[Solved] Windows XP .vhd - No keyboard with VirtualBox

[johnb3030]

I am trying to get a Windows XP guest running under VirtualBox v5.1.6 on a Windows 10 64-bit host.

I have been running Windows XP guests on Windows XP hosts under Microsoft Virtual Machine 2007 for several years. Now that I have migrated to Windows 10, I want to use one of my old VMs on this new computer using VirtualBox.

I installed VirtualBox and copied the Windows XP .vhd file over from the old computer. I created a new VM and selected the existing .vhd file. The VM starts and runs, but there is an immediate problem: No keyboard on the VM.

Both the old Windows XP host and the new Windows 10 host use a Logitech MK320 wireless mouse and keyboard with the wireless interface plugged into a USB port on the host. Both hosts are actually the same machine. I have a Windows XP hard drive and a Windows 10 hard drive which I physically swap depending on which host OS I want to run.

The hardware managers on both the old and new host machines show the keyboard as an "HID keyboard device" and the mouse as an "HID compliant mouse".

When running the Windows XP guest on the Windows XP host using Microsoft VM 2007, the hardware manager for the VM shows the keyboard as a "VM additions PC/AT enhanced PS/2 keyboard" and the mouse as a "VM additions PS/2 port mouse". Both work.

When running the Windows XP guest on the Windows 10 host using VirtualBox, the hardware manager for the VM shows the mouse as an "HID compliant mouse" and it works. But for the keyboard, the hardware manager shows a "Standard 101/102 key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard" with a yellow "!", and it doesn't work. Searching for new hardware doesn't find the HID keyboard. In addition the device manager shows under "other devices" a "Base system device" with a yellow "?" and no indication of what that might be. I don't know if this last item is related to this problem or not.

When the VM starts, two messages appear at the top of the window:

"You have the auto capture keyboard option turned on" followed by a long explanation.

"The Virtual Machine reports that the guest OS supports mouse pointer integration" followed by a long explanation.

I updated VirtualBox from v5.1.4 to v5.1.6 today. I have been trying to resolve this issue for several days, but have made no progress. I searched this site looking for the solution but didn't find one. I know I could start from scratch by doing a fresh Windows XP installation when creating the VM, but I would really like to get this old VM working because of the number of installed applications it includes. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

John

[mpack]

VPC 2007? Not XP mode? Because if it's the latter then it won't activate.

No keyboard means that you still have the VPC/XPmode guest tools installed. These will not work in VirtualBox, in fact they will stop the keyboard and mouse from working.

Another thing is to make sure you do not have a USB filter configured that might grab the host keyboard. VirtualBox is a host app, its hard to use without a keyboard.

[johnb3030]

VPC 2007? Not XP mode? Because if it's the latter then it won't activate.

In my original post, I erroneously said "Microsoft Virtual Machine 2007". I should have said "Microsoft Virtual PC 2007" (v6.0.192.0).
Definitely not XP mode, which is the Windows 7 program.

No keyboard means that you still have the VPC/XPmode guest tools installed. These will not work in VirtualBox, in fact they will stop the keyboard and mouse from working.

The Windows XP VM that I created under Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 does have the Virtual Machine Additions installed. Is that what you are referring to? I could try removing them. However, the mouse DOES work. It is only the keyboard that doesn't work.

Another thing is to make sure you do not have a USB filter configured that might grab the host keyboard.

I don't know anything about USB filters. I haven't configured one.

VirtualBox is a host app, its hard to use without a keyboard.

The keyboard works fine in the host. It is only in the VM running under VirtualBox that the keyboard doesn't work.

[johnb3030]

After removing the Virtual Machine Additions, I now have both mouse and keyboard, so this problem is resolved. Thanks for the tip!

John

[mpack]

Thanks for reporting back.