Virtualbox keeps stealing focus when keyboard integration is enabled

[philippem]

Hi,
Host: Linux Mint 19.2 Tina on 64 bit machine
Guest: Windows 7 64 bit + guest additions installed
Virtual box version: 6.0.12 r133076
I face an issue with VirtualBox: the guest system keeps "stealing" the focus, even if the virtualbox window does not have the focus.

Example: start VM, run notepad in the VM. Click the "notepad" window to set focus. and type "test" => Works normally
Now, start xed on linux, click in the "xed" window to get focus, type "blahblah" => only a few letters go to xed (typically 1-2), then all following keys go to windows.
Another manifestation of the issue: if I click the linux start menu, it closes itself after ~ 1 second

When I minimize the whole VM window, the problems stop and linux now behaves normally.
When I deselect "Automatic keyboard capture" (sorry if that's not the exact caption, I use the FR version "Capture automatique du clavier") from VirtualBox => Preferences => Input, the problems stop and linux now behaves normally.
However, I don't find any of the two workarounds above satisfying: the first forces to minimize the VM to be able to use the host OS, the second prevents all hotkeys combinations (Alt+F4 etc) to work inside the VM.

Any guesses for what's wrong ?

[philippem]

Hi,
I have tried to run a new guest type. I downloaded a tiny core linux VDI file from virtualbox.org.
The problem is exactly the same, so the issue does not come from my win7 guest or guest additions.

[socratis]

so the issue does not come from my win7 guest or guest additions

I suspect that it's a Host issue as well. First of all, your Qt version is higher than the one that VirtualBox is build with:

00:00:00.840432 Qt version: 5.13.0

Can you try to uninstall what you have and install either the 6.0.13 test build, or the 6.1.0b1 development build? Both at https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds. At least that will take out of the equation the Qt libs...

BTW, I have a Mint19 host and I've never had any issues...

[philippem]

Hi, Just installed 6.0.13 test build (+ extension pack)
and... it works as expected !
Thanks a lot socratis !

[socratis]

Thanks for testing it and confirming my suspicion!

I guess it's a Qt bug/issue/upgrade then. I won't mark the thread as anything, I'll leave it open and I'll simply notify the developers...

[socratis]

You got me thinking why it's working on my Mint19 and I found that the Qt version that I have is 5.9.5, not 5.13.0 as Mint19.2. And the version that the VirtualBox test/dev. builds bundle together is 5.6.1.

Also, your issue sounded really familiar, and a quick search revealed it to be so:

• Discuss the 6.0.8 release
• Ticket #18745: Vbox 6.0.8 keeps keyboard grab even after mouse is out -> fixed in openSUSE
• [Fixed] Virtualbox grabbing keyboard/focus after mouse clicked outside (#18745)

I knew that my hunch wasn't just a hunch, but simply a lack of coffee...

[philippem]

Well done!
I promise I've used the search to find any similar issues, but probably didn't use the same keywords...
Thanks again for your help and I hope your coffee will be good