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I am new to VMware. I am running VMware on Windows 7 and my virtual machine is running Ubuntu 10.04 server edition. Ubuntu shell responds to the down key as it would to the right arrow key and does not seem to react to the other keys. I am testing this in aptitude, where I can't browse my packages effectively.

Host hardware is a Dell Vostro 3300

running Windows 7 x64

2.53GHz x2 Intel Core i5 460M (Arrandale)



NVIDIA GeForce 310M

Intel(R) HD Graphics

Details: https://gist.github.com/864743

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@aestheticpriest - Could you give us more details as to the host's hardware configuration? Have you tried installing the Guest Add-Ons? –  Iszi Mar 10 '11 at 18:57
I made an edit to add hardware information and I'm now looking into Guest Add-Ons. –  aesthetic priest Mar 10 '11 at 19:40
A quick google for Guest Add-Ons are on Virtualbox instead of VMware. I'll try downloading and running my guest with Virtualbox instead. –  aesthetic priest Mar 10 '11 at 19:48
@aesthetic priest: VMware calls its guest additions VMware Tools. FWIW I've never had trouble like this running Ubuntu in VirtualBox though. –  Patches Mar 10 '11 at 19:57
@aestheticpriest - Most VM software have their own version of "Guest Add-Ons" which help the guest OS to better interface with the host system. As @Patches has pointed out, VMWare's name is "Guest Additions". I'm more a fan of VirtualBox myself though. –  Iszi Mar 10 '11 at 19:58
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2 Answers

 keycode 103 = Up
  Shift keycode 103 = F49
 keycode 108 = Down
  Shift keycode 108 = F50
 keycode 106 = Right
  Shift keycode 106 = F51
  Control keycode 106 = F53
  Control Shift keycode 106 = F55
 keycode 105 = Left
  Shift keycode 105 = F52
  Control keycode 105 = F54
  Control Shift keycode 105 = F56
 keycode 102 = Find
  Shift keycode 102 = F57
  Control keycode 102 = F59
  Control Shift keycode 102 = F61
 keycode 107 = Select
  Shift keycode 107 = F58
  Control keycode 107 = F60
  Control Shift keycode 107 = F62
 string F49 = "\033O2A"
 string F50 = "\033O2B"
 string F51 = "\033O2C"
 string F52 = "\033O2D"
 string F53 = "\033O5C"
 string F54 = "\033O5D"
 string F55 = "\033O6C"
 string F56 = "\033O6D"
 string F57 = "\033O2H"
 string F58 = "\033O2F"
 string F59 = "\033O5H"
 string F60 = "\033O5F"
 string F61 = "\033O6H"
 string F62 = "\033O6F"

in the Ubuntu VM, add this to ~/.keymap, then run 'loadkeys -q ~/.keymap' the keymap is copied from http://www.emacswiki.org/CuaMode#toc3

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While Dyno Fu's answer is ok - this is a better one:


This is from a blog I found.

He also mentions how you can probe your keyboard for magic number values, but I found this to be a better way:

xmodmap -pk | less -i
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