Reserve hot key for OS X host?

[wjrneo2]

Hello all, I've done a bit of searching, but haven't seen any posts relating to my issue below.

I'm coming over from parallels. I've always used VirtualBox on my linux box at home, but at work I have a macbook pro. I use two desktops on my macbook, 1 for OS X, and the other screen I reserve for the virtual machine. I use Opton-1, and Option-2 to switch back and forth between the two desktops. In Parallels I could reserve this key combo for the host OS so I could easily switch back and forth as needed.

However, with virtual box once the VM has focus it routes all key combos to the virtual machine. In light of that, I switched the spaces prefereces to use the Command key with the numbers 1 and 2. But I have to double tap the command key and hold it on the 2nd tap then press 1 or 2 on the keyboard to switch back to Space 1. Virtualbox seems to lack any ability to reserve hot key combos for the host or VM. I switch back and forth between VM and Host os very often, probably 100 to 150 times a day as i work between the difference operating systems. Right now its enough for me to convert back to parallels just to get that feature back.

Does anyone know how to make the VM ignore a key combo? If you could I'd stay with Vbox indefinitely. On my Linux box, this is not an issue

[wangooroo]

I have the same issue, though I am using CTRL+left or CTRL+right arrow key combo to switch between spaces.

This is certainly a bummer that it does not seem to work.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am fine with changing my Spaces hotkey to switch desktops. I just need to know how to make this work when VB guest has focus.

[Liv2cod]

What we need is a "punch thru" list of key combinations that VB will not attempt to recognize but pass down to the OS directly. It seems like a feature that's doable and would probably be appreciated even on non-OSX platforms.

So how do we elevate it and get it voted on?

[peterhagen]

I agree. Working with (Ubuntu 9.10) Compiz and virtual desktops would be great if the control+alt+left/right key could be excluded from sending to the client. Working in fullscreen isn't functional now, cause I need to switch allot. So vote +1!

[canuda10]

By disabling "Auto Capture Keyboard" on the "Input" tab on preferences, I'm able to switch workspaces without any problem using the standard ctrl+arrow or ctrl+num