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spacewrench
Contributor
Contributor

Lost key-up events cause auto-repeat strings in Windows 7 guest (VMware Fusion 8.5.10, iMac 27" High Sierra 10.13.2)

I run Windows 7 and Linux guests in full-screen on a 27" Retina iMac with High Sierra 10.13.2.  I've had the following inconvenient symptom for a while now (several VMware update cycles, at least).

When typing in a guest word processor or other program (MSWord, PowerPoint) I use keyboard editing commands such as ctrl-X, ctrl-V, ctrl-Z.  Sometimes the "Ctrl" keypress isn't recognized, so I just get X, V or Z.  Other times, the Ctrl release isn't recognized, so everything I type for a while becomes Ctrl-...   And sometimes, the key release for a regular letter is missed, so the guest OS thinks I'm still holding down the key and starts entering a stream of autorepeat letters.

I've tried the various gaming/mouse and keyboard settings, but none of them seem to affect this behavior.

Any good way to track this down or fix it?

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I'm not sure if you're aware, but Fusion 8 is not supported on High Sierra. The only version of Fusion supported on your OS is Fusion 10. While some have reported marginal success getting VMs to run with that combination, others have had problems. Your mileage may vary.

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spacewrench
Contributor
Contributor

Ah, interesting, thanks.  I'll try upgrading to 10.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Daphnissov is correct, Fusion 8.5.x is not supported on High Sierra.

But did you see the thread High Sierra and Fusion "stuck" keys ?

Sounds like the same issue and down there is people who did upgrade to Fusion 10, but still had the issue.

If I'm not mistaken then most people in that thread have a secondary screen connected, which might be a red herring.

Good troubleshooting on the missing key-up events! That could certainly cause an issue like that.

Btw, if you install Fusion 10, you are not likely to get Fusion 8 to work again on High Sierra due to the change in how macOS now requires kernel extensions to be signed with a kernel certificate and approved by the user. Works for an upgrade from Sierra and earlier, but not for a new install unless you are prepared to jump through a lot of hoops.

FWIW, I've only seen the issue reported for High Sierra, not for Sierra and not everybody has this problem.

The secondary screen report seems weird, but might trigger a timing issue of some sort, or it could be that something is hooking the message loop and purging up key_up events, or ..

I have not seen the issue, but what I would try after what you report is to see if it still happens after uninstalling vmware tools (take a snapshot or backup before) and if that cures it.. I would try an older vmware tools version.

Another thing you could try is to see if it is only for certain guest OS's. For ex. does it happen in Linux guests? other windows versions? If not... try changing guest OS settings etc..

Antivirus products are also always a suspect in these type of cases, again I doubt it is the case, but the only way to find out is by uninstalling (not disabling) the antivirus product you are using.

Sorry I might send you on a wild goose chase with this suggestion, but it is what I would test.

--

Wil

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

Thanks for the pointers.  I'm having the same problem with both Win7 and Linux guests, although they exhibit a bit different because of the way those systems handle keyboard & mouse events.  It often looks like the modifier state gets out of sync, then I have to tap all the modifier keys a few times to get back to the basic unmodified state.  Regular keys also miss key-up events, so the guest thinks I'm holding down the key and I start getting auto-repeat letters.

I don't run AV on any of my guests, although I think Windows has something built in (Defender?)  It never finds anything or quarantines any files.

I'll try fiddling with Parallels Tools if I can figure out how to separate them from the rest of the systems.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

> I'll try fiddling with Parallels Tools

Typo? Having Parallels tools installed certainly could cause this on a VMware virtual machine.

--

Wil

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

Oops, yeah 🙂  I have latest VMWare on an iMac and MBP, and latest Parallels on a second MBP.  I don't use the Parallels machine that much, but I think I may have encountered the key-event problem there, too.  (Which suggests that it's a MacOS issue, or at least something that MacOS does that's unexpected by virtual-machine developers.)

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JLandeen
Contributor
Contributor

I have been having this same issue as well.  It seems very intermittent and I can work for hours not having an issue and then will have this "sticky" key issue.  It almost always seems to be related to a Ctrl+<other key> type combination such as Ctrl+S for saving, Ctrl+C for copying or Ctrl-V for pasting that results in this behaviour and sending a long string of "sssss" or "ccccccc" or "vvvvvv". 

As I typically run full screen I find the fastest and easiest work around is to switch back to my Mac desktop or give something in a Mac window focus and then come back to my VM Ware Fusion session.  Then away we go. 

Whether Fusion is losing the "Key-up" event or there is some keyboard buffer problem I have no idea, but I sure wish it would get fixed. 

I am running a fully updated version of Windows 10 via VM Ware Fusion 10.1.1 on macOS High Sierra (10.13.3). I try to keep everything patched updated, but this has been going on for a few months now and is really frustrating.

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