Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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Virtual John
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Jul 2018, 15:14

Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by Virtual John »

Hi all,

My problem is as follows:

With VirtualBox 5.1.38 I could copy from a Guest application (Chrome) then paste in a Host application (also Chrome).
With VirtualBox 5.2.16 this doesn't work.
With VirtualBox 5.2.16 I first need to copy the content from Chrome to Notepad on the Guest system, then copy the content from Notepad and paste it in Chrome on the Host system

I don't care about formatting, I just need to copy and paste text as easy as possible from guest applications to host applications. And with VirtualBox 5.2 this has become a little bit harder. Or am I missing something?

Host: macOS High Sierra 10.13.6
Guest: Windows 10 Pro, version 10.0.17134.165
Guest Edition version installed 5.2.6
Shared Clipboard setting: Bidirectional

Thanks!

Virtual John
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by mpack »

I rather doubt this is a VirtualBox problem. It sounds more like you updated Chrome to a version which puts rich text on the clipboard. VirtualBox allows you to copy plain text or graphics via the clipboard. Not rich text or any other kind of data.
Virtual John
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Jul 2018, 15:14

Re: Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by Virtual John »

Hi Mpack,

Thanks for the quick reply! Much appreciated. I have the same problem when using Firefox or Edge. With VirtualBox 5.2.16 I can't copy directly from guest browser to host browser. When reverting back to Virtual Box 5.1.38 it works again and I can paste from Chrome/Firefox/Edge on the guest system to Chrome/Firefox/Safari on the host system.
andyp73
Volunteer
Posts: 1631
Joined: 25. May 2010, 23:48
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Assorted Linux, Windows Server 2012, DOS, Windows 10, BIOS/UEFI emulation

Re: Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by andyp73 »

This looks and smells very much like the discussion that was had in Copy Paste problem after installing VirtualBox 5.2.6.

In the 5.2.x source tree there was a fix to prevent a crash on the host when copying from guest to host that changed the behaviour so only plain text would be copied. This doesn't exist in the 5.1.x tree.

-Andy.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
Virtual John
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Jul 2018, 15:14

Re: Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by Virtual John »

You're right, I didn't want to bump that old thread.

So I did a clean install for both installations and noticed that with Virtual Box 5.2.16 I can copy a link directly from the address bar of the guest browser to the host browser :D

But when I try to copy text from the guest browser to the host browser it doesn't work. And I can't understand why... Am I doing something wrong, or has it to do with the fix andyp73 mentions?

Again, I'm cool with copying plain text if it can be done directly from the guest application in stead of using a go-between like Notepad.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Just to be sure about copy paste from guest to host

Post by mpack »

The address bar will be plain text.
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