Mouse pointer integration

[abcdefgh]

(A) If I turn mouse integration ON, the VMM displays "The Virtual Machine reports that the guest OS supports mouse pointer integration ..." The notice overlays my Guest's menu bar (which is at the top). The notice prevents me operating the Guest. The notice makes no sense of course because I already have mouse integration ON.
(B) If I turn mouse integration OFF, I don't get the notice, but mouse clicks in the Guest provoke a "You have clicked the mouse inside the Virtual Machine ..." popup. The mouse can't be used at all without provoking the popup. If I click the popup's [Capture] button, the mouse pointer disappears and I can't use the Guest at all.

How can I overcome this problem?

Note: I've been using VBox for about 10 years. I've never been able to figure this problem out. As a workaround in the past, I've set mouse integration ON and then told notice (A) "Do not show this message again". Surely that's not how VBox is meant to work but I've never been able to discover how VBox is supposed to work. The User Manual discusses the components that go into making VBox. The author seems to think that descriptions of the components will get me to understand what to do. It doesn't.

I believe this issue may be hobbling VBox performance and that I need to fix it once and for all.

Do you have any suggestions?

[scottgus1]

Does your usage of Virtualbox require you to turn mouse integration on and off constantly? I have used Virtualbox for years too, never had a problem with M.I. because I always just leave it turned on.

When I have seen the "The Virtual Machine reports that the guest OS supports mouse pointer integration" notice, there's a "Don't show this message again" clickbox, and I click it, and it's gone for good. Does your message not have that clickbox?

[abcdefgh]

Does your usage of Virtualbox require you to turn mouse integration on and off constantly?

No.

I have used Virtualbox for years too, never had a problem with M.I. because I always just leave it turned on.

When I have seen the "The Virtual Machine reports that the guest OS supports mouse pointer integration" notice, there's a "Don't show this message again" clickbox, and I click it, and it's gone for good.

That is precisely what I have done for amost 10 years. If you review my top post you'll see that as option (A).

Does your message not have that clickbox?

Yes, it does. See "Note" below the options (A) & (B).

In my current VBox session (which started yesterday), I have only moments ago discovered that the symptoms have dramatically changed. I came to this forum to document it and discovered your reply.

In my current VBox session, when I'm in the Host (Win 10) and I Alt+Tab to the VMM (which contains the Guest... a Guest that also uses Alt+Tab as switcher) and stop (release the keys) and then press Alt+Tab once again with focus on the VMM, instead of cycling through the Guest's windows as it did yesterday (and the day before, etc.), a succeeding Alt+Tab instead proceeds in the Host as though the Guest is not there! Now follow me please... When I entered the current VBox session I did something different. If you've been following my recent posts you will see that I'm conducting some experiments to resolve issues that I've been ignoring til now.

I need to recreate what I did in this current session that was different from option (A). I reitterate that what I usually do is what you do: option (A). I think that by doing something different when the VMM initializes, I may have uncovered a longstanding bug. Now I need to reproduce it.

Oh, one last thing:
When I Alt+Tab to the VMM, stop, then click on a Guest window within the VMM, further Alt+Tabs cycle through the Guest windows as normal, but:
When I Alt+Tab to the VMM, stop, then Alt+Tab again (without clicking on a Guest window), instead of cycling through the Guest windows, cycling continues with the Host windows. That is entirely new behavior I've not experienced before.

The key is: What did I do this time that's different from option (A)?

And one more last thing: If you already have the VM configured for mouse pointer integration (as shown in the icon row at the bottom of the window), then why would the VMM show you a notification that the guest OS supports mouse pointer integration, eh? I bet there's a state failure within VBox code that allows 2 separate records of mouse pointer integration to get out of sync.

For now, I need to close this session (which is running in the Guest), then launch a new session and see if I can reproduce the current symptoms.

[abcdefgh]

I'm back. I took detailed notes, but I'm not going to paste them here because that would be pointless. Let me explain and you will see why it would be pointless.

The new behavior appears to be permanent. I can't turn it off, so I can't reproduce how to provoke it.

Now, my Linux Guest switcher (which is also Alt+Tab and can't be changed) is being totally ignored. In other words, Alt+Tab (then release) Alt+Tab (then release) etc. in the Host, cycles through the Host window-switcher queue (as expected). But if I stop with the VMM in focus, the next Alt+Tab (then release) shifts focus to the next Host window instead of to the next Guest window (as it used to do). This behavior by the VMM makes it seem that my Linux Guest is broken, that the switcher in my Linux Guest has stopped working -- I have no way of knowing for sure except that the Alt+Tab IS being processed by SOMETHING... it's being processed by the Host!

This is very troubling. Based on my project experience, I have the feeling that I have somehow provoked a very old bug indeed.