virtualbox.org

Somehow I got into this mess. I can't make the host keyboard work while the guest (WinXPPro) is open. Pressing the right Control (host key) doesn't seem to do anything. Right now in the Keyboard setting the Auto Capture Keyboard box is unchecked. What can I do to make the keyboard work seamlessly between the host (win 10) and the guest. I was able to do it without any problem until recently, but I must have pressed a wrong button somewhere.

The host keyboard is probably a USB device, and you are probably grabbing ownership of it for the VM using a blank USB filter (in settings|USB). Not good: unless you have multiple keyboards then the main keyboard is a shared resource, and must not be owned exclusively by the VM. The same goes for the mouse.

Remove the blank USB filter, or fill in enough fields to exclusively identify whatever device you intended to capture.

I have removed all usb ports except the one for the keyboard. The problem remains, namely, when I am on the guest, the keyboard is disabled on the host.

So you have a filter set for the keyboard in the guest settings?
The host will relinquish the keyboard to the guest once the guest boots and will not be able to use it until the guest is shut down.

Yes. There is only one USB filter set for the keyboard.

Then it is working as it should. If you want to be able to use the keyboard in the host while the guest is running you must remove the filter.

Then will it still be working in the guest?

Yes

I removed all the USB filters, including the one for the keyboard and reopened the guest XP. The keyboard doesn't work again in the host.

reboot the host and the guest

I rebooted both. The keyboard works now in both the guest and the host. Thank you so much for your help.