Leave key for host only

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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markkrj
Posts: 14
Joined: 13. Jul 2015, 20:29

Leave key for host only

Post by markkrj »

Hi,
Is the a way to leave a certain key for host only?

When I started using Linux, I noticed something that at first I found weird, but later I liked. It is that gnome/unity/cinnamon grab the Left_Super (Windows) key for host, and Virtualbox can't intercept it. So I can use Left_Super for host combinations and Right_Super for guest.
The problem is that when I go full screen mode, it intercepts all my keyboard, and I want it to leave Left_Super alone.
I started using full screen a few days ago, so I put it another Workspace and use Super+1 and Super+2 to switch between Workspaces.

There is a lot of people complaining that Virtualbox doesn't intercept Super key, but not the other way around.

As a workaround I disabled the Auto Capture Keyboard and I'm using the HostKey to grab the keyboard and release. But its inconvenient.
frank
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 3362
Joined: 7. Jun 2007, 09:11
Primary OS: Debian Sid
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows
Location: Dresden, Germany
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Re: Leave key for host only

Post by frank »

VirtualBox tries to grab all keys from the host. Some operating systems and some window managers don't allow to grab certain keys or key combinations. For instance, it's not possible to grab Ctrl+Alt+Del on a Windows host as this key combination will always show the task manager. The GNOME window managers exclude other keys from grabbing.
markkrj
Posts: 14
Joined: 13. Jul 2015, 20:29

Re: Leave key for host only

Post by markkrj »

frank wrote:VirtualBox tries to grab all keys from the host. Some operating systems and some window managers don't allow to grab certain keys or key combinations. For instance, it's not possible to grab Ctrl+Alt+Del on a Windows host as this key combination will always show the task manager. The GNOME window managers exclude other keys from grabbing.
Yes, that's what I want, exclude some keys from grabbing... There's no way to workaround this? Like previously binding the key?
There would be a keyboard filter, so we could tell Virtualbox what to grab, excluding impossible keys, like ctl-alt-del, obviously.
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