Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
ReyJavikVI
Posts: 39
Joined: 26. May 2009, 00:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Windows 7, Gentoo

Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by ReyJavikVI »

Sometimes, for no reason, the copy/paste feature of the Guest Additions stops working and a reboot of the VM is needed to fix it. AFAIK, this only happens with copy-paste, not with shared folders.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by Perryg »

What version of VirtualBox are you using?
ReyJavikVI
Posts: 39
Joined: 26. May 2009, 00:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Windows 7, Gentoo

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by ReyJavikVI »

3.0.2, XP host, Xubuntu 9.04 guest.
Perryg
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Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
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Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by Perryg »

Version 3.0.0 had problems with the clipboard is why I asked but that was fixed in the 3.0.2 maintenance release.
What are the settings for the guest and how much RAM do you have in the host?
ReyJavikVI
Posts: 39
Joined: 26. May 2009, 00:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Windows 7, Gentoo

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by ReyJavikVI »

Host: 2GB RAM, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.41GHz
Guest:
512 MB RAM, 1 processor, VT-x/AMD-V enabled, nested paging disabled
12 MB video memory, 3D disabled, remote display server disabled
2 virtual hard drives, 5 GB each
Network adapter is Intel PRO/1000
1 shared folder, not in use

I'm not sure how much of this matters, so I'll just put everything.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by Perryg »

This all looks fine. I don't see a reason that would cause you to loose the shared clipboard. How often does this happen and how long is the guest running without rebooting? I run several systems 24/7 and the clipboard does not fail like you say yours does.
ReyJavikVI
Posts: 39
Joined: 26. May 2009, 00:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Windows 7, Gentoo

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by ReyJavikVI »

This happens kind of randomly. For example, today the guest worked fine for about 3 hours before the clipboard stopped working. I copied something from the guest and pasted it in the host. I then copied another thing in the guest, but couldn't paste it in the host.
baf
Volunteer
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Location: Luleå or Skellefteå, Sweden

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by baf »

Have you reinstalled guest additioons after upgrading virtualbox?
Some say: "You learn as long as you live".
My way: "You live as long as you learn".
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by Perryg »

So when this happens can you still copy and paste within the HOST, while the guest is not working properly? Also can you copy and paste within the guest when the shared clipboard is not working?
How long had the guest been setting idle before you noticed this or was it idle?
ReyJavikVI
Posts: 39
Joined: 26. May 2009, 00:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Windows 7, Gentoo

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by ReyJavikVI »

I can copy/paste inside the guest and inside the host but not between them.

As I said, it wasn't idle. I copied something in the guest and pasted in the host. I switched to the guest and copied something else, but it didn't go to the host's clipboard. When I pasted, I got what I had copied earlier.
kidault
Posts: 23
Joined: 8. Jul 2008, 11:57
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: MS Windows XP; Ubuntu

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by kidault »

I have the same problem
After using it for about 8 hours today,now I can only copy from the guest to host, but not host to guest. And I have often ran into this problem, from 1.x to 3.0.4

Host:
Vista Business sp2
2GB RAM, Intel Core2 2GHz
Virtualbox 3.0.4

Guest:
XP sp2
768 MB RAM, 1 processor, VT-x/AMD-V enabled, nested paging disabled
64 MB video memory, 3D enabled, remote display server disabled
1 virtual hard drives, 10 GB each
Network adapter is PCnet-Fast III, one NAT, one Host-only
3 shared folder, in use
Guest additional is up to date.
Attachments
WorkXP-2009-08-20-15-27-09.log
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marco
Posts: 163
Joined: 19. Jul 2007, 07:42

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by marco »

Occasional and apparently moody failure of the shared clipboard has been always occurring to me too.
gst_
Posts: 1
Joined: 4. Sep 2009, 16:09
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: fedora 11, ubuntu 9.04

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by gst_ »

same here, win xp sp3 host, fedora 11 guest

integratinon just stops working silently, and never comes back; restarting the guest services doesn't help

i have a pre-release version of the 3.05 tools (due to an incompatibility with fedora's X11 with 3.04 tools)

thanks
gat0rjay
Posts: 1
Joined: 4. Sep 2009, 18:37
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP SP3

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by gat0rjay »

Happens to me too. Mine just never works to start with, actually. 3.0.4r50677

Windows 7 RTM x64 Host
Windows XP SP3 x86 Guest

I first noticed after fresh installs of both Host and Guest and upgrading my VB to the newest version. I tried un/re-installing the guest additions, then I tried un/re-installing the entire virtual machine, then the entire Virtual Box program - starting over from scratch. But I can't get copy/paste to work between Host and Guest at all (however, they do work within the respective environments of each OS). I tried messing with the settings before booting the VM (clipboard sharing as: disabled, host to guest, guest to host, and bidirectional -- none work). Basically, I cannot get bidirectional copy/paste to work. Shared folders works just fine, though.

Anyone figure something out on this yet?
smeenz
Posts: 18
Joined: 7. Mar 2010, 22:18
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: XP

Re: Copy/paste between guest and host stops working

Post by smeenz »

Any ideas, or paths of investiagtion on this one ?

My shared clipboard usually stops working after a few days of the VM running.. sometimes hours, but after a week, it is always broken.

Note that (at least for me), copying from the host to the guest continues to work (but I can't copy from guest to host)

This is highly frustrating, and my only workaround is to use a shared folder and create files in it using notepad, which I can then open on the host and copy into the clipboard that way.

Virtualbox 3.1.2 r56127, on ubuntu 9.04

EDIT: I thought my guest additions were up to date, but weren't quite there.. so have updated and rebooted the guest.. will wait and see if it fails again.

EDIT 2: Yep.. the problem is back again, after leaving the machine overnight and coming back to it in the morning. Symptoms are the same - can copy/paste from host to guest, but not from guest to host.

EDIT 3: Upgraded virtualbox and guest additions to 3.1.4 (v57640), rebooted and seeing the same problem after 2 days.
Last edited by smeenz on 16. Mar 2010, 00:13, edited 2 times in total.
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