I found this while trying to find a solution for exactly the same thing. I use my VM on my laptop monitor with an external monitor above it. I connect a USB trackpad directly to the VM so I can get gestures and more detailed scrolling since VMWare doesn't emulate a trackpad (which is a separate thing that would be REALLY helpful). Whenever the host sleeps, e.g., when I get a cup of coffee (short sleep time), the trackpad is disconnected, and trying to re-connect it requires this stupid menu juggling act.

Found a solution in the comments of this SO post: https://superuser.com/q/1475595

TL;DR, hit your key combo for releasing key capturing (Ctrl-Alt by default) then press, Alt-M (or another letter to get to another menu item) to open the VM menu. This pops the bar into view with the VM menu opened. Do whatever you want on the bar from there.

Almost as good as a hotkey, but requires 2 keystrokes.