VMware Cloud Community
LukeCalabrese
Contributor
Contributor

upgrade sphere 4.0 to 4.1 - mouse not working right

Hi: This problem has been posted on the internet with advice given to uninstall and reinstall vmware tools. However, uninstalling and reinstalling has not worked for me. Config windows 2008x64. Mouse was working fine on 4.0 on all virtual machines. help appreciated Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
43 Replies
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hello,

Welcome to the VMware communities forum.

What exactly do you mean by "not working right"? Can you be a bit more specific?

I might be seeing the same here on a Windows Vista x32 VM where the mouse appears to have a vertical offset of about half the screen. As in I need to click half the screen higher as where the pointer is in order to make it work. Also tried re-installing vmware tools myself and am thinking about my next step Smiley Wink

Could you attach a vmware.log file from your VM?

thanks,



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
LukeCalabrese
Contributor
Contributor

Hi:

The FIX that worked in Windows >> device manager>> mouse>>vmware pointing device>>upgrade

Thanks Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hello Chris,

Yeah i did that too and it installed the MS PS2 pointer device a.k.a. the default microsoft mouse driver for me.

While that does give a working mouse, one that works over the whole screen, it's a bit of a flaky experience sometimes and the mouse integration for it isn't great. For example moving in and out of the vSphere Infrastructure Client isn't fluent as the mouse stops at the window corner. It's not the same.

I also tried a complete removal of VMware tools, reboot and re-install... but that didn't help at all. I was about to give up on the VM (just toss it away), but I now notice the same issue on a Windows 2008 guest as well... Hmmm....

Thanks for reporting back though as using the PS2 mouse is better as the mouse that only works for half the screen.



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
LukeCalabrese
Contributor
Contributor

Hi: You're 100% right. I worked with the vmware support team on this today and I expect there will be a patch in a forthcoming release. As a temporary workaround, they told me to use Remote Desktop Protocol instead of using the vsphere esx 4.1 console to log in to the virtual machines.

Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

OK thanks, well I just submitted this for inclusion in a KB article. (if there is one already I missed it)

It seems a bit weird that this slipped through Q&A testing, I have a feeling that there is another easy workaround.

Like for example using another screen resolution.

I tested this on a 1024x768 resolution on a Windows XP guest running the vSphere client under Fusion 3.1, now also tested under non virtual Windows XP running the vSphere client and the problem remains.

When I do find anything more I'll let you know, for now I've got to get back to work as I have more important things to chase for the moment Smiley Wink



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

edit: refined my environment

edit: added new test environment.

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Chris,

I'm still not sure if you are having the EXACT same issue as me (did my description above match what you are seeing?)

As a sidenote, I appear to have found another work around.

If you go into Edit Settings of the VM in question, then to the options tab page, Select Advanced > General, then click on "Configuration parameters"

Then Add Row:

mouse.vusb.enable = false
vmmouse.present = false

The value before the = sign is "Name" the after = sign is value in that configuration editor.

What this does is:

Setting mouse.vusb.enable to false disables the virtual USB mouse, which in turn makes the virtual machine use the virtual PS/2 or the paravirtualized mouse.

Setting vmmouse.present to false makes the virtual machine disable the paravirtualized mouse.

Disabling the virtual USB mouse is fine, it has no real side effects. Disabling the paravirtualized mouse makes the whole experience choppy and takes away the smooth transitions between your machine running the vSphere Client and the guest OS. Unfortunately as soon as I set that one to true, the problem returns.

There's a few other things I want to try, but for today this is it Smiley Wink

Hope this helps,



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
LukeCalabrese
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Wil:

We are having the exact same error issue. I spoke to vmware technical support again this morning. I explained your results above. With that I can get the cursor to go to the lower scree iw. start, which was ipossible before. As you describe the cursor is jagged and slow. The support team said for me to continue using rdp/vnc while the vmware team continue to troubleshoot this issue.

Great work so far.. . .you're getting closer.

Thanks Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Just to confirm that I am also experiencing this problem.

I tried OpenSUSE 11.2 and 11.3 Guest OS on VMWARE ESXi 4.1 and both have the same issue on VMWARE SPHERE Client 4.1

Additional Notes:

  • Problem is only apparent when switching to fullscreen mode (In my case at least). Using the console inside the Sphere Client window does work correctly it seems.

  • It also appears as if the mouse region is somehow adjusted (limited) to the bottom where the console window's bottom border is / was prior to switching to full screen mode by pressing CTRLALTENTER upon selecting the Window. In Linux this is apparent when you open a terminal in full screen mode and then press enter until the Windows is filled and then try to do a selection. Any editor will reveal the same position during text selection.Not sure why this only happens when the mouse gets virtualized but I think the problem concerns VMWARE Sphere Client.

Workarounds that worked in my case are:

  • Settings in the Configuration Parameters.

mouse.vusb.enable = false
vmmouse.present = false

This is however not feasible as it is definately choppy and relative to not using VMWARE Tools which actually even works smoother

  • Using X11VNC on Linux. I suppose Windows RDP and other Linux VNC and NX Server & Client should also work.

At least I know now that I am not the only person experiencing this problem and that I have not mistakenly programmed something wrong.

NB: I use VMWARE ESXi Version 4.1.0 Client Build 260247

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hello Volker,

Thanks for the feedback and the detailed information, it certainly helps. Your description on the side effects is spot on. That's exactly what I see.

You are correct, when you see this, it happens with ALL guests. Earlier I thought it was windows only Vista and up, but it just happens everywhere.

I also have seen this on linux guests, ubuntu in this case, I didn't notice it there as I had not used the bottom half of my screen to click in Smiley Happy

mouse.vusb.enable = false
vmmouse.present = false

Actually my fault, you only need to use the vmmouse.present = false setting. The other one to switch from usb to PS/2 has no effect. I'm still running tests with other less invasive settings, but they don't appear to be helping.

In addition I'm using the full blown ESX 4.1.0 version and I installed it from scratch.

As for the why this happens.... umm.. I'm not sure. What is interesting is that there's many people using ESX 4.1 who are NOT seeing this. I've consulted twitter on this and I had a well known VMware expert reply that he had some mouse issues on Vista (and higher) but not this exact problem. In his case he only had a bit of a choppy non accelerated mouse and that appeared to be caused by the display driver....

There must be something in our setups that causes this. Not sure if we can control it, but it would be interesting to know.

I'd love to see vmware.log files from one of your guests when experiencing this problem. It might help finding the similarity in our environment.

If you want to sent me, then please attach, not copy the text in a reply (that's unreadable in this forum) OR you can email it to me.

My email address can be found be reading my profile.



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi Chris,

I worked with the vmware support team on this today and I expect there will be a patch in a forthcoming release.

Does this mean that the people from VMware support have been able to reproduce this?



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

  • Problem is only apparent when switching to fullscreen mode (In my case at least). Using the console inside the Sphere Client window does work correctly it seems.

Correct. I just installed vSphere Client on Windows 7 to rule out the OS on which the vSphere Client is installed completely.

The problem is still there. However, here's another workaround.

if I increase the screen resolution of the PC running vSphere Client enough to have the guest screen completely fit in windowed mode then there's no mouse problem. Not even when I then switch to full screen.

This might be why other people are not seeing problems, their eyes might be better as mine and they use high enough screen resolutions on the PC's they use to manage the guests....



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I can confirm that fiddling with screen resolutions on the Guest and/or host does have a effect on the problem but it differs with different setups. I initially experienced the problem on higher resolutions (i.e. above 1024x768) as I have a 240BW Philips with Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT graphics card running OpenSUSE 11.3 with Orace Virtualbox and Windows 7 Ultimate Session. Initially I though the problem was perhaps associated with Oracle but I also experience the problem on my 17" LG R700 and also my Samsung N150 Netbook which suggests that either the problem is related to the server of to the specific version of VMWARE Sphere Client.

The hardware I am running the VMWARE ESXi on is a Intel Smackover motherboard with Intel i7-930 CPU and MSI NVIDIA 8400 Graphics card.

I have reloaded the system from scratch just to ensure nothing is wrong with my setups.

In my opinion, if some people have this problem and some not using the same VMWARE ESXi or Sphere Client then it would be best if people indicate what hardware they have as this problem might be related to a specific chipset or CPU Virtual Machine extensions etc.

The problem does not exist on VMWARE ESXi 4.0.A lot of improvements have been added to VMWARE ESXi which is the reason I would rather want to wait out a solution to the problem. It is not client based unless it is either related to Windows 7 or VMWARE ESXi Sphere Client 4.1.0 with release version as stated in my previous post.

To aid with trouble shooting, I will later today try running VMWARE Sphere in a Windows XP Pro Session.

Kind Regards

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

The problem is in the vSphere client and/or the remote console that comes with the vSphere 4.1 client version.

Sure there might be some added complexity due to things like the host CPU, but not the host GPU (it's not used by ESX) FWIW, I"m running ESX4.1 on an intel i7-870

As being one of the co-developers on the vGhetto project, I should probably have tested with that code earlier on :smileyshocked:

You can find it here:

One of the features it has is being a light weight multi platform vSphere client (yes it supports linux) it also allows you to open a console, using the browser plugin you can get with either VMware Server 2.x or the full blown ESX.

When I use that I have NO problem. I think I'm using the remote console that came with VMware Server 2.x it's version 2.5.0 build-122581.

I just checked and am indeed using the remote console from VMware Server 2.0.2. As this is VMware copyrighted software I am not allowed to distribute it, but you can download the linux VMware Server .tar.gz file for free and then extract it from the archive. This archive has the plugins for windows as well as for linux.

The remote console is in the folder:

/vmware-server-distrib/lib/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/plugin/

--

Wil

_____________________________________________________

VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

edit: added notes on how-to get a legal version of the browser remote console used by vGhetto

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

From your response I take it that the problem is definately in VMWARE vSphere 4.1 client or a newly implemented feature in the console.

While I will gladly consider using the Linux version, non of my clients, which the server is for know or use Linux on their workstations. I do appreciate the link though and I will give this a try. I was wondering why no Linux version was available but I never did any homework on this.

The problem with the Windows version though, it forces an upgrade when you log on to a VMWARE ESXi 4.1 server or that is at least the idea I got.

Is their a way to use vSphere 4.0 instead (Read the sentence above) on Windows workstations?

If and even if not, how soon do you think one can expect an updated version that resolves the issue?

NB: I tried Windows XP with vSphere 4.1 and it appeared to be even worse.

Thanks!

Kind Regards

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

From your response I take it that the problem is definately in VMWARE vSphere 4.1 client or a newly implemented feature in the console.

I'm pretty sure now that the problem has its origin in the vSphere client and/or the console that comes with that version yes.

While I will gladly consider using the Linux version, non of my clients, which the server is for know or use Linux on their workstations. I do appreciate the link though and I will give this a try. I was wondering why no Linux version was available but I never did any homework on this.

Oh I see that I've not been clear enough, the link of the open source project that I refer towards runs on Windows/Linux/OS X and on the VMA.

It is NOT from VMware, but built by a few VMware enthousiast users. Also note that for OS X there is no console available.

The problem with the Windows version though, it forces an upgrade when you log on to a VMWARE ESXi 4.1 server or that is at least the idea I got.

Correct, you can't use vSphere Client 4.0 with 4.1

Is their a way to use vSphere 4.0 instead (Read the sentence above) on Windows workstations?

Not that I know.

If and even if not, how soon do you think one can expect an updated version that resolves the issue?

I can't answer this because I do not work for VMware. Even if I would work for VMware then there's still a policy to not talk about unpublished releases.

It is however a bit of a "public" secret that VMware is working on a multi platform version of their vSphere client running under Adobe Flex. My guess would be that this would get a preview release at VMworld... but that's just a guess... I don't know is the real answer.

Hope this helps,



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

Oh I see that I've not been clear enough, the link of the open source project that I refer towards runs on Windows/Linux/OS X and on the VMA.

It is NOT from VMware, but built by a few VMware enthousiast users. Also note that for OS X there is no console available..

Having replied way beyond ordinary people's bed time, I obviously overlooked the part where you specified multi platform vSphere client. Sorry! I can spot a hint of sarcasm but do fully understand your frustration in terms of my not having picked up on this. Thanks for pointing this out to me. Usually I read twice if not thrice but late last night I just quickly browsed over it and missed this critical piece of info.

What I can't understand is that it takes VMWARE over a month to pick up on this problem and to come up with a fix or approrpriate solution to such an almost critical problem. The console plays a big role in VMWARE Sphere Client Guest OS configuration. From my recollection of posts it appears that this problem has been noted for a while and surely reloading VMWARE tools as per initial post would not have contributed to resolve the issue (Not in any way I could see at least). I do understand the logic of asking the end user to do so though.

I did not keep track of your position in relationship to VMWARE. Thanks for any and all information that you have contributed though.

All I can say is that it is in the best interest for the VMWARE team to fix this problem asap as such (sloppy) work can only serve to discredit what is otherwise considered as a leading piece of software. I can fully appreciate mistakes being made but ultimately how well such bugs are perceived by the end user depends on how well people rise to the occasion (i.e. acknowledging and fixing the bug with as minimum inconvenience to the end user).

Thanks for your and other member's responses and I will test vGetto asap (Probably this Sunday or Monday. It helps knowing other people have the same problem and are helping in bringing the matter to the attention of VMWARE as well as providing alternative solutions until the problem(s) have been resolved.

Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

I visited the vGhetto homepage at Sourceforge today but I don't see any binaries or archives to be had.

While doing that, I stumbled upon:

Top 10 Free vSphere ESX Tools and Utilities which might interest somebody.

Please advice about vGhetto?

Reply
0 Kudos
Volker_Bause
Contributor
Contributor

I have done some more testing and it now is 100% clear that the area in which the mouse works is directly related to the size of the Window being used in the VMWARE vSphere Client prior to going to full screen (This is exact!). It appears that whoever programmed the mouse did not consider the full screen mode.

Basically the mouse focuses on the rectangle (X,Y, X-Height, Y-Height) of the console window that can be seen in VMWARE vSphere Client when not in Full Screen.

To Maximize on this finding, it is best not to follow the Tabs on the top (i.e. Getting Started, Summery, Resource allocation, Performance, Events, Console, Permissions), but rather Right Clicking with your mouse on the Virtual machine on the left and then selecting "Open Console" or "Open in New Window". In "Open Console", you will most probably find that a smaller window pops up but by clicking on the upper right maximize icon, you can increase the Window size to its max.

As long as the Full Screen resolution fits into one of these windows visible console area, you should be able to gain almost maximum use of your screen.

To get even more screen resolution, you can go to the View tab at the top (i.e.. under "Open Console window" , selecting "Fit Guest Now". Open in new window can also be reached when pressing CTRLALTNonce you selected the Virtual machine on the left.

Another tip that works would be to auto-hide your Windows Taskbar. This will provide you with a few more millimeters to the bottom and/or top.

NB: All of these procedures are just workarounds and aim to increase the size of the Window while not in full screen mode to be used to your advantage when you switch to Full Screen Mode. Fortunately I have a 24" Philips wide-screen and only loose about 3 centimeters between the top and bottom or little over 1 inch which is equivalent to 2.54cm if you were wondering. You are able to use the full width of the screen as this can be made full available when not in full screen mode if you follow my instructions above regarding "Fit Guest Now".

If anybody else has any other tricks, please let us know.

Reply
0 Kudos
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

That's because the installers are in the subversion tree.

The installers are here:

http://vghetto.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/vghetto/installers/

and as you want the windows installer, you should go for:

http://vghetto.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/vghetto/installers/vGhettoSetup.exe?revision=48

I expect there will be some updates later today (so it is best to use the top link as the bottom one will give you a specific version) and probably some more later this week.

My intention is to make installing a little less work as now it still involves some manual steps (see the readme after you install)



--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Reply
0 Kudos