Duplicate keystrokes

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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userix
Posts: 5
Joined: 23. Jan 2012, 10:45
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows xp

Duplicate keystrokes

Post by userix »

I am running a windows xp guest system with guest additions. For some reason, everytime I type anywhere in the virtualbox guest system, each keystroke is duplicated. For instance, if I type 'google', it comes out as 'ggooggllee' I don't know how to fix this. I am running the latest version of virtualbox.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by mpack »

What is the host hardware? CPU, RAM available etc?
userix
Posts: 5
Joined: 23. Jan 2012, 10:45
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows xp

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by userix »

mpack wrote:What is the host hardware? CPU, RAM available etc?
AMD X4 620, 4gb RAM DDR2 ,2 GB allocated to guest system. The guest system runs fast and fine. This problem seems more like a glitch somewhere. It didn't do it in the past, but I forgot which version I was using then. I kept up-to-date with newer versions. It is still double keystroking now. I uninstalled and reinstalled guest additions and it still has the same problem.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by mpack »

2GB seems quite high for the guest, when the host only has 4GB total. However if VBox doesn't complain then I have no concrete reason to believe its a problem. Personally I wouldn't go higher then 1GB. 512MB is usually plenty for an XP guest.

I believe the keyboard is virtual hardware, not a guest addition, so I would not expect the GA version to have an influence.

The only time I've seen this before was with the interrupt handler in DOS - which would have been a sixteen bit interrupt handler, i.e. unusual by modern standards. Is there anything unusual about your guests keyboard handling? I.e. is your guest using the native XP PS/2 keyboard driver by Microsoft?
userix
Posts: 5
Joined: 23. Jan 2012, 10:45
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows xp

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by userix »

mpack wrote:2GB seems quite high for the guest, when the host only has 4GB total. However if VBox doesn't complain then I have no concrete reason to believe its a problem. Personally I wouldn't go higher then 1GB. 512MB is usually plenty for an XP guest.

I believe the keyboard is virtual hardware, not a guest addition, so I would not expect the GA version to have an influence.

The only time I've seen this before was with the interrupt handler in DOS - which would have been a sixteen bit interrupt handler, i.e. unusual by modern standards. Is there anything unusual about your guests keyboard handling? I.e. is your guest using the native XP PS/2 keyboard driver by Microsoft?
Yeah, it is using the native xp ps/2 keyboard by microsoft. Is that the cause of the problem?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by mpack »

No, that's what everyone should be using. If you were using something else then it would be suspect.
userix
Posts: 5
Joined: 23. Jan 2012, 10:45
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows xp

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by userix »

I tried reinstalling virtualbox and extensions, and now the mouse nore keyboard works anymore. I have to force capture it using the device menu. When I do, I lose control over the host system until I shutdown the virtual box. I tried reinstalling guest additions to no avail. I can no longer move my mouse into the virtualbox window seamlessly like before. I am not sure what happened. When I go into device manager, both the ps/2 keyboard and mouse have yellow exclamation point over them. I tried reininstalling the drivers and that didn't work. I even downgraded virtualbox to a previous version and still doesn't work. How do I get my keyboard and mouse to seamlessly move into and out of control of the virutal box? Thanks.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by Perryg »

Make sure that you do not have a filter set for the mouse or keyboard in the USB section of the guest settings.
userix
Posts: 5
Joined: 23. Jan 2012, 10:45
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows xp

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by userix »

Perryg wrote:Make sure that you do not have a filter set for the mouse or keyboard in the USB section of the guest settings.
When I don't have the filters set, both keyboard and mouse do not work at all in guest system. In the device manager, it shows both default microsoft ps2 keyboard and mouse having problems (yellow exclamation point). I tried reinstalling the drivers and they still don't work.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Duplicate keystrokes

Post by Perryg »

Well then you have a major problem. The keyboard and mouse of the host are shared resources and you can not filter them. If you do the host and guest will loose the ability to work properly and most of the time not at all.
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