Mickey Mouse finger instead of mouse... [VMWF 1.1.3]

[DanboC]

Hi,

Many times after starting VMWF the mouse or keyboard will not respond on the guest OS (in my case XP). The mouse pointer is the Mickey Mouse finger and the keyboard beeps with every key press.

This does not go away if I choose "Restart Guest" from the virtual machine menu.

The only solution I have found is to shutdown the guest completely, then delete the vmdk.lck folder. When I restart after doing this the mouse and keyboard will register with the guest.

Any ideas? This is a real pain...

Thanks,

Danbo

[WoodyZ]

and the keyboard beeps with every key press.

Have a look at the "SecureInput (a.k.a. "I get a beep every time I press a key!")" section of:

[DanboC]

Hi Woodyz,

Thanks for your reply,

This isn't the issue I am having. I run and get nothing.

Any other ideas,

Daniel

[DanboC]

Here is (maybe) another clue.

If the guest is shutdown and I show contents of the Virtual Machine, then there are no .lck folders.

I start the guest and all I get is the Mickey Mouse finger.

I shutdown the guest and there it is the .lck folder.

I delete the folder and startup the guest again, only this time the mouse registers...

Ideas?

[WoodyZ]

I wanted to post a link to Micky Mouse giving the Finger however some might have found it offensive...

Have you tied uninstalling/reinstalling VMware Fusion?

I would try uninstalling Fusion, reboot the system and reinstall Fusion.

Note: Uninstalling Fusion does not delete the Virtual Machine's as they are stored in a different location.

To uninstall VMware Fusion...

Make sure you have your VMware Fusion Serial Number saved and available and or backup the "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/license.fusion.site.6.0.200610" file.

Shutdown, not suspend, any running Virtual Machines.

Close VMware Fusion (VMware Fusion menu > Quit VMware Fusion).

Uninstall VMware Fusion (Execute /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Uninstall VMware Fusion or run the uninstaller from the .dmg you downloaded.).

Delete the following File(s) and or Folder(s).

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

/Library/Receipts/Install VMware Fusion.pkg

Note: ~ is your Home Folder.

~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist

~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion

Reboot your System.

Install VMware Fusion.

Reboot your System.

Start Fusion and Run the target Virtual Machine. Is Micky still giving you the Finger?

[DanboC]

Hi WoodyZ,

Tried it.

I'm still getting the finger...

[WoodyZ]

I'm still getting the finger...

Is this only one Virtual Machine in particular or on all and if you have only one could you do a temporary install of Windows XP and VMware Tools without Activating and or Registering the OS with Microsoft as it's not needed since this is just a test and see if the same behavior exist in a new Virtual Machine?

[DanboC]

This will take some time. I will try and let you know.

[WoodyZ]

This will take some time.

It takes about 40 minutes to install Windows and a few minutes for VMware Tools, anyway less then an hour total.

[vampireonfire]

SOLUTION :

After trying so many of the so-called possible solutions I found one that works all the time.

This Mickey Mouse Pointer is basically more a MAC OS X issue than an actual VMWARE FUSION one.

Remember when someone came up with the issue where the pointer would totally disappear when shifting spaces from Mac OS (Finder) to VMWARE? so, the solution for that one was to move the cursor all the way up (automatically activating the VMWARE menu bar) and then moving back to the windows window and presto! the pointer was back. Also on the Mac Side, when we are running VMWARE on full screen mode in one SPACE, some of the programs (ie. Safari) won't activate the minimize option on the upper left corner. So these are issues that have been pending for so long but again, nothing to do with VMWARE but indeed with the Spaces system of leopard.

NOW FINALLY THE SOLUTION TO THE MICKEY MOUSE CASE:

I am guessing when users are experiencing this problem they're running VMWARE FUSION in full screen mode (That's the cool use it anyway) and the mickey mouse pointer appears when you shift from space 1 to space with the VMWARE system (let's say space 2). So when this happens, all you have to do is just re-activate the same space again using the keyboard

In my case I have it configured to CONTROL + 1, 2, 3 or 4 (depending on your configuration this may vary) To make my Windows mouse pointer appear and send away the infamous mickey mouse pointer, after shifting to SPACE 2 (vmware) I press again CONTROL + 2 and tadaaa! the cursor is back!

Hope this helps

[vampireonfire]

After having posted my previous post, I noticed that indeed the process indicated works BUT the mouse loses its dynamic status, such as changing to a "resize" mode when approaching a column or the hourly glass when windows is processing. It indeed becomes the right pointer but kind of "dead".

A few days after writing on this forum, I noticed some malfunction on the windows side of my Mac and ran an exhaustive virus scan. It turns out that the windows was infected and after clean-up (note: for trojans and over evil spyware I definitely recommend HijackThis just google it and install, it's free and very efficient) the mouse returned to normal function. No more Mickey mouse and pointer working as it should now.

It feels like it was something to do with the virus because now the great VMWARE FUSION is working 100% !

Thanks

V