Alt+Tab inside Virtualbox needs return window

[DanV]

Push Alt+Tab in you host say it is Windows - you see some windows to switch to. Among them will be VirtualBox manager and Linux window. But when you are inside the Virtual Box Linux and push Alt+Tab though you also see the windows to switch to but no window to return back to Windows. Would be very natural to add one. It is badly missing just tactively, fingers themselves searching for it and failing

[scottgus1]

Alt-Tab is an OS shortcut, not a Virtualbox shortcut. So when you're inside the VM, Alt-Tab is handled inside the VM OS, which does not know there is a host. You can see this by comparing the available windows to open in the host OS's Alt-Tab vs the VM OS's Alt-Tab. They will be different, showing only the apps open in each OS, not the apps in the other OS.

A tap on the Host Key (displayed in the lower right corner of the VM's Status Bar) will bring the keyboard and mouse out of the VM, where Alt-Tab can be used again on the host OS.

[DanV]

I think i was unclear. I am asking to add one more small window to displayed ones when you push Alt+Tab inside Virtual Machine. This window is just gets you back to original OS.

In Original OS (Say it is Windows) do you see the window of VBox Linux when you push Alt+Tab? Yes. Why not to do the same when you inside Linux. This is absolutely obviously missing feature which makes both OSes equivalent in palpable sense.

By the way clicking on any lower right corner small icons give no effects you described - this does not return you back to original OS.

[scottgus1]

In Original OS (Say it is Windows) do you see the window of VBox Linux when you push Alt+Tab? Yes.

You see this because the "original" (host?) OS generates it. The host's Alt-Tab process looks for processes with open windows and allows focus on one of those open windows. The VM is one of the open windows, so it is shown in Alt-Tab.

The OS inside the VM handles the Alt-Tab contents inside the VM, on the same paradigm: show all the open windows and allow focus on one of them. Now, which open window in the VM OS, when focused, takes one back to the host? There isn't one.

The Guest Additions could generate another open window, which when chosen, does the same thing as tapping the Host Key. Would you be willing to have another open window on the VM OS desktop which automatically kicks the keyboard and mouse out of the VM when you click in it?

(FWIW, you could probably do this now, by making a windowed program that generates a Host Key tap. Then the VM OS will pick it up for the Alt Tab choices.)

(FWIW2, to get this implemented in Virtualbox you'd have to make a case that adding a Host-Key-tap-generating-on-focus open window to the VM OS desktop so the VM OS could show it in its Alt-Tab list then Alt-Tabbing one or more times to focus on it is easier or makes more business sense than just tapping the Host Key once. However, user-contributed code is considered for inclusion.)

[DanV]

Well, i know i am bad at explaining things, but i did not know that i am THAT bad at explaining 2x2.

We are describing the same things with the same words and doing absolutely opposite conclusions, and i have no clue how this happens. I do not understand reason for your conclusion. There is no visible (may be i do not see some very hidden matter) any prohibition in any OS to do that.

Let's start again. I have Windows which is host of VBox, where i have Linux. Both of them are on my screen at the same time. If i click on Windows part of my monitor screen i am in Windows where i can see any open apps with their open windows clicking on them. When i click on Linux window - i am instantly inside the Linux and can see all its opened apps with their open windows by clicking on them. Then again when in Linux i can click on any visible Window app and i am in WIndows.

Similar way we can make current any windows of each OS with the keyboard Alt+Tab when we are inside of this OS, no more, mouse is little bit more powerful (you can in one click switch to Linux or Windows and at the same time even at exactly needed opened app there). If i am inside the Windows and do Alt+Tab i can switch to any opened app there. Including Linux one and i will be instantly inside the Linux.
When i am in the Linux i can with Alt+Tab switch to any opened app working in Linux. BUT I CAN NOT GO BACK TO WINDOWS host, there is no little Windows window when i Alt+Tabing in Linux!!! I came to Linux from Windows obviously because Windows is the host, but i can not get back exactly into the same state of Windows where i came from to Linux! Why? Absolutely no reason for that. This is totally antiintuitive !!! Your brain exploding thinking VBox is a half-cooked application with missing most basic default things even bone brain of your fingers yelling to implement!

Adding such option (just additional little window called "Go Back to the Host" when you in Linux pushing Alt+Tab is all what i ask. Just get me back to the state where i came from. Linux does not need to know which apps working inside Windows to return exactly to specific app in Windows, just go back to the state of Windows where you came from to Linux

[multiOS]

To return from your Linux Guest to your Windows Host try ALT, ALT+TAB.

The Reason:

From Host Windows to Linux Guest - the Linux Guest desktop is available just like any other application window on the Windows Desktop, so it can be accessed with a 'normal' ALT+TAB sequence

With Linux Guest to Host Desktop - the Guest VM has no awareness of the Host desktop, so you have to escape from the Linux environment and therefore a different Keyboard command is necessary, i.e. an additional ALT press.

[scottgus1]

Guest VM has no awareness of the Host desktop

This point from MultiOS is what you're missing, DanV. The host knows there's a guest. But the guest does not know there's a host. That's one of the big points in virtualization: the VMs are isolated from the host. So the guest does not know to put a "go back to the host" option in its Alt-Tab.

Another point you're missing. Alt-Tab is generated by the host or VM OS, not Virtualbox. So the criteria on what to put in Alt-Tab is picked by the OS, not Virtualbox. It appears that Alt-Tab is filled by what apps are showing a window. So if there is a window showing the VM on the host, it will appear in the host Alt-Tab. The VM does not have a window showing the host desktop, so the host does not appear in the VM's Alt-Tab.

A further point:

make a case that adding a Host-Key-tap-generating-on-focus open window to the VM OS desktop so the VM OS could show it in its Alt-Tab list then Alt-Tabbing one or more times to focus on it is easier or makes more business sense than just tapping the Host Key once.

"I want this" is not a case. "Alt-Tab-Tab-Tab-Tab-oops-missed it-Shift-Tab" vs "right-ctrl". Seems a pretty easy choice so far.

An option is given on how to implement this yourself. A case much stronger than "I want this" is needed to get the devs to do it.

Please do try MultiOS's suggestion. Though why a simple tap on Right-Ctrl is such a mind-bending difficulty is beyond me.

[DanV]

Because this push of Host Key requires to take your right hand from the mouse while left hand is free and intuitively for years with Microsoft OS doing the Alt+Tab job for switching between apps and OSes!

OK, can the windows 'Back to the Host' be added when you Alt+Tab inside the Virtual Box OS (Linux in my case) copying the same functionality as pushing Host Key?

Was your primary for years OS Windows or Linux? Mine was Windows and yours possibly Linux as you do not understand my wish, because for WIndows people this is as natural as day and night. It was not mine request, it was request from backbrain of fingers controlling their tactile motoric )))

[scottgus1]

this push of Host Key requires to take your right hand from the mouse...

The host Key can be changed to something more left-handed, see File menu, Preferences, Input, Virtual Machine tab, Host Key Combination.

Mine was Windows and yours possibly Linux

Oh how very wrong you are! I do not know Linux. I'm very Windows-centric.

you do not understand my wish

Oh how very wrong again! I fully understand what you want: An "entry" in the VM's Alt-Tab list that will kick the control back to the host.

for WIndows people this is as natural as day and night.

Rephrase: For people that use Alt-Tab a lot, it may be natural. FWIW in several years of reading these forums, you're the first I've heard to ask for this. And in 2 decades of using Windows, Alt-Tab has very rarely been used by me. So it's not all that day and night to the apparent rest of the Windows users. The exception probes the rule. In other words, [citation needed]. Of course, now that this idea is out, we'll get some folks saying, ooo, cool idea! And it is not a bad idea. Just getting it implemented will be the hill to conquer.

And that is why I am trying to get you to understand that a "case" needs to be made:
1. We are not the devs here, only fellow users.
2. The devs are really super busy now developing version 7.0, with a large number of bugs and glitches yet to discover.
3. Because of the devs' workload, it is unlikely they'll fall in love with this idea and implement it along with their other work.
4. Even if they do implement it, will Oracle's paying customers want it? Will they want a floating window in the VM whose only purpose is to kick control out of the VM at the merest click in it?
5. Is there another way to implement this, if the paying customers want it? (The floating window was my implementation thought.)
5. User code can be contributed. If you really want this now, it is extremely likely that you'll have to program it yourself.
6. It is also highly likely, in afterthought, that the window idea won't work. The Host-Key tap comes from the host keyboard, gets captured by Virtualbox inside the host OS, and causes Virtualbox to release control back to the host. However, the window in the VM will generate the keypress inside the VM, so Virtualbox may never see it.
7. This will probably have to be implemented through a Guest Additions code contribution, if Guest Additions has any mechanism to kick control out of the VM.

You can present the idea at the Bugtracker.