Keyboard acting erratically

[cnestel]

I posted this in the VMPlayer forum, and got no responses, so I'm trying the VMWare Workstation Forum.

I am having the same probelm with both VMWare Player and an eval copy ofVMWare Workstation.  I am running Windows 8 as a host operating system on a Dell Inspiron B15 and have created guest OS's of Windows XP and Windows 7.  I have the same problem with both guest OS's and with both VMWare Player and VMWare Workstation.  At random times, while typing, the cursor will unexpectedly jump and will display the Windows desktop or will run some program like Windows Narrator for no apparent reason.  At other times, it will simply disable the key that I am trying to press.  I have found that if I task switch using ALT-TAB, the keyboard will return to normal.  I don't want to offer any unscientific observations as to the cause, but I am also havng a lot of trouble with USB devices (both 3.0 and 2.0) and the behavior may be related to a USB device being plugged in.

I really love VMWare other than this problem, but it is a show stopper.  I'd buy the product immediately if someone could solve this for me.  Help!

[vTagion]

It sounds as though you don't have VMware Tools installed. That is a common occurence if the VMware Tools is either not installed or not installed correctly.

[cnestel]

Thanks for the response.  I did install VMWare Tools and even re-installed it.  Based on the number of people that have viewed my post vs the one response I got, I have to believe that my situation is unique.  It must somehow be related to Windows 8 running on this particular Dell Inspiron B15.  I did install VMWare Player on an older Windows 7 laptop and so far, with very limited use, the problem has not re-appeared.  Still, I was surpised at the severity of this bug since it renders VMWare unuseable on the Windows 8 machine.