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kstatinet
Contributor
Contributor

Caps Lock not working after upgrade to 15.5.5 build-16285975 yesterday

CAPS lock button stopped working after upgrade to 15.5.5 build-16285975 yesterday.

After upgrade CAPS Lock stopped to work in VMWare Workstation Pro for Windows 10 Pro.

It looks there was a similar issue with earlier versions of the software and NO resolution from VMWare.

Caps lock always turn on after switching from Windows 10 Virtual Machine to Host

If not in VMWare, CAPS lock work without problem. When starting VMs (Mint, Kali, Win Server 2012, etc), the caps button works just before clicking on any field and then I can only type in CAPS locks even though CAPS locks button is turned off.

1. added Enhanced keyboard feature that I skipped during installation - no change

2. I went through Repair install - no change. 

Laptop - Thinkpad T490 with all the latest software/device drivers/bios etc.

Would downgrade solve the issue?

If yes, could you please send a link to downgrade back to 15.5

Thank you

23 Replies
kstatinet
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you. I just tried both Downloads options.

Does not work for me. I receive the following message: "This product installer doesn't support downgrades".

Yesterday, I upgraded to 15.5.5 build-16285975

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

You need to uninstall before you can install an earlier version.

You can always download older versions - on the download page, use the combo box to select the major and minor versions desired.

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banackm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Adding this config option to your VM's vmx file or host-config file may work-around the issue:

mks.win32.useInjectedMagic=FALSE

Tiki_Dude
Contributor
Contributor

bm, thanks for the suggestion, it did the trick for my kali VMs.

Much appreciated.

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Helious_wu
Contributor
Contributor

Oh bro,You really saved my day. Much appreciated.

Pepsicle
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks that solution did the trick for me.

I am Running a  LInux Mint (ubuntu 18.04) VM on a Windows 10 Host.

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ufriebe
Contributor
Contributor

Works for me too. Thank you!

Xfce Ubuntu 18.04 VM on a Windows 10 Host on a Lenovo T490.

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davidm_uk
Contributor
Contributor

mks.win32.useInjectedMagic=FALSE works for me too. Thanks, bm!

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volehuy
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you greylupi​, it's worked. Install vmware 15.5.2 work for me

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BobVul
Contributor
Contributor

If it matters, this issue was also preventing the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD..." of the Windows installer from working, making it impossible to install Windows. useInjectedMagic=FALSE worked.

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CoMan053
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks that solution did the trick for me.

I am Running a  LInux (ubuntu 16.04) VM on a Windows 10 Host.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

FYI, a fix for this issue has been released with VMware Workstation 15.5.6.

See also:

Workstation 15.5.6 now available

--

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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jamesb_uk
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Now that I've upgraded to 15.5.6, should I remove the mks.win32.useInjectedMagic=FALSE line?

James

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

It is not required to do so, but yes personally I would remove that.

The reason being that it is not there by default.

Using non standard configurations is generally not helpful once you bump into problems as it becomes one more variable to check when troubleshooting.

--

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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davidm_uk
Contributor
Contributor

Is there documentation to options like mks.win32.useInjectedMagic available anywhere? It would be good to understand what this does beyond fixing that 15.5.5 caps lock bug. I did try Googling it briefly, but only found other reports of the caps lock issue.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Nope.

None of the .vmx settings have official documentation.

There's a few KB articles that describe the functionality of some settings, but AFAICT most of the settings are intentionally undocumented.

The best list or documentation of available settings is at sanbarrow.com

Sometimes a VMware employee down here at the forum will suggest a setting to help and -if you're lucky- they might even explain what it does.

In the past there's been a few debates about getting official documentation, but the thing is that VMware does not really want you to manually edit the .vmx file.

People manually editing these settings will just create more support cases.

Normally changes to the .vmx file are intended to be made via the UI.

--

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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davidm_uk
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks - very interesting. That link looks potentially useful too.

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Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

To add to wila's point of view, my personal view is that a forum (this Community) is a chapter of Documentation, namely its Troubleshooting section, and this is one of the two main reasons it exists - the other being providing peer support. It is impossible to have a complete, exhaustive documentation for every aspect of a program having a history of decades behind its development (applies to OSs too).

The Communities are a treasure trove of information because all methods of solving a problem that work for more than one person are documented here, and ideally they should be listed separately in the Documents section (Workstation Pro ). The solutions are just hard to find, because of too much noise, too much overlap and principally because we have not been taught in schools how to search for relevant information in this Information Age. The existence of search engines made things much, much worse because by their nature they promote minimal effort solutions.

I am fully behind software companies' decision to not document every option and every switch, because there is always a class of users who still think that asking questions is a sign of weakness and proceed to experiment with settings, without keeping a proper log of what they're doing, eventually rendering their system non-repairable. These people can't even understand what a System Restore or a Snapshot is for. When they come to a dead end, they flood the support forums with noise, asking vague questions and end up either blaming the product or bitching at the helpful people who struggle to understand their mess. Please understand that this opinion is not a form of racism or supremacy, it just reflects our society's total lack of education in problem solving and that it's not going to improve anytime soon because complexity and information are growing exponentially.

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