vSphere 6 Web Client - VM console mouse issues

[kermic]

Fresh vSphere 6 install:

vCenter Appliance 6.0 2559267 (tiny config, embedded setup)

ESXi 6.0 2494585 and 2615704 (applied patch 201504001)

Client (admin) machine: Win2008R2 server with and without SP1, Chrome 41, Firefox 37, IE 11, Adobe Flash Player 15.0 and 17.0,

Tried all possible combinations with these (above), every time the same symptoms.

Experiencing issues with mouse in Web Client VM consoles, vSphere (C#) Client not affected:

1) When opening up a console for a VM where VMTools are not installed, mouse _movements_ are not forwarded to VM at all, clicks however are, keyboard input is forwarded / works.

2) When VMTools installed, it gets a bit better, however still problematic

     - Whenever a VM console is opened up, if the browser window of vSphere Web Client was maximized, the new window / tab with the console gets maximized as well and "stretches" the VMs desktop - seems like makes every pixel larger. When browser window with the console is restored down, the VMs desktop in it gets "resized" to fit the window.

     - Mouse movements seem to work (with VMTools installed), however only in area that is the VMs "native, non-resized, not-stretched-pixel" resolution - f.x. if my WinVM has a screen resolution of 800x600, I fire up a console in Web Client and it gets opened up in a browser window of size 1600x1200, visually every pixel gets "stretched" and made 4 times larger in the console, however mouse moves only in upper left quarter of the VMs desktop, which seems to be related to "VMs native non-resized resolution". Once I restore down the browser window with the console to size equal or smaller than VMs "native resolution", mouse movements work across all desktop areas in the console.

Does not sound like a trivial thing to solve from the first look, however maybe anyone has come across a setting that would Disable the Stretching of VMs Desktop in Web Client Console? This would perfectly fit as a workaround.

Any other thoughts / suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[GregAndo]

I too am experiencing this issue, and it is very frustrating.  How on earth did this pass testing?  I have also noticed if you reduce the width of the window to the point where there is no need for a vertical scroll bar, the bar remains (but becomes disabled).  The disabled bar overlaps the the virtual machine console on the right side.

We are not using the appliance, and instead have vCenter installed on Windows Server 2012 R2.  I also tried a number of browsers, but not as many as you.  This confirms my impressions this is not a browser problem.

Very keen for a solution, it considerably affects the environments usability.

[KamarasJaranger]

I am experiencing the same issues mentioned above, but involved also with the remote console from vSphere C# client.  The mouse movements and the re-sizing are all working, but the clicks are not always being recognized.

[jschweg]

Same exact issues here as well.

[coonem]

Bump. Same issues here. Still no response on this?

Client: Win7_SP1 64bit

vSphere Web Client: Version 6.0.0 Build 2594327

Client Integration Plugin: 6.0.0 Build 2644306

Browser: Firefox Version 38.0 (problem with IE 11 also)

Flash: WIN 18,0,0,160

[FGonzalezR]

Encountered the same Issue. I went on to install the remote console plug-in and works really nicely. It's a great workaround until this gets fixed.

[chkdsk1]

We've had a similar problem with vCenter 6.0 (Windows install on Server 2012 R2).

When running a web console window fullscreen on a 1920 x1080 monitor, the mouse would work inconsistently. The cursor would move as expected, but clicking on the Start button or other areas  in the taskbar, etc. would not respond.

I found that if you update to VM version 10 (compatible with 5.5), then the web console acts as expected.

Note that by upgrading to VM version 10, you lose the ability to change VM settings from the locally-installed vSphere client. You can still see the console from that client though.  So in case vCenter was down you could still get to your VM consoles, just couldn't add RAM, etc.

To upgrade the VM version, please reference this document: VMware KB: Upgrading a virtual machine to the latest hardware version (multiple versions). Updating the VM version requires a reboot of the VM, and thus scheduled downtime.

[Ireland]

I have tried the installed version of vCenter 6x and the virtual appliance, several browsers and made sure the integration plug in was installed.

I'm able to open a console on a windows server 2012, 2008 and a windows 7 VM with the web client, can double click on a desktop icon like Computer or Network or a doc on the desktop. If I go to use the start button or any thing on the task bar....nothing, just like its frozen or something.

If I access the same VM's using the traditional client there are no issues, how can they release something like this???

I have tried different resolutions on the VM's etc. very strange

[RogersGuy]

I found a work around.  Disable HIGH DPI scaling on the client.  The client will look like crap and text will be mashed, but the mouse will work properly in the VMs.

[IcIVM · Accepted solution]

VMware do have a KB article now for this issue: The mouse pointer does not function properly in the VMware vSphere Web Client HTML5 virtual machine ...

Currently three work arounds exist:

* Use the VMware Remote Console.

* Access the virtual machine console from the VMware vSphere Client.

* Install VMware Tools on the virtual machine and increase the screen resolution until the mouse pointer has a full range of movement.

[GregAndo]

I have the VMware tools installed on the machine - increasing resolution did not resolve the issue even right up to maximum resolution.

VMware has been discouraging the vSphere Client's use for some time.  Boy I wish the development would continue on that client until the Web Client is actually feature complete.  Now I have to use two different environments to manage the same vSphere environment.  What a PITA.

Luckily, the Remote console (now a third piece of software) works.  I actually need to use 3 different pieces of software to manage a single vSphere environment.  Incredible!  And this workaround wont work on tablets/mobiles for emergency work.

Thanks for the KB article telling us not to use the feature though...

[tjbailey]

I'm 100% with you on the web client.  We just did a 5.5 U2 to 6.0 U1b upgrade and running into the mouse click issue within some VM's.  With that, requiring the Remote Console to be downloaded/installed for local CD ROM or ISO attachment and a few other quirky things, it's hard to really get behind the product and I feel like I've gone backwards in usability from the C# client to web.  And what really pisses me off is the "Download Remote Console" link takes you to the my.vmware.com portal where you're required to login.  That's fine for me as I'm one of the environment admins, but a regular Analyst won't have the ability to download on their own...nice VMware, nice.  I'll be trying out the v10 hardware option, but for right now the work around of resizing the browser window is working.

EDIT...and now I see it's something that's fixed in U2.  Looks like I have another upgrade to schedule.  Good luck all!

[DarrenMilr]

Well unfortunately these issues are not fixed in the 6.0U2 build. I'm using Chrome with Web Client version 6.0.0 Build 3617395 and I've tried all the solutions; increase resolution in the VM, change the VM compatibility to version 10 instead of the 6.0 default of 11, and still no luck. The only thing that really works right is the vSphere Client. The next thing I'm going to try is different browsers. Perhaps there's something there that may help.

I agree with the previous post that it seems we need to download and install multiple pieces of mgmt software in order to easily manage the environment. It's really unfortunate.

[Bussumer]

Despite the mentioned work arounds I was able to solve my problem with F11 after installing the vmtools manually using the keyboard.

In the vcenter virtual machines browser tab;

- right-click 'open console', when the console opens in the new browser tab press F11.

- not able to directly quit fullscreen from the console pressing F11, to properly exit the full screen hover the mouse pointer top screen and select the vcenter browser tab and press F11.

(ESXi 6.0 vcenter / Server 2012 / IE10 + VMWare tools installation)