High Sierra and Fusion "stuck" keys

[OrsoGrigio]

Hi to all,

inside the Windows VM, sometimes when I strike Ctrl+c, some seconds after I release the key combination it results in typing repeatedly "cccccccccccccc..." or after having struck Ctrl+v it results in "vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv..." and it doesn't stop until I press another key. It happens with the delete key or the tab key, too.

This happens very frequently (an average of once every 2 - 3 minutes, but it can happen twice in a minute or more) but randomly and in combination with a "special key" (i.e. Ctrl, Delete, End, Backslash, etc.) and is VERY, VERY annoying.

Almost every time that this happens, I noticed that when I press the ESC key, it opens up the Windows Start Menu.

To "re-enable" a (temporary) correct working state of the keyboard, I have to repeatedly press ESC, then repeatedly press CTRL, then repeatedly press the Windows key, then repeatedly press the ALT key. After that, I can continue working for a couple of minutes befor it happens again

It started happening as I upgraded to High Sierra (from El Capitan) and to Fusion 10.0.0 (and it's upgrade to 10.0.1) from fusion 8.x.

I later downgraded to Fusion 8.5.8 (ev. upgraded to 8.5.9) to resolve the CAPS LOCK issue, but this one remained, unfortunately.

In the meantime I have upgraded Windows 10 on both my VMs to version 1709 (OS build 16299.64) from Version 1703 (OS build 15063.674), but the issue remains.

This is making me NUTS, I cannot work anymore and I am a bit desperate.

This issue seems only to happen inside the VMs, not in the Mac host.

I already tried switching keyboard with a Mac one (usb), but the problem stays the same.

I already tried uninstalling and reinstalling last version of vmware Tools, with no success

I already tried searching on the internet for a solution, but until now, no tweak has worked for me.

Can someone help me, please?

Info:

Mac (27-inch, Late 2013), 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Osx: 10.13.1 High Sierra

Fusion: 8.5.9 (7098239)

VM: Windows 10, Version 1709 (OS build 16299.64)

[ak68]

Thanks for the reply vanRijn​.

The issue appears when I am using Cmd+C/Cmd+V within a text editor on the VM. I am not leaving the VM.

To be more precise, I am using Eclipse (a Java IDE) inside the VM which runs an Ubuntu 16 LTS OS. I am not using any content from outside the IDE or even the VM. I am just coding inside the IDE, and every 10 minutes or so the problem comes up.

I can copy / paste from the host to the guest VM and this works. I do not remember having any issues here.

I can unfortunately not reproduce the issue reliably in some simple steps. It's rather that I can rely on the issue coming up every 10 minutes or so while I am coding.

BTW I tried some different keyboards recently: The original Apple Bluetooth keyboard and now a "dasKeyboard" USB keyboard. The issue comes up anyway. This leads me to the conclusion that the keyboard itself is not the issue.

[not_the_admin]

vanRijn your vm sounds similar to mine. Consider disabling key repeat as I mentioned prior to your post. Disabling key repeat is a bit annoying, but less so than having half my code deleted .

[msamad]

It seems I have it fixed. After opening a support ticket with VMWare, they suggested to Uninstall VMWare Fusion and reinstall with latest version. I followed VMware Knowledge Base  ​ to uninstall it, then downloaded and reinstalled the latest version. That seemed to fix mine so far. It has been a week and I haven't seen it happen yet.

I hope this works for others facing this problem too.

[chrisrice93]

Uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version did not fix it for me The command key still gets stuck from time to time.

[NCunningham2222]

I'm also seeing the issue on a 14.3 Macbook Pro, running High Sierra with all the updates, and using an external bluetooth keyboard. My guest is Linux (Mint 18.3) and I see it in any program I run, from PHPStorm to LibreOffice to ...

All the talk about keyboards and monitors being the problem seems crazy to me - unless I missed something in reading this thread, noone has said they see the problem when using their host. The only way a monitor could possibly play a role would be if the extra memory required for a bigger display resolution was causing swapping which led to timing issues or such like. We're also using different keyboard layouts and settings and guest OSes. The one common factor we all have in common is that we're all using vmware. It is surely a bug in VMware's keyboard handling, nothing else. Any issues with my logic?

Regards,

Nigel

[AppiePau]

I'd also want to report this issue with my work installation. Past weekend I reinstalled MacOS 10.13.4 on my mid 2014 Macbook Pro. Then the current VMWare Pro 10 (10.1.2 (8502123)) trial version.

It al runs smoothly except the key problem. Sticking keys every five minutes! It is unusable for programming. Mostly the Ctrl is stuck. I have activated filter keys to mitigate the problem, but it is still problematic. I did experience this problem with version 8.x but not as bad as this. Every five minutes some keys are stuck!

I have both tested the legacy BIOS and UEFI boot system, but nothing successful.

Please help VMWare team or at least the acknowledgement of the issues would be highly appreciated.

[not_the_admin]

Just curious, how are VMWare employees represented in this forum. I couldn't find any official response to this issue - or any evidence that VMWare even acknowledging the issue. A bit of transparency into this issue would be nice - I would like to know if a solution is in the works or if I should look into migrating away.

[wila]

Hi,

For an official response you probably have to open a ticket at this moment.

Note that I know of at least one case where the user opened a ticket and support resolved the issue for them.

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2768541#2768577

You can recognize vmware employees by a little black badge under their name that has the letters "vm" in white in it.

Like this:

VMware employees have participated on this thread, see answers 36, 72, 76, 79, 83 and 89.

--

Wil

[FerdH]

Have the same issue here and it's driving me nuts. I have a 2017 macbook pro i7 13", with external screen and external keyboard, vmware fusion pro 10, high sierra.

I've tried most supposed remedies here; changed settings to the vmx, disabled 3d, reinstalled vmware fusion pro, didn't go for the apple developers version of OSX, that goes a bit too far for a production system. Can't work with this. Any progress in reproducing this by apple?

[edit]

@all - I might have found something that seems to alleviate the issue considerably for me -

Try disabling "synchronize time" in the "advanced options" for the VM

Guest time won't sync with the host, just enable NTP on the guests. - I wonder if this makes a difference for anyone else

[edit]

Still have key repeats, even with time sync off. Looks like it didn't work

[AppiePau]

Very interesting, I will try that later.

So far 'renewing' the mouse and keyboard profile has resolved a lot of issues for me as well (see: VMware Knowledge Base ). I'm still tesing it out, but it works a lot better, not perfect, but it is workable. I guess upgrading the VM guest and host from Windows 10 OEM till now and VMWare 8 to 10 has some glitches. But this issue also occurred with a more recent installation of my Windows 10 machines, but was still migrated from VMWare 8.

Next I'll try to disable the time synchronization. Good luck all!

[Bradall]

I'm running fusion 10.1.2 on a 2017 MAC Pro and i can say that the issue of the repeating keys occur whenever the touch bar is anything but completely 'on'. if its dim or out then the next key touched will repeat. This is 100% repeatable. Keep the touch bar on and there is no key repeat.

[FerdH]

That seems to work! My macbook also has a touch bar.

I've set the touch bar to show just the F1-F12 keys.

Disabled the keyboard brightness adjustment

Press Fn key to expand control strip.

[Bradall]

Glad it worked for you as well. It appears to all be linked to the Touch Bar on later MACs. Whenever it gets activated vmware fusion seems to repeat the last key.....everytime. For those without a Touch Bar I have no solution.

[FerdH]

Just had a stuck ctrl key with the touch bar not changing.

Unfortunately, this seems a dead end too.

[Bradall]

Sad to hear that. On my mac I've not seen that just yet. Assuming its lurking some where. However with the bar being enabled the repeating keys drive me insane because it makes a VM with linux almost impossible to use because you only need to stop typing for a short period of time before the next key press repeats. Its boring on unusable unfortunately.

[ak68]

vanRijn​

Thank you for pursuing this issue further. Regarding your questions:

1) Do you have the VMware Fusion > Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Mac Host Shortcuts > Enable Mac OS Host Keyboard Shortcuts checkbox checked when you are hitting this problem?

Yes I have the checkbox checked.

2) If so, does unchecking this checkbox help?

3) If not, does checking this checkbox help?

Don't know yet, will post update when I have tried the new setting for some days.

Update: No, unchecking this checkbox did not help. The issue persists even though the box has been unchecked.

And, just to clarify... is this happening in combination with Cmd+Tabbing in and out of the VM, or ungrabbing or switching between applications in the macOS host at all? Or should I be able to reproduce this by just opening a Win10 VM in single window mode, say, open Notepad, and type, occasionally holding shift and control occasionally and pressing other normal keys, without losing focus from the Win10 VM?

I am working with multiple monitors in fullscreen mode. Guest OS is Linux Ubuntu 16 LTS. I am constantly switching with the mouse between the monitors., i.e. the host and the guest. However, the issue is not appearing directly after I switch from host to guest, but rather while I have been typing in the guest OS for some time.

[ak68]

@not_the_admin

Thank you very much for this tip. Disabling the key repeat does actually make things MUCH better.

Here's a little .xinitrc script I wrote to disable the repeat function for the problem keys at startup:

#!/bin/bash
# Disbaling repeat for severaly keys
# See https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/49650/how-to-get-keycodes-for-xmodmap
# 22: Backspace
# 37: Control_L
# 53: x
# 54: c
# 55: v
xset -r 22
xset -r 37
xset -r 53
xset -r 54
xset -r 55

[Bradall]

I've noticed that with an external keyboard connected via a dock I have no issues with my 2017 Mac Pro in regards to the keys sticking. Its only when trying to use the internal keyboard which is generally every time you not at a fixed desk. When using the internal keyboard it occurs on all keys. As I generally use server related images than desktops the set commands do not assist. I guess I just can not use any fusion related entity when not carting around an external keyboard. I'm also still on 10.13.3 dues to .4 breaking Display link capabilities.

[FerdH]

Which dock are you using? I'm using a Minix, still have the issue with external keyboard

[Bradall]

I'm using a Dell displaylink dock and still on 13.3 to make it work but don't rush out i just had a repeating rrrrrr key ;(