Clipboard sharing is not working when guest started separated

[farkas]

Hi,

I have tried to use clipboard sharing between host and guest when it is set to bidirectional.
VBox version is
Version 5.1.6 r110634 (Qt5.5.1)

host OS
Linux JBTMDS1 4.4.0-38-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 6 15:42:33 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Guest Windows or Linux

I have started guest in Detachable mode or Headless then later attached to it.

Clipboard sharing is not working.

I think this is a bug.

[socratis]

I have started guest in Detachable mode or Headless then later attached to it.

Does it work if you start Normal? I believe I remember something like that in the past, but, can you try it out?

[farkas]

Yes if you start the VM in normal mode, clipboard sharing is working fine in any kind of guest - I mean Linux or windows.

[socratis]

Check the bugtracker. I think I've seen something similar in the past.

[socratis]

Got it! https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/15986

[mpack]

I don't speak for the devs, but this doesn't seem like a bug to me. A clipboard is a tool used to transfer data between processes managed by a windows manager GUI. Implied is that all processes share the same window manager, as the clipboard "container" is part of that windowing package implementation, it is not part of the Linux kernel. Surely "headless" means that your VM process is not a participant?

On Windows hosts the OpenClipboard() function requires a Window handle as an argument. It does allow that handle to be NULL - but Windows has a fully integrated windowing API, Linux AFAIK does not.

[farkas]

But the GUI I have attached to the headless VM sure has a Window handle!

[farkas]

Additional info why I think it is a bug.

When connected to the headless VM via Remmina -RDP protocol.

Clipboard sharing is working in guest.

[socratis]

Wait a minute... So, it works with one RDP client but not with another? Wouldn't that indicate that there is a problem with the "another" client?

[farkas]

Yes when connecting to the VM via VortualBox Mananger Show, the connected GUI has no clipboard sharing.
When usign Detach, and connecting to the same VM via Remmina, clipboard sharins is working.

[farkas]

Tested in latest version:
Version 5.1.10 r112026 (Qt5.5.1)
Clipboard sharing is not working on linux host.

Although tested it on Windows 10 Host:
Version 5.1.10 r112026 (Qt5.6.2)
Clipboard sharing is working here.

It seems this is a bug in the linux version only.