[arch-general] VirtualBox ALT-key problems (especially with Adobe programs)

[Klaus Doblmann M.A.]

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On 2016-07-16 13:53, Peter Bauer wrote:
> On gnome you can modify this behavior with the gnome-tweak-tool in
> the Window section. I changed the Window-Action key from "ALT" to
> "Super". I faced the same issues with the Layout-software EAGLE on
> Windows in VirtualBox.

Thanks, I tried this as well - didn't help at all, nor changing the
Window manager.

But, in the end, I finally found a solution. Here's my workaround for
the sake of posterity and so it shows up when others are looking for a
workaround:
Using the software-accessibility keyboard in Windows I was able to
find out that the left Alt-key was always recognised as Alt+GR in
Windows. And yes, I checked the keyboard settings, multiple times. I
used Gnome-tinker-tool to set a few different Alt/Super-options on the
Linux side - nothing helped, Virtualbox would override it and always
send Alt+Gr...
In the end I used a program that remaps keys in the Windows Registry
and set it so the left Alt-key now correctly sends the Alt-key signal.
This is what I used:
http://lifehacker.com/5883003/the-best-key-remapper-for-windows

Still would be interesting why Virtualbox sends these "funny"
keymappings. And yes, I also tried different keyboards....


> 
> Am 09.07.2016 um 17:04 schrieb Bruno Widmann via arch-general:
>> Try some other window manager, that way you can find out if it's
>> gnome's wm which is causing the problem. Personally i'm using
>> fvwm, and everything in my windows vboxes is working fine.
>> Haven't tried photoshop though...
>> 
>> On Sat, Jul 9, 2016 at 2:11 PM, Klaus Doblmann M.A.
>> <klaus at dokla.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 2016-07-09 13:18, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 9 Jul 2016 12:57:19 +0200, Klaus Doblmann M.A.
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> I'm having troubles getting the ALT-key to work properly in
>>>>> VirtualBox as a modifier in applications like Photoshop for
>>>>> things like the clone tool, it isn't recognised as the
>>>>> ALT-key.
>>>> 
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> perhaps the used version of photoshop does work better when
>>>> using wine. Wine is as easy to use as vbox, it doesn't
>>>> require graphical desktop sharing by VNC and doesn't require
>>>> SAMBA to share files or something similar, that is needed by
>>>> other virtual machines.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hi Ralf,
>>> 
>>> Thanks for your reply. I'm very familiar with Wine, however I
>>> can't even get past installing the Creative Cloud application
>>> which works as a hub/installer for the main apps. Some people
>>> report success on running Photoshop on Wine with a lot of
>>> tinkering but some of these reports seem to use unlicensed
>>> versions... ;)
>>> 
>>> The whole solution to my problem should be rather easy -
>>> SOMETHING messes with the Alt key on the linux side - it's just
>>> a matter of finding out what... ;)
>>> 
>>> Klaus
>>> 
>> 

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