virtualbox.org

Hi all,

This is driving me crazy!!

I'm using my MacBook Pro Retina10.12.5. I've installed Virtualbox 5.1.22 so I can run a Linux VM for some training sessions I want to do. When I go to type eg. In a Kali VM the password Typing the first character

In a terminal window typing the first character of say nmap is Ok, type the second character changes the 'n' to a v and the m appears to not have been typed. Backspace and repeat typing nmap and all is fine and the rest of the line will be fine too. Type 'ls' and same again the l displays and as soon as I type the s it appears there is a backspace happening and the l is replaced with a 'v'
So a few examples: Type clear and I will get vear, Type man and I will get vn, Type tail and vil will display, vim will give vm.

Not just happen in Terminal it will happen in vi too and always with the first line.

Please, can anyone help, this is driving me crazy. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail. I have no idea what is going on - Thanks!

Mark

Host locale?
Host keyboard layout?
Guest locale?
Guest keyboard layout?
Something in there doesn't match...

Hi Socratis,

Thank you for your response:

Host locale - Yes, home network behind a DD-WRT Router
Host keyboard layout - MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012 purchased here in the UK so Keyboard is English UK (Having moved from Australia in 2012, my iCloud is AU)
Guest locale - Yes, on the same network
Guest keyboard layout - Gigabyte P34W v3 also purchased in the UK so English UK
Something in there doesn't match... That's for sure, but honestly, I have no clue because everything seems to work except typing the first character in a VM, after correcting typing is fine until new line

Any other ideas I should look at? Thanks again for getting back to me.

Cheers for now,

Mark

Please read the definition of "locale" from Wikipedia and try again to answer my question. And you don't really need to repeat the symptoms, I thing I got it the first time:

Wikipedia on [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locale_(computer_software)]locale[/url] wrote:Locale (computer software), a set of parameters that defines the user's language, region and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface. Usually a locale identifier consists of at least a language identifier and a region identifier.

Hi Socratis,

Guest Locale:

root@kali:~# locale
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

Keyboard layout is English UK

Host Locale:
locale
LANG="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

Keyboard British

I tried changing but Keyboard to US and vice-versa but no difference except of course where @ and " for example are in different locations.

Cheers for now,

Mark

Hmm, your keyboard layouts seem to match (assuming that "British" and "English UK" are the same, why wouldn't they), and your locales match as well. One thing:

Selousie wrote:Host keyboard layout - MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012
Guest keyboard layout - Gigabyte P34W v3

Does that mean that you have an external keyboard, just for the VM? And a USB filter to go with that? What's going on here? Is there something "unusual" about your setup?

Host Keyboard layout - MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2012 Was to say It’s the standard built-in keyboard this laptop, bought in the UK so set as UK English originally.

The guest Keyboard Layout was me being stupid, as the VM Guest was on a different Window laptop, my Gigabyte P34W v3, which was running the VM. The issues happens even if the VM - Guest is on my MacBook Pro. I had setup the Guest when building the VM to use UK Locale and UK English Keyboard. I originally thought the issue was caused by VNC, that certainly is not the case when I tried typing in a VM on my MacBookPro.

I’m not sure what the issue is, I don’t believe anything is setup up unusually. Maybe something has become corrupted somewhere. I did try running Nmap on my Router from my MacBook and it was ridiculously long so maybe I have some serious issue somewhere around networking. I’m at a loss at the moment.

Selousie wrote:bought in the UK so set as UK English originally.

I want a verification of that, by means of resetting your keyboard layout. See: http://eng.raneri.it/blog/2009/01/17/ho ... -keyboard/

Selousie wrote: the VM Guest was on a different Window laptop, my Gigabyte P34W v3, which was running the VM

So, this is a "moved" VM from an original Windows host? With a (definitely) different keyboard layout than the current one, right?


Try a live DVD of Kali (or Debian) with the same window manager. Change nothing in the proposed template when you create a new VM. Do you still see the issue?

Apologies for the delay in getting back. I've been unwell and still not back to full steam. I tried everything you suggested and I still get the same issues. I did try a trial version of Fusion Pro and it works so I really need to look at what is happening on my Mac. Virtualbox is fine on my Windows 10 Laptop, so maybe, for now, I will have to use my Windows machine for now. I can't even VCN into the windows laptop because the same issue happens regarding backspacing and character change to v So frustration, it seems there is something very strange going on. Maybe I will need to reinstall the OS from fresh, something I really do not wish to do but as I do prefer to use Virtualbox, I may have no choice - Thanks for all your help, I really do appreciate this!

I'm using the Greek keyboard layout and locale when available. But, honestly, I do it after I've installed the OS because (for some weird reason) I don't trust the "translation" process to be as good as the original US-EN. So, I'm sure that everything is working right with the defaults, and then I try other ... weird (it's all Greek) combinations.