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Rreini
Contributor
Contributor

Fusion 3, Win7 - Remote Desktop Connection to XP Pro - Alt-Tab problems

I am having an annoying time with Fusion 3 (3.0.0, build 204229) on my MacBook (Snow Leopard 10.6.2, 6 GB) running Windows 7 Home Premium and using MS Remote Desktop Connection to connect to my desktop at work running XP Pro. After I upgraded to Fusion 3 and Win 7 at the same time, I started noticing that, in Remote Desktop Connection, the Option-Tab (Alt-Tab) key combination to switch windows would not always work the first time. The first keypress would often be interpreted as a Tab key, not the Alt-Tab combination. Repeating the key combo immediately caused the proper key combination to register. When working with an editable document that I don't want to edit, this can be very annoying.

I have Win 7 running under Parallels on my iMac, and when I use RDC to connect to the same desktop, this problem does not occur. Can anyone suggest a fix?

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3 Replies
mudaltsov
Expert
Expert

This is most likely caused by the keyboard shortcuts in Fusion. Try disabling 'Hide Other Applications' in Fusion Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Fusion Shortcuts.

The reason this would affect Alt-Tab is that Hide Other shortcut uses the Option/Alt key, which causes Fusion to delay the key down event until another key is pressed. This is necessary to distinguish between different shortcuts that may be typed - we wouldn't want to send an Alt key down command to Windows if the user actually types AltCmdH for a Mac shortcut.

Rreini
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it today, and except for the very first Alt-Tab (Option-Tab) keypress, it seemed to work just fine. I'll try to access it at another time to see if it still works. For now, I'd say you've partially answered my question. Thanks again!

Update: I had occasion to try it again today, and everything worked just fine. You've completely answered my question.

Message was edited by: Rreini (updated info)

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Rreini
Contributor
Contributor

Deactivating the shortcut that used the Option key did the trick

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