Win10 guest desn't take keyboard input

[Jimmi61]

On my Lenovo Yoga3 Pro I migrated a phisical machine with Win10 using vCenter Converter. When I start it with VM Workstation 12 apparently everything is fine, the interface says that both mouse and keybard inputs are captured, the mouse works perfectly but the keyboard does not work. I may use the onscreen keyboard to login and work, but I cannot use the laptop keyboard.

Do you have any suggestion on how to debug it?

Thanks in advance

Jimmi

[dariusd · Accepted solution]

You might need to uninstall any existing keyboard software from inside the Windows 10 VM.  There have been a few threads here lately where existing keyboard or trackpad software has interfered with a VM's keyboard or mouse after a P2V.

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Darius

[Jimmi61]

Thanks a lot, that was the problem.

I found this post plus several articles on the web suggesting to remove old drivers from migrated P2V machines.

Removing the Synaptic driver did the trick, but i'll continue removing all unnecessary parts.

[MikeFleming68]

How do you access the Windows machine?  I have no keyboard, so I can't type the password to login or start the Windows session.  I have tried Remote Desktop to the guest VM and that doesn't work.  I have also tried the built-in VNC host.  No dice.  I get the background image and the password prompt. I can reboot etc.. just no keyboard. I can ping the guest VM when it's in this state.  RDP goes through initializing connection and securing connection, but I just get a black screen and then it disconnects.

This is a Lenovo Thinkpad W510 running Win10 1909 and I converted it with the standalone VMWare converter 6.20.  I have tried mounting the Windows 10 installation .iso file and can boot that, but when it tries to 'repair' the guest VM, it spends a long time (about 10 minutes or so) and fails.  The physical machine runs great.  I'm typing this post on it.  I just want to decommission it and give it to my wife, because I have a much newer system I just built and need this as a reference until I get the all my software installed and configured on the new machine.

Any ideas?
Thank you!

[wila]

On the login screen you can choose "on screen" keyboard and use the mouse to "type".

Alternatively, uninstall the Synaptic software from Add/Remove software on the physical machine before you run converter.

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Wil

[MikeFleming68]

I can't RDP to mine.  MSTSC goes through 'initializing connection', then 'securing connection', renders a black screen, and then disconnects.  I have seen other answers about using an 'on screen' keyboard, but I don't see any option for that in VMWare Workstation 16.1 (what I am using).  This is a P2V conversion of Windows 10 1909 on a Lenovo Thinkpad W510.  It boots up as a guest VM, but I have only mouse, no keyboard input, so I can't login and I don't know how I can edit the registry or remove Lenovo touchpad or keyboard drivers.

One thought is to remove the touchpad device and drivers on the physical machine and re-convert to VM.  I don't use the touchpad at all on the physical machine.  Would this maybe work?

Thank you!

[wila]

Hi,

Really no need to hijack two posts on this... after my reply I will merge your reply here with the other thread. Please keep the discussion in ONE place.

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@MikeFleming68 wrote:

I can't RDP to mine.  MSTSC goes through 'initializing connection', then 'securing connection', renders a black screen, and then disconnects.  I have seen other answers about using an 'on screen' keyboard, but I don't see any option for that in VMWare Workstation 16.1 (what I am using). 

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The on screen keyboard is a Windows feature, not a Workstation feature.

See screenshot(s) below

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Wil

[MikeFleming68]

Oh, my goodness!  I had no idea what that clock-like icon was for, or that 'on screen keyboard' is an 'accessibility feature' and after login is found under Settings, or that the text in the context menu on the login screen was something you can click on to bring up the on screen keyboard.  This did the trick. 

THANK YOU!  Sorry about the forum posts - don't really understand that.. thought they were two separate things as they came up on two separate Google searches, and I was looking for maximum visibility, thinking it very unlikely I would get a response from either.

Again, THANK YOU!  I'm all set to go up and running now after doing a registry edit to Hkey_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. 

[wila]

No worries, I understand.

Just pointing out why I merged your other reply to this thread, keeping the discussion in one place makes it easier for others to follow the outcome.

Glad to hear it now works!

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Wil