Cmd-Tab does not work reliably (Mac 10.4 host)

[Lincoln Ramsay]

VirtualBox blocks Cmd-Tab. It does work if I press and release Cmd then press Cmd-Tab. I think the first Cmd triggers VirtualBox to ignore the next press. I would expect this to work reliably, always performing the Cmd-Tab action.

[aquarius]

just a comment ... maybe users are not familiar to the hostkey concept of VirtualBox. I must admit it's especially annoying to Mac users like me who additionally have to cope with the standard mappings of Mac keyboards to "Standard Keyboards".

One part of the problem may be that the host key (standard left-Apple = left-Cmd) interferes with the user's wish to type Cmd-Tab. I defined the host key on right-Apple to get it out of the way. (Other good keys are Numpad-Enter or the small Enter key called left-Enter between right-Apple and back/home depending on your Mac Keyboard.

One could think of catching Cmd-Tab (and some more key combinations) in the Mac OS X version and route them to the host, but this should be made configurable then.

Please bear in mind that at least Windows guests interpret Cmd and some combinations as well:

Cmd   ->  brings up start menu
Cmd+R ->  brings up the "run" dialog
Cmd+E ->  starts a new Explorer window

related discussion:

​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=9245

​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=5592

Apple Bootcamp keyboard mappings (applies not only to windows)

​http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1167

​http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1220

aquarius

[Lincoln Ramsay]

The Mac version correctly picks up on Cmd-H and Cmd-Q (hide and quit, respectively) so it seems strange to me that it does no pick up on Cmd-Tab. I'm using left Cmd as the host key and left Cmd in these three key sequences. Perhaps it's because the Hide and Quit actions are handled by the VirtualBoxVM process while Cmd-Tab is handled by the OS...

[umbra5885]

I have been wondering the same thing and just thought that it was a bug... this can be a very annoying thing for mac users and this is a very old bug....

If this cannot be fixed can someone put it in the documentation that you need to hit command twice and then tab?

[Brandon]

I too would like a fix to this. I know it seems trivial to hit the host key before cmd+tab'ing, but I use both VM apps and Host apps interchangeably and it would be extremely beneficial to be able to switch between the Host apps and the VM by just using cmd+tab like you would normally do in Mac OS X. I realize that cmd+tab does not list the VM's running apps, which is fine, but being able to switch quickly from the VM to a Host app and back is crucial. If anyone knows a work around, like a command line tweak or something, please post your genius!

[Technologov]

This is also related to bugs like #4238, #4208, #2145, #1668 and #1773

This problem is not related to Mac OS host - see bug #4263

-Technologov

[Brandon]

So is this something that is going to be fixed or added? It would be really helpful and make many of us more productive.

[Steve Lemke]

Try disabling the "auto capture keyboard" setting in Input preferences in the Virtual Box app (v3.1.6). This seems to stop VirtualBox from eating the command key. Another trick is to set the host key to the *right* command key instead of the left one (since the left one is the one typically used with command-tab). Either or both of these might help.

I'm pretty sure that this behavior changed recently, or maybe between 3.0.x and 3.1.x, because this never used to bug me before but I've run into it on two separate Macs today.

[Dylan Justice]

Also applies to Linux host.