USB Mouse Disappears/Stops Working

[OmaSteak]

Hello, running a Windows95 guest on Windows10 host using most recent version of Virtualbox with guest additions. Without any notice and at different times, the mouse just quits working in the Windows95 guest. It will still work on the Virtualbox menu items at the top of the window but not on any of the menu options opened inside the guest window. The mouse continues to work as expected in the Windows10 host. My only option when the mouse stops responding in the Windows95 guest is to click on the Virtualbox "Close" X on the menu and restart the Windows95 guest losing whatever unsaved work was open on the guest at the time the mouse stops responding. I have been using Virtualbox for a long time and never had this problem before until the last two version upgrades of the program/guest additions. Besides rolling Virtualbox back to a previous version, I am at a loss as to what is causing the mouse in the Windows95 guest to just stop responding at unexpected times. Any ideas would be most helpful. Thank you.
Bill Bollinger
PS - it's a USB Kensington trackball that I've been using for a couple of years without any problems.

[scottgus1]

Can you please clarify this:

Windows95 guest on Windows10 host using most recent version of Virtualbox with guest additions.

There are no Guest Additions for a Windows 95 guest.

Windows 95 has no Mouse Integration. So to get the mouse out of the guest to the host, you'd have to hit your Host Key (shown in the guest window's Status Bar at the lower left, typically Right Ctrl. Are you normally using the keyboard Host Key to release the mouse from the guest?

While the mouse is not working in the Windows 95 guest, is the keyboard still working?

Please right-click the guest in the main Virtualbox window's guest list, choose "Show in Explorer/Finder/File Manager". In the window that opens, zip the guest's .vbox file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

[OmaSteak]

I am slightly confused. I am running Virtualbox with guest additions on a Windows10 host with a Windows95 guest running inside Virtualbox, not the other way around. The keyboard continues to work in the Windows95 guest even when the mouse fails to respond. By not responding, I mean that no clicks on left/right mouse buttons work in the Windows95 guest even while the mouse pointer still responds and keyboard still works properly. Both keyboard and mouse work as expected on the Windows10 host system even after the mouse fails in the Windows95 guest system. I will try to capture/upload the requested zip file when the mouse fails in the Windows95 guest system again. Currently with the Windows95 guest system running, the little icon on the lower right indicating that mouse integration MI is On and mouse in functioning correctly. Thank you!
Bill Bollinger

[scottgus1]

Probably you mean this:

I am running Virtualbox with guest additions Extension Pack on a Windows10 host with a Windows95 guest

Guest Additions don't get installed on the host, otherwise they'd call them Host Additions.

Currently with the Windows95 guest system running, the little icon on the lower right indicating that mouse integration MI is On

Put your mouse over the top of the little Mouse icon in the Status Bar. A popup of different mouse icons and what they mean will appear. You will probably see that the Icon you are seeing means the mouse is captured, not that Mouse Integration is on. If Mouse Integration is on, you'd have a green or orange right-pointing arrow over the mouse.

When the mouse is inside the guest and stops working, and the keyboard is still working, what is the status of the mouse icon? Grayed, colored with no arrow, etc?

Also, please answer this question from above:

to get the mouse out of the guest to the host, you'd have to hit your Host Key (shown in the guest window's Status Bar at the lower left, typically Right Ctrl. Are you normally using the keyboard Host Key to release the mouse from the guest?

[OmaSteak]

Yes, you are correct I am running Virtualbox with extension pack on a Windows10 host. In looking at the popup of the icon on lower right of the Windows95 guest screen, it looks to me like it's MI is Off mouse pointer is captured since there are no guest additions in Windows95. I can't really tell since I'm colorblind, as to color of the little arrow. I will have to check when the mouse stops working to see what the status of the icon is at that time. When the mouse clicks inside the Windows95 guest stop working, I don't have to do anything to get the mouse "out" of the guest and it always works on the Windows10 system. As stated previously, when the mouse clicks stop working in the Windows95 guest, the only thing I can do at present is click on the X program close in the Virtualbox "window", so I can restart the Windows95 guest. Thank you.
Bill Bollinger

[scottgus1]

I can't really tell since I'm colorblind, as to color of the little arrow.

That's OK, if there's no arrow, then there is no Mouse Integration, only Mouse Capture.

When the mouse clicks inside the Windows95 guest stop working, I don't have to do anything to get the mouse "out" of the guest

Interesting. When the mouse is working correctly, do you have to do anything to get the mouse out of the guest?

[OmaSteak]

No, when the mouse is working correctly or not recognizing clicks inside the Windows95 guest, I don't have to do anything to move between guest and host system, where the mouse always recognizes the clicks. The only thing I do when I move between host and guest is minimize the guest window, even after clicks inside the guest stop being recognized.
Bill Bollinger

[scottgus1]

I don't have to do anything to move between guest and host system,

OK, this is very different from what I see in my Virtualbox. When I click inside the guest screen and there is no Mouse Integration, the mouse is captured inside the guest and cannot get out again until the Host key is hit on the keyboard.

I'm going to have to pass on this one, we'll have to wait for a 95 guru, as well as someone who can explain how one gets the mouse to slide out of a guest without mouse Integration and without hitting the Host key.

[OmaSteak]

I've been using virtualbox for years and have never had to press any key to move the mouse between host and guest. It is only with the past 2 updates of Virtualbox that I've had a problem with the Windows95 guest system failing to respond to mouse clicks at unpredictable times. My first experience with Virtualbox started with a previous PC running Windows7 host and the very same Windows95 guest that I still use today. Thank you for trying to assist even with my confusion over certain details.
Bill Bollinger

[OmaSteak]

UPDATE:
In my Windows95 guest, there's a little icon in the lower right area next to date display which shows Guest Additions version 4.2.8 running. This is not something new, it's always been there in this Windows95 guest that I've been using for several years. So the other VirtualBox icon in that display at the bottom of the Virtualbox window probably does show Mouse Integration (MI) is On. I've dropped back to Virtualbox version 6.1.8 for the past 3 days and have not had any problems, so far, with mouse click stopping inside the Windows95 guest system. Today will be a bigger test since I will be using the Windows95 guest for a couple of hours updating some Excel models. Thank you.
Bill Bollinger

[scottgus1]

This explains a lot:

In my Windows95 guest, there's a little icon in the lower right area next to date display which shows Guest Additions version 4.2.8 running. This is not something new, it's always been there in this Windows95 guest

And opens a different can of worms:

MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME:

Limited testing has been performed.

Use beyond legacy installation mechanisms is not recommended.

Guest Additions are not available.

Which is what threw me off at the beginning:

running a Windows95 guest on Windows10 host using most recent version of Virtualbox with guest additions.

You do have Guest Additions in the 95 guest, and the des say that's not possible. (or at least not supported, anything's possible.)

How you pulled that off is a big puzzle. But that's why you don't have to hit the Host key to get the mouse out of the guest.

Your mouse failure in the guest could be an incompatibility between 4.2.8's GAs and 6.1.14 Virtualbox (I feel confident that the devs don't back-test every version of old GAs with a new Virtualbox version). Or it could be that GAs running in an OS that isn't supposed to have them finally got caught up with.

Anyhow, your setup (95 & GAs) is beyond what Virtualbox is programmed for, so problems can be expected eventually. You'll either have to stay on an earlier version of Virtualbox to keep your guest running, or make backup copies (should be doing this anyway) and test a GAs upgrade on a clone of the guest.

Finally, you may have to stop using the Guest Additions and go to no Mouse Integration.

[OmaSteak]

Thanks for the follow-up. I checked list of my own postings on here and see the earliest was from March 2013 when I first started using Virtualbox to set-up my Windows95 guest virtual machine on a Windows7 host PC. This is the same Windows95 guest that I've been using on an almost daily basis since then, having gone from that original Windows7 PC, to a Windows8 PC and the current Windows10 PC I am using now. As I have changed PCs since 2013, Virtualbox is one of the first programs I install on a new PC and then I restore a backup copy of my Windows95 guest to keep my same old Excel models working with fresh data fed from the host system via imported text files. I just finished a series of weekly updates to these Excel models in my Windows95 guest without any failure to recognize mouse clicks after at least two hours of heavy use. I guess I'll stick with the version of Virtualbox I rolled back to for the time being, unless/until something else fails. Thank you.
Bill Bollinger

[scottgus1]

Great! Glad you're up and running. We'll be here if you have any more glitches.