virtualbox.org

Hi,
host Windows 10 and guest Ubuntu 22.04 daily build both fully updated on VirtualBox 6.1.32.

On my Lenovo L15 laptop when in Ubuntu guest in full screen, key combinations:
- Fn+F1 to mute sound
- Fn+F2 to lower the sound
- Fn+F3 to increase the sound
are not accepted neither by guest or host. I have to minimize guest in order those keys are accepted by Windows host.

Other combinations for Fn key from Fn+F4 to Fn+F12 are captured at least by Windows host despite being in guest full screen.

I would like those key combinations to be captured by guest if possible, but if not possible they should be at least captured by host, so I can easily mute, increase or decrease sound.
Regards

I have found out the same key combinations work or do not work for Remote Desktop connections unrelated to VirtualBox.
Its got to be some Windows issue. Some else experience this?

Is "Fn" a specific key on your keyboard? If so then AFAIK it is not standard: no WinDOS keyboard of mine ever had that.

At first I thought that Fn meant F(n), where n is a number. But your post doesn't make sense that way.

mpack wrote:Is "Fn" a specific key on your keyboard?

Many notebooks have a modifier "Fn" key (on the bottom left, next to CTRL, WIN, ALT), to use the top row of function keys as either F<n> or media function keys. The default behavior of "Fn" is often defined in the BIOS. On some keyboards, this key does not even provide a scan code and is handled separately as a hardware key.

Ah, I see. I've never owned a notebook, but I believe I have seen similar cramped keyboard layouts.

I have a TKL keyboard that behaves a lot LIKE a laptop keyboard, with a Fn key for volume control etc. Provided VBox is NOT set to "Auto Capture Keyboard", those keys are all captured on the host. (Which is the behavior I want so I can control a music player on the host regardless of what VM I'm in). Check/try that first.

However, as fth0 says, despite these keys having standardized scancodes for at least 20 years now, a LOT of laptop manufacturers tie them to the firmware directly rather than just generating scancodes for the OS to interpret: Razer in particular is especially bad at this. Dell and Lenovo generally get it right though, so see if changing that setting fixes things for you. (At which point you can try explicitly forwarding any that you want to the guest - though I suspect that won't work, since the capture should mean they're being passed through already. Still, having them work on the host solves your problem in this case anyway).