L key, only when I use win+L. So it appears that you had a stuck key. It sometimes happens for me too with other keys, evidently when you hold or press it the second you remove focus from the VB window. It will then not receive the 'key up' signal.

[michael-a]

Ah, I'm glad you have a workaround now.

I searched a bit and found that input handling is quite messy (when implementing VM/VNC/RDP software). Apparently, echoing the keyboard messages (e.g. key press, key release) is not enough. Vbox also has some hacks (workarounds) because events sent from the host OS can also be buggy (e.g. out of order or just plain missing).

This bug applies to me:
#5032 - First letter after CAPS Lock engaged not capitalized

Same with this one, although I have a much simpler setup (e.g. Win 7 x64 host, w/o any RDP/ssh stuff)
#2613 - Caps lock not being properly passed through to Guest

Hitting CAPS with any other key often confuses vbox. Copied from any text app (e.g. gedit) in a guest:

Code: Select all

1. J
2. j J J J J
3. j j j j j
4. J j j j j
5. jjJJJJjjJJJJjjJJJJJJJJJJJJjjjjjjjjjJJJJJJjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjJJJJJjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
6. jkjkJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJKjKJK

1. Press and release CAPS. Press j. Press and release CAPS. Problem: NONE.
2. Press CAPS and press j. Release both. Press and release j, then space, etc. Problem: first j is lowercase.
3. Press CAPS and press j. Release both. Press and release j, then space, etc. Problem: all j's are lowercase.
4. Press CAPS and press j. Release both. Press and release j, then space, etc. Problem: only the first j is uppercase.
5. Hold j down. Press and release CAPS periodically. Release j. Problem: NONE.
6. Press CAPS, press j+k, release all three. Repeated many times. Problem: unpredictable output each time j+k is pressed.

It's believable that some old build of Solaris (#5032) has buggy event handling, but why would my Windows 7 host have a bunch of seemingly unrelated input event problems, that appear specific to other hosts (e.g. Linux, Solaris, MacOS X) or setups (SDL / remote vs. local / Windows GUI)?

(I have no idea how this is implemented...) I'm wondering if something is more fundamentally wrong with Vbox's input handler. e.g. accessing past the end of an array, or accessing recently freed memory, or latency spikes causing events to be missed/dropped, or a faulty container losing elements in certain cases. IOW, bad code that appears to work fine in most cases, but fails consistently on a specific machine; you hack around it on that machine, but another issue pops up on some other machine...

Sometimes I get strange pauses in the VM. When this happens, everything just stops (in guest VM) for like a second. Video freezes, sound loops several times, and then everything goes back to normal. Like an exception handler is being triggered and then VBox recovers. But always this seems related to an input event. The mouse scroll wheel, for example. Or typing a lot and hitting CTRL+S frequently. It's not related to any specific guest application. It also happens when the host and guest are not heavily loaded.

Or maybe it's just a set of unrelated problems.

[michaln]

No, VirtualBox isn't translating the Apple key to a Windows key. They are one and the same. The "Apple" or "Windows" (or "Meta") thing is just a label. The USB standard (assuming a USB keyboard) only defines one so-called GUI key; what the label on the key says doesn't affect its functionality.