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Thorz
Contributor
Contributor

Left Alt key not working inside Windows VMs?

Hello

I have several Windows VMs inside macOS Mojave in Fusion 11. I use an external keyboard and mouse with my Macbook pro.

When I am inside the Windows guests and I press the left alt key nothing happens. The right alt key works as expected. They key works fine in macOS.

The Command and Option keys have been modified in macOS so they switch functions between them when using my external keyboard (Logitech G710) but the right Alt key (that in the physical keyboard is the Windows key) works fine.

Why isn't the left Alt key working inside my Windows guests?

Thank you.

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RickShu
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Thorz,

I'm unable to duplicate your problem in house. I connect a Logitech G15 USB keyboard to Windows 10 VM and the left ALT key just works fine.

Have you ever modified the Keyboard profile for your VM? Does the problem persist if you change to a new Profile? (e.g. Default)

Regards,

-Rick

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Thorz
Contributor
Contributor

Hello

I have just discovered that I am not losing the left Alt key, what is actually happening is that the left Alt is been swapped with the AltGr key (on the right side of the spacebar).

My keyboard has Norwegian layout. I don't know if this has anything to say on this case.

As for your question, I have not modified the keyboard profile in Fusion. I use the default profile and have just used the Restore defaults button just to be sure.

The only thing I have modified are the Modifier Keys under macOS for the Logitech G710 so the layout mirrors the Apple keyboards where the Command key is on right beside the spacebar and the Option key is the one that follows it, between this key and the Ctrl key:

System preferences / Keyboard / Modifier keys: I exchanged the functions fo the Option and the Command keys for this keyboard:

Screenshot 2018-10-21 at 16.21.42.jpg

What is interesting is that if I reset this setting in macOS to default and go inside a Windows VM I get the left Alt key back in Windows (physical left Alt key on the G710), and AltGr works ok too (both are been mapped normally to their default physical keys on the G710 in macOS (default settings)).

When I go and change back the mappings in macOS to what I normally use the left Alt and the AltGr (right Alt in an english keyboard layout) get swapped again in the Windows VM. In this configuration both keys are been mapped to the physical Windows key in the G710 (the keys between Alt and Ctrl).

Is there a way to swap the left Alt key with the AltGr key (right Alt on a keyboard with english layout) inside Vmware Fusion? This will be the perfect solution for me, or just avoid that Fusion swap these 2 keys on the first place.

Thank you.

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carlosotgz
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I'm facing the same problem. I'm running VMware Fusion Professional Version 11.1.1 (14328561) on macOS Catalina 10.15.3 with a Windows keyboard where I have swapped the Command and Option keys like this:

pastedImage_0.png

I have disabled the Mac OS Host shortcuts as can be seen here:

pastedImage_1.png

But the Option key (which with the swap I did is the Windows key) is simply not detected at all inside the VM. I have tried to remap the keys inside the VM but didn't work either:

pastedImage_2.png

If I return the Modifiers Keys in the Mac settings to the default values, all these keys get recognized correctly in the VM but this places the Command key in an odd location which is the reason why I changed it before.

Any help is very appreciated Smiley Happy

Regards,

Carlos

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Crispy111
Contributor
Contributor

This is exactly what's happening for me too. Is there anyone with a solution?

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