Trouble copying from Ubuntu applications (guest to host)

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
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vboxuser93
Posts: 7
Joined: 16. Sep 2014, 21:59

Trouble copying from Ubuntu applications (guest to host)

Post by vboxuser93 »

I have a Mac OS (Mojave) host and an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS guest. I am using Virtualbox 6.0.12 r132072 (Qt5.6.3) and the guest has the guest additions for 6.0.12 installed (and I uninstalled and reinstalled them to see if it solved the problem).

I can copy from host to guest with no problems.

If I copy from a terminal window, or gedit (and probably some other places) on the guest it works and I can paste to the host. If I try to copy from Evolution (mail client), LibreOffice Writer or Firefox (and probably some other apps) on the guest it does not work.

I can copy from Evolution/Writer/Firefox and paste into gedit (on the guest) with no problem, then if I select what I pasted and copy again, I can paste to the host.

I notice that when I try to copy from Evolution/Writer/Firefox, it clears the host clipboard. In other words, if I copy from gedit and paste to the host (which works), then copy from Evolution/Writer/Firefox, then try to paste to the host, the paste option on the host is disabled.

Any suggestions on how to fix this, or is it a known bug? It seems strange that it works in some places but not others!

Thanks!

EDIT: It was all working fine on Ubuntu 16 with Virtualbox 5 (I forget which minor version, the last one before 6 came along). When I upgraded to Virtualbox 6.0.12 it stopped working on Ubuntu 16 from Evolution/Writer/Firefox. I used this as the reason to switch to Ubuntu 18 hoping it would fix it, but it didn't.
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