virtualbox.org

I'm running a Windows 10 VM in a macintosh environment. For some time I've been trying to get the Windows program "Shortkeys" working in my VM without success. All shortcuts type the letter "v" rather than expand into their assigned text. I really want to get this working. If you have any ideas, please post a response. Thanks

Why ask here? Why not ask the people responsible for supporting "Shortkeys" ?

I have already spoken to them and they cannot explain the reason for this problem. Their software works on most implementations of Windows but has a problem with Windows in a VM because apparently the keyboard mapping is different. I am hoping someone here has a solution to this problem.

Well, they are the only experts in the requirements of that software - or even what it does exactly - so if they can't or won't answer then I expect no-one can.

I'm not sure why the keyboard mapping would be relevant. That is just code in the guest OS, nothing at all to do with a VM. If the mapping is wrong then you go into the guest control panel and choose a different one.

They may be experts in their software but they are not privy to the differences in a VM running Windows. There are obviously differences, otherwise the software would perform the same as in an ordinary Windows device.

If you think it is a simple matter of changing the mapping, why not help me make it work amd I will happily pay you a reasonable fee for this. Then we will know the fix and they can offer it to others wanting to use Shortkeys on a VM. If you don't feel qualified to fix this but know others who are, please refer me to one of them.

I believe someone with some programming skill who speaks with them about how their software works, would probably be able to narrow down the cause of the issue. BTW, the same problem shows up with Parallels and VMWare. This tells me that the issue is universal to all Virtual Machine implementations and not exclusive to Virtual Box.

I really hope you can help me!

Your premise is incorrect. A virtual PC is still just a PC. If it behaves differently compared to another PC then that's because it is configured differently, not because it is virtual. This is precisely my point.

Frankly, you probably made a mistake by telling them you were using a VM. That shouldn't be relevant to software running in the guest OS, but it did gave them an easy out.

The guest OS isn't an emulation, it's the real thing. If the kernel mode drivers of a guest OS like Windows is happy enough with the VirtualBox simulation of the keyboard switch array then I can't imagine what additional onerous expectations "ShortKeys" might have.

To add to what mpack said, if it happens with all the virtualization software they've (or you more precisely) have tested, then I think there might be a chance that their software is not doing something correctly. And since the common parameter in the tests is Shortkeys, I'm sure they have a debug version that they can test on a free (as in beer) VirtualBox installation.

I appreciate both of your responses and agree in principle with your comments and conclusion. However, it leaves me with the same question, how do i resolve this? I'm a non technical individual. Are you suggesting that i go back to the company and insist that they do the troubleshooting to uncover the problem?

So far they've seemed unwilling to look into this deeper to see whats going on. Should i contact them newly and not tell them im runnng a VM? Their tech support may still remember me?

Do you know of any other shortcut programs for Windows that allow you to set shortcuts that when typed followed by a space bar will expand into the desired text? I'm not aware of any.

Sincerely,
Howard

This is not really a question for the VirtualBox experts on this Forum so will try to offer some general suggestions:

PhraseExpress (Free for Personal Use) is possibly one of the most commonly used utilities, unless you are into learning a scripting language, such as AutoHotKey, to develop your own solution. See the links plus others from here http://alternativeto.net/software/shortkeys/

There's also Lintalist: http://lintalist.github.io plus several others including Textreme, Autotext, Yadabyte Subtext, TyperTask, Texter - all listed here: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?p=1&sc=181

Thank you! This is very helpful. Much appreciated.