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Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 7. Jan 2021, 09:52
by corhsin
“Host: Windows 10 20H2 x64, Vbox 6.16 (latest release & 6.14, 6.12), Guest Additions”. Guests are Ubuntu 20.04 & Win7. Each has the same issue.
Typing results in input from a different keyboard layout. In either VM, typing numbers 4 or 3 result in . or , . The host OS layout is US English, as are keyboard layouts, any region settings and anywhere else a setting was located. Nothing was altered. The behavior started last week after VBox was updated 6.14->6.16 and the system's Intel video driver were updated.

Tonight, the video drivers were cleanly removed with uninstall, devmgmt and Display Driver Uninstaller. An older graphics driver was re-implemented. VirtualBox was uninstalled and its folders removed from the three appdata folders, pf/x86(one or both idr) and programdata.

Reinstallation yielded the same issue. The Win7 VM hasn't been used in half a year to a year, meaning it is definitely a Host issue as opposed to an internal guest configuration.

Maybe registry entries need to be cleaned, or the VMs' configuration files removed (everything aside the VHD)? The issue is unclear. Backups are available as a last resort. Your assistance is appreciated.

Re: Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 7. Jan 2021, 19:41
by scottgus1
A scan through the PDF of the manual for the word "keyboard" shows that the only place Virtualbox offers to adjust keyboard translation is through the Virtualbox Soft Keyboard https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html#soft-keyb.

If I remember correctly there is nothing in Virtualbox to control how the VM picks up the keys from the physical keyboard. That's up to the VM OS (and possibly the host PC OS) to handle.

Try making a fresh brand new VM with a fresh install of Ubuntu. See if the same trouble happens in the new VM.

Re: Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 7. Jan 2021, 23:31
by corhsin
The Soft Keyboard is functional and correctly configured (US). Both VMs exhibit the same behavior. All region settings in Win10 are correct. The one region setting in VBox, Preferences->Language, is correctly set to "English (built-in)." New VM, Ubuntu 20.04.01 Live booted, same problem. Anyone have any suggestions?

From 3 to =
34567890-=
,./ * bx
6 is unknown, 8 is alt, 9 is space, = is ctrl-f and if 2 is pressed it locks out additional keyboard input until restart.

TIA

Re: Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 8. Jan 2021, 00:47
by fth0
corhsin wrote:Anyone have any suggestions?
Yes, I have a few ideas to try:

Please read my following post in a thread with a similar (unfortunately unsolved) problem: Keyboard Investigation Hints. Additionally, in a browser in the host OS and in the guest OS, you could use Keyboard Event Viewer. Let us know what you discover, I'm curious. ;)

Re: Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 18. Jan 2021, 06:27
by corhsin
Thank you for the recommendations. It is appreciated. The problem was found to be an application with a known issue.

Re: Wrong Keyboard Input - Multiple VMs, Different OSes

Posted: 18. Jan 2021, 14:26
by fth0
corhsin wrote:The problem was found to be an application with a known issue.
Can you elaborate on that? (If necessary, you can send me a PM.)