VMware Communities > VMTN > Desktop Products > VMware Fusion > Discussions
Up to Discussions in VMware Fusion

This Question is Answered

1 "helpful" answer available (6 pts)
3 Replies Last post: Oct 14, 2007 4:46 AM by ashleymoran
Reply

Fusion sends escape to FreeBSD when pressing command key

Oct 13, 2007 3:43 PM

Click to view ashleymoran's profile Novice ashleymoran 3 posts since
Oct 6, 2007
When installing FreeBSD, if you press the command key as part of the Cmd-Ctrl combination to lose focus on the VM, Fusion sends an escape sequence to the VM. The escape key is interpreted as "cancel" by sysinstall. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to install FreeBSD! The issue does not appear to arise after the system is installed and booted normally.

I can't see any reference to this problem on the internet, but it has happened to me on two machines (Mac mini Core Duo, iMac Core 2 Duo). I have seen it on FreeBSD 6.2 and PC-BSD 1.4 (based on a recent -STABLE build). Has anyone else experienced it, and is there a fix/workaround?
Tags: freebsd, fusion, keyboard
Reply Re: Fusion sends escape to FreeBSD when pressing command key Oct 13, 2007 5:44 PM
Click to view rcardona2k's profile Champion rcardona2k 4,691 posts since
Oct 20, 2005
I would try to disable Preferences > Enable MacOS keyboard shortcuts, if that doesn't change anything, you can swap the alt and cmd keys using the configuration option in this thread: tip: swap option and command keys (or windows and alt keys) in VM

An alternative to using the primary console is to use the built-in VNC server to access the Guest OS screen -- this is documented in A Power User's Guide to VMware Fusion
Reply Re: Fusion sends escape to FreeBSD when pressing command key Oct 13, 2007 5:44 PM
Click to view bgertzfield's profile Master bgertzfield 970 posts since
Sep 7, 2005 VMware
Try Control-Command.

You can also write to the FreeBSD folks, asking them not to treat the GUI (Windows/Command) key as an escape.
Reply Re: Fusion sends escape to FreeBSD when pressing command key Oct 14, 2007 4:46 AM
in response to: rcardona2k
Click to view ashleymoran's profile Novice ashleymoran 3 posts since
Oct 6, 2007
Thanks! Turning off the mac keyboard shortcuts doesn't help (had already tried that), but the key-swapping hack works a treat. It's a shame it can't be done per-VM though.

If I get chance I will submit this as an issue to the FreeBSD team.
Actions
Up to Discussions in VMware Fusion