[WorksForMe] Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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JCash
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Jun 2019, 05:32

[WorksForMe] Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Post by JCash »

Hi Friends:

My IT office recently updated me to VirtualBox 6.0. My bidrectional keyboard was working before, but I cannot get it working again. I have installed and reinstalled Guest Services. In my VM I have set Devices > Shared Clipboard > Bidirectional. In the Manager, I have checked Settings > General > Advanced > Shared Clipboard > Bidrectional.

* I am using VirtualBox: Version 6.0.8 r130520 (Qt5.6.3), with Guest Additions installed
* My host system is: Mojave macOS 10.14.5 (18F132)
* My guest system is: Windows 7 (64 bit)

I can paste from my Mojave host system into the Windows guest. I cannot paste from Windows to Mojave. I am trying to copy unicode text from MS Word (in my Windows guest), and paste it into my Mojave host. (The clipboard does work fine within the Windows OS.)

I am a long time end user, but do not have a technical background. Please let me know if I need to format the log differently. To prepare this log I started the VM from a cold boot, tested the bidirectional keyboard, shut down the VM, and then created the log.

Many thanks for your help!
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Windows7-2019-06-29-22-54-21.log.zip
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Last edited by socratis on 10. Jul 2019, 10:03, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Marked as [WorksForMe].
erdeslawe
Volunteer
Posts: 241
Joined: 8. Jul 2015, 10:23

Re: Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Post by erdeslawe »

Don't know what you copied/pasted previously, but there are limitations on the text that can be copied and pasted between Host and Guest applications - see VirtualBox User Manual Section 4.4.1.

Only Plain Text can currently be copied/pasted between Host & Guest/Guest & Host etc. Microsoft Word text is definitely not plain text as it contains all sorts of hidden codes, which is probably the issue.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Post by socratis »

erdeslawe is correct. One easy workaround is to also have Notepad open in your guest. Ctrl+C from MSWord, Alt+Tab to Notepad, Ctrl+A to select any previous text, Ctrl+V to paste the text from MSWord, Ctrl+A to select all of the pasted text, Ctrl+C to copy the plain text from Notepad, switch to the host and paste it.

It may sound complicated, but it's really 3 seconds... ;)
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
JCash
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Jun 2019, 05:32

Re: Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Post by JCash »

Thanks for your reply. This must be the issue, as I can paste from TextEdit (Windows guest) into my Mac host.

Is this new behavior for VirtualBox? I was able to paste unicode text (Asian language font) from MS Word from guest to host on my previous installation (but I haven't updated in several years).

At any rate, you saved me from hours of fruitless install / uninstall....
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Bidrectional Shared Clipboard Not Working

Post by socratis »

JCash wrote:Is this new behavior for VirtualBox?
It has been changed for several version now, due to a potential security issue due to a crash in the HTML/RichTextFormat handling.
JCash wrote:At any rate, you saved me from hours of fruitless install / uninstall....
OK, great! Marking as [WorksForMe].
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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