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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Tab key not working after installing VMWare Workstation 8

Just curious how to fix this issue. I just installed VMWare Workstation 8 and even after the program is closed the tab keyboard key doesn't work as it used to before. What happens, say, I'm typing a text in Notepad and hit tab key on the keyboard, so instead of adding the tab the Notepad app loses focus. This is absolutely tied in to VMWare Workstation, because I just installed it and the tab key worked before it.

Can someone suggest how to fix this?

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

When you installed VMware Workstation, did you install the VMware enhanced keyboard driver?  Does uninstalling it help?

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I don't remember installing it, but it doesn't mean that it didn't get installed without my knowledge. What helped is stopping all services starting with vm* and then killing all processes with the same name using Task Manager with admin rights. I then rebooted the system and the issue was gone. I started the VMWare Workstation again but this time the issue didn't repeat itself. I don't really know what that is, but it is clearly a bug in VMWare Workstation. Maybe someone can pass it to the development team.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

I am on the development team. Smiley Wink

Did you change the services to be started manually?  If not, they're probably running again after you rebooted your system, and maybe the reboot itself cleared up whatever the problem was.

You can tell if the keyboard driver is installed by opening a VM and choosing VM > Settings > Options > General.  If it's not installed, the "Enhanced virtual keyboard" box should show a message saying so.

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yeah, services are back to their original start-up parameters. The "Enhanced virtual keyboard" option is set to off, but the bug doesn't manifest itself either... I'll post here again if it comes back.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Okay, but if you don't see a message explicitly stating that the keyboard driver isn't installed, then it must be installed (and is a likely culprit).  Installing or uninstalling the keyboard driver requires rebooting the host.  If you hadn't rebooted after installing Workstation, then maybe that's why things behaved abnormally (the installer should have recommended a reboot in that case, however).

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duri
Contributor
Contributor

I posted a similiar issue, but in my case my ctrl key was locked in vm8 when I moved a window ! I created a VM8 with guest windows 7, opened notepad, wrote something, moved the window with the mouse, put focus in editor again and I couldn't write anything because it launches a goto line-dialog because a pressed the g, and ctrl+g activates the go to line-dialog. pressing the ctrl again unlocks the ctrl-key.

In Delphi this anoying behaviour is even worse because the ctrl-key will be locked on undetermined events.

I tried a lot of things but I finally uninstalled workstation 8 and reinstalled version 7 again. That version works fine for me.

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

OK, I have to resurrect this thread. The problem came back. I don't know how and when but again when I hit tab on the keyboard the window loses focus and the tab key is not processed (say, in a word processor.)

PS. I stopped all VMware services and killed all processes related to VMWare but still no result...

You guys, seriously, need to get a handle on this because this bug is very annoying...

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

ahmd9 wrote:

The "Enhanced virtual keyboard" option is set to off

To reiterate: if the keyboard driver isn't installed, there would be a message next to that option that explicitly says so.  Could you confirm whether or not it is installed or try reinstalling VMware Workstation, choosing a custom install, and making sure that the keyboard driver option is left unchecked?

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I'm sorry, how do I find out if that driver is installed again?

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Reread reply #3.

Or just reinstall Workstation and make sure that you go down the custom path and choose not to install the keyboard driver.

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I already installed several virtual Windows into it. Will those disappear as well?

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

No, uninstalling VMware Workstation will not delete any of your VMs.

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just want to say that I'm about to bail on your workstation 8......

The tab key is not a property of your software and must be allowed to be used by other programs! Especially when your product is closed.

Right now to return the functionality of the tab key I have to manually kill all vmware processes and then stop all vmware services and log off. This is a whole lot of actions that I DO NOT LIKE doing just to get the tab key back!!!!

PS. FIX IT and stop giving evasive suggestion here... It's not that difficult to emulate...

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi ahmd9,

Have you tried reinstalling Workstation without installing the VMware enhanced keyboard driver, as jameslin has suggested a few times already? This is not an evasive suggestion... it's a basic troubleshooting step.  Without understanding what's triggering the problem on your specific system, we don't really have anything we can fix... and we really must depend on your help to figure out what's going on there.

Cheers,

--

Darius

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

dariusd, this is not just an isolated issue:

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=vmware+tab+key+issue&pbx=1&oq=vmware+tab+ke...

and I did reinstall the software. You see this issue doesn't happen all the time and it has a tendency to come out when you least expect it (when I need to type something and the Tab key doesn't work.) If I knew what's causing it, I'd tell you here.

If you look at this thread the issue has been around (and there are quite a few other ones too):

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/74946-tab-key-acting-weird-2.html

So far, JoeHello's suggestion off that link seems to work:

I have found that if I hit the "Windows Key - TAB" combination a few times (around 6 or 7 times), then the TAB key will start working again as it should. I read somewhere else that a user said they have to do "Windows Key - TAB" a few times and then "ALT-TAB" a few times to get it working again, but so far just doing the first one has worked for me. ...definitely quicker than a full reboot.

I confirm that the above worked for me as well (although that is clearly not a perfect solution.)

PS. What makes me mad, is that whatever the keyboard driver is that you supply it should not take over the system like it does in my case with the tab key. So please do your homework and fix this issue...

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

ahmd9 wrote:

dariusd, this is not just an isolated issue:

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=vmware+tab+key+issue&pbx=1&oq=vmware+tab+ke...

and I did reinstall the software.

Despite our repeated questions on this matter, you still have not answered the question about whether or not reinstalling without the keyboard driver helps.

We need your help to let us help you.  We can't fix this issue without knowing more about it so that we can understand it.  We have not been able to reproduce this issue ourselves, so we're relying on you to provide us with information on the matter.  However, every time we've asked you questions about it, we have not received direct answers.

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ahmd9
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

James, I cannot experiment with installations on the work computer. I brought this issue up for our tech person so he may look into it. The problem is that the issue manifests itself at some random times and when he looked at it everything worked just fine ... Other than that if I uninstall the program I don't have registration keys to install it back on. I may download and try it at home though...

I'll post any updates here.

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restin
Contributor
Contributor

I too am having the same issue and the use of Windows Key + Tab multiple times seems to be a consistent work-around.

I have not tried reinstalling the software without the keyboard driver but it certainly seems to me that there is enough anecdotal evidence from the community at large to provide the basis for an actual bug. I agree with ahmd9 that it is incredibly annoying but it is equally as annoying to have to perform an uninstall and reinstall to provide information to a product team that should be able to isolate the issue without such steps.

Let's just assume that both ahmd9 and I are able to successfully remedy the issue but uninstalling and reinstalling per your recommendations. Then what? I believe that is really the point. The faulty keyboard driver is removed but will it ever be addressed?

/onsoapbox

It seems to be the pervasive attitude of "the industry" to more and more rely on paying customers to debug and beta test the products. It is that attitude, more than the bug itself, which I believe creates users who are less and less open to the idea of taking steps recommended to them to solve issues that they don't believe should exist in the first place.

/offsoapbox

Cheers!

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

restin wrote:

I too am having the same issue and the use of Windows Key + Tab multiple times seems to be a consistent work-around.

I have not tried reinstalling the software without the keyboard driver but it certainly seems to me that there is enough anecdotal evidence from the community at large to provide the basis for an actual bug. I agree with ahmd9 that it is incredibly annoying but it is equally as annoying to have to perform an uninstall and reinstall to provide information to a product team that should be able to isolate the issue without such steps.

Let's just assume that both ahmd9 and I are able to successfully remedy the issue but uninstalling and reinstalling per your recommendations. Then what? I believe that is really the point. The faulty keyboard driver is removed but will it ever be addressed?

/onsoapbox

It seems to be the pervasive attitude of "the industry" to more and more rely on paying customers to debug and beta test the products. It is that attitude, more than the bug itself, which I believe creates users who are less and less open to the idea of taking steps recommended to them to solve issues that they don't believe should exist in the first place.

/offsoapbox

First, I take offense to the implication that we aren't interested in debugging this or fixing this.  We absolutely do want to solve this problem.

We do a lot of internal debugging and testing.  This issue isn't common, and it happens that we haven't been able to reproduce this issue ourselves.  Our only choice is to ask for some help from people who are actually experiencing this problem, but so far we have not received any, despite our repeated requests.

Why have I been repeatedly asking about reinstalling without the keyboard driver?

  1. We want confirmation that the keyboard driver is at fault.  We have a lot of code.  Although the keyboard driver is a likely suspect, we don't know for sure.  The problem could be caused by some other component.  It could be caused by some other application.  We don't know.  We need to narrow down the cause, and we can't fix this until we can get some more information.
  2. Since people who have been complaining don't know whether the keyboard  driver is installed or not, it's clear that they don't really care about it.  If the keyboard driver is indeed the culprit, then reinstalling without it would provide a long-term solution to their problem without impacting functionality.  Does this at all diminish our desire to fix the bug?  No, and it will make our customers' lives easier until we can ship a fix.  I don't think that this should be controversial.
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