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billydv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Regression in workstation 10 with usb mice linux guests

In workstation 9 I had my usb 7 button mouse working correctly in linux.

mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"

usb.generic.allowHID = TRUE

allowed me to get 7 button events in xev. From there I was able to map the side buttons and get back and forward buttons in linux but now this appears to be gone. If I leave the mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE" line in the vmx config file I get a very strange operating mode with the mouse. Mouse will jump locations when grabbing and ungrabbing. If I remove the line, mouse is working properly but no side buttons. Anyone have any clues? BTW in windows guests all works correct. Is the same whether host is linux or windows.

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neothetwo
Contributor
Contributor

Here is the vmware log with usb analyzer turned on as well as the Xorg log.  There is no xorg.conf on my system.

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banackm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

The USB logs look like you are still getting the Basic usb mouse, which is restricted to 8 buttons, and doesn't have absolute mouse capability.  (The lack of absolute mouse  is probably causing the weird jumps you're seeing when grabbing or ungrabbing.)

Can you double check that the "mouse.vusb.useBasicMouse = FALSE" option is set in your vmx file and post a new log file with the USB analyzer turned on?

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neothetwo
Contributor
Contributor

The option wasn't set before, it is now.  Here is the log.

It seems to have gotten much better, but there are still some occasional jumps.

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banackm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Are your extra buttons working now?

The mouse warps at grab/ungrab time can be caused by a few other things including the "Gaming Mouse" setting in the UI if it is set to "Automatic" or "Always".  Setting that to "Never" should help reduce mouse warps.

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neothetwo
Contributor
Contributor

The extra buttons are working.  The erratic behavior is almost gone now after I set the "Gaming mouse" option to "Never".  Although the overall experience is not as smooth as it was in VM9, it is a significant improvement and I can actually get the work done.

Thank you for your help.

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ithium
Contributor
Contributor

This may come too late to help you, seeing as your last post was two months ago. Still, it may help someone else in the future...

I have just encountered what I think is exactly the same problem as you: with default settings, mouse works, but no extra buttons. After adding mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE" to the vmx file, extra buttons work, but the mouse position and behaviour is dodgy to the point of being unusable.

A bit of Googling turned up this thread (ironically also on VMware forums): https://communities.vmware.com/message/2328267

For reference, the solution from that thread that worked for me is:

usb.generic.allowHID = "TRUE"

mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"

mouse.vusb.useBasicMouse = "FALSE"

Not sure if the first line is actually needed... the second line enables the extra mouse buttons, and the last line seemingly stopped the poor behaviour. I imagine if you try this line if may prove more useful than the other options you have been using.

With these three lines added I now have perfect mouse behaviour - smooth as usual and position as expected - along with the extra buttons working. (Host is Windows 7 x64, and guest is Ubuntu 13.10 x64, on Workstation 10 using Workstation 10 virtual hardware.)

I hope this helps.

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billydv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

mouse.vusb.useBasicMouse = "FALSE" was what I was missing, other two lines were there already

Thank you so much!!!!!

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