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I'm running Windows 8 from a VirtualBox machine inside Ubuntu 13.04, and I'm having some problems navigating in the virtual machine.

Many of the navigation options in Windows 8 (the new start menu, for instance) are accessible by moving the cursor to various corners and edges of the screen - this conflicts with my Unity desktop, in which I've mapped the corners to stuff as well using the Ubunut Tweak tool.

Is there any way to tell Unity and/or VirtualBox that when I run a virtual machine in full screen, I want these events forwarded to the guest OS, and no action on the host?

This behavior applies also to the Windows button (between left Alt and Fn on my keyboard), which triggers the Unity launcher instead of the Start menu, even when in fullscreen.

Tomas Aschan
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  • There seems to be some setting I'm missing - I can't even press Alt+F4 and get it forwarded to the guest OS. In Windows 8, not being able to use a keyboard shortcut like that one really is a showstopper... Not even Escape is working. – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 11:27
  • Would running the VM in a GNOME "classic" fallback session be an option for you, or do you need to have Unity on the host? – Takkat May 21 '13 at 11:33
  • @Takkat: I really would like to get this working in Unity - I'm all for the eye candy ;) I've found that it sometimes works and sometimes not, so apparently there's some setting that I inadvertently keep turning on and off again. In other words, it is possible - if I can just figure out which setting I'm meddling with, what it should be, and how to stop meddling with it. – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 12:08
  • When you get full screen, try pausing and unpausing the virtual OS by HostKey+P and HostKey+P again. It will get focus and you'll be able to alt+f4, alt+tab etc. – mreq May 21 '13 at 12:26
  • @mreq: This didn't help, unfortunately. Right before I tried I experienced the most annoying misbehavior yet: I've bound bottom left corner to the workspace switcher in Unity. When I reached for the Start menu (bottom left), the workspace switcher was triggered, but the cursor was still locked in the guest window, so the only thing I could do was to select it and try again... – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 12:29
  • @TomasLycken: do alt+tab and similar shortcuts work? If not, there's something wrong with Virtualbox preferences and capturing the keys etc. – mreq May 21 '13 at 12:52
  • @mreq: Alt-tab works, windows key has started to work, escape works. Actually, most things work most of the time now. However, lower left corner keeps trigging the workspace switcher. – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 12:58
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    @mreq: I've worked some more on this, and I've noted that this almost always seems to be related with the windows key triggering the Unity launcher - when that happens, the guest OS loses some or all focus, and everything stops working. I can usually get it working again by closing the launcher, pausing and unpausing the virtual box, but this severely impedes my workflow... – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 14:08
  • @TomasLycken: when we're talking fullscreen, we're talking HostKey + F, right? – mreq May 21 '13 at 16:11
  • @mreq: Yes, <Right Control>+<F> in my case (the default). My previous assumption about being related to the Unity launcher opening on the windows key doesn't seem to be the entire truth, either - when it does happen, things don't work, but it doesn't seem to explain the entire behavior (i.e. it happens other times as well, and sometimes the windows key works perfectly in the guest OS). – Tomas Aschan May 21 '13 at 16:40
  • Unity seems not to release some keys for virtualbox to grab them. That's why I switched to run a classic fallback session whenever I plan to run VBox or Wine fullscreen apps. Not a solution to the issuse but a stable workaround. Also see http://askubuntu.com/questions/191250/virtualbox-windows-7-guest-pressing-windows-key-launches-unity-menu – Takkat May 23 '13 at 08:16
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    I've noted an interesting workaround: When I press the Windows key, both Ubuntu and Win8 catches it, resulting in the start menu being showed but focus being on the Unity launcher (which is still invisible, since I'm in fullscreen). Pressing the Windows key again closes the launcher and gives back focus to the guest OS - but this keypress isn't forwarded to Win8. So by pressing it twice in a row, I'm effectively pressing it once in Win8. I still haven't worked out how to get things like the right-side bar working properly, but this is a great improvement. – Tomas Aschan May 23 '13 at 20:55

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