Apr/099
Ubuntu 9.04 Vmware Arrow Keys Problem
I finally found how to get all those keys working on my newly installed Ubuntu 9.04 with my XP VM. The issue is that all the arrow keys and delete key don’t work. There are others too but not listed. So a bit of googling, I found that you have to map the keys in a vmware config file to solve the problem. So this is what needs to be done.
1. Edit /usr/lib/vmware/config
2. Add the following to the end.
xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu
3. Save it
4. Restart vmware
Thank goodness. What a pain this was to use with a whole bunch of keys not working.
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1:19 pm on May 20th, 2009
Thanks for the info. After installing Ubuntu 9.04 and vmware server I noticed that my normal positioning keys would not work in vmware but the keypad keys would. I also use nedit in linux which is based upon motif and there my normal positioning keys work but the keypad keys don’t. One down and one to go. Thanks again.
5:01 am on June 6th, 2009
Just add following line
xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true
to /etc/vmware-server-console/config or ~/.vmare/config
and restart console/player. There is no need to restart server.
3:35 pm on June 8th, 2009
Sergey,
Thanks for the tip. I will try that next time.
12:29 am on July 6th, 2009
All these hints were very helpful even vmware themself has a good introduction into this problem. Combined I use the following entries on my Lenovo T400 to enable a swiss german keyboard in /etc/vmware/config
xkeymap.noKeycodeMap = "TRUE"
xkeymap.keysym.ISO_Level3_Shift = 0x138
xkeymap.keysym.dead_circumflex = 0x00d
xkeymap.keysym.dead_grave = 0x01a
xkeymap.keysym.dead_diaeresis = 0x01b
8:27 am on July 6th, 2009
Sergey,
Thanks. Your tip works perfectly. Kubuntu 9.04 and VMWare Server 2.0.1.
7:10 pm on September 9th, 2009
Cool. I could get by without the extra keys, but it was painful. I found that editing /etc/vmware-server-console/config and setting each xkeymap.keycode property didn’t work, but Sergey’s suggestion did work for VMware Server Console. Thanks for the info.
12:58 pm on October 21st, 2009
Note, if you cut and paste the authors post, you must convert the “x” in the 0x key mappings back to an normal x. WordPress is changing it to a times symbol.
8:11 pm on December 17th, 2009
Russell, thanks for the catch. I added code tags to prevent WP from messing up the “x”.
3:45 am on January 15th, 2010
running
echo “xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true” > .vmware/config
on the client side seemed to have worked for me. After that i could actually navigate through the vm bios. thanks.