Keyboard behaves as if windows key held down

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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pbaekdal
Posts: 7
Joined: 20. Aug 2011, 11:01
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Win7, Ubuntu

Keyboard behaves as if windows key held down

Post by pbaekdal »

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this one.

I'm running a MBA 2011 model with OSX 10.17.1 as the host.
I'm running VB 4.1.2r73507
I'm running Windows 7 64 bit as the guest.

To recreate the problem consistently I ...
1. Start Windows from powered off state
2. Open the application (Metastock 10)
3. Open a chart
4. Enter a ticker symbol for another chart to load
5. Exit Metastock
6. Use Command key + Q to save the machine state
7. Start Windows from saved state
8. Open the application (Metastock 10)
9. Open a chart
10. Enter a ticker symbol for another chart to load

At this point the behaviour is as if the Windows key (in my case the right command key) is constantly pressed down so if I enter a ticker with the letter E in it I get the explorer popping up, if I enter a ticker with the letter L in it the session is locked!

The work-around is to shutdown the Windows VM each time rather than saving state.

I have been successfully running the above process with out incident and saving state and resuming from saved state quickly on a daily basis for a few months. I'm sure this only started happening yesterday and have not made any changes since upgrading to OSX 10.17.1 a week ago and VB 4.1.2r73507 a couple of weeks ago. I've rebooted several times without any change in outcome.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Pete.
pbaekdal
Posts: 7
Joined: 20. Aug 2011, 11:01
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Win7, Ubuntu

Re: Keyboard behaves as if windows key held down

Post by pbaekdal »

OK, further research has uncovered additional details ...

- the problem isn't specific to MetaStock - it happens with all software
- the problem only occurs when saving the machine state using the keyboard not when using the mouse

Apparently this is an Apple problem. A recent update means the exact state is saved including the fact that I've pressed command-Q so the behaviour when resuming from the saved state is to have the command key behave as if it is pressed. Apparently this has happened before and Apple have released a subsequent fix. The work-around is to press the command key quickly twice after resuming to 'reset' it. Hopefully Apple will release a fix soon.

Hope this helps others out there.

Cheers,
Pete.
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