VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

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Setting Input Preferences

To direct input to the virtual machine, GSX Server grabs the keyboard and the mouse so all keystrokes, mouse moves and button clicks go to the virtual machine.

You can choose when GSX Server starts grabbing input:

When you click the mouse in the console window
When you type in the console window
When you click or type in the console window

When an on-mouse click option is selected, GSX Server grabs the keyboard and the mouse on the first left mouse button click in the virtual machine's console window. The first click in the window is not sent to the virtual machine.

When an on-key press option is selected, GSX Server grabs the keyboard and the mouse on the first keystroke. The first keystroke is sent to the virtual machine. When the console window is active and on key press selected, there is no way to use the normal application and system accelerator key sequences.

Cursor Options

The best way to understand the cursor options is to play with them for a while. They describe how the mouse pointer should behave when you are in windowed mode; that is, the virtual machine is in a console window, not in full screen mode, and you can see the rest of your host operating system's desktop.

Changing Your Input Settings

The Settings menu allows you to change a number of settings that apply to GSX Server itself, no matter what virtual machine you are running.

To make changes to these settings on a Windows host, choose Settings > Preferences. The Input tab on a Windows host lets you adjust the way that the virtual machine captures control of the mouse and keyboard.

To change the input settings on a Linux host, choose Settings > Input Preferences, then click an item on the cascading menu to toggle its setting on or off.

The input settings you can specify include:

Grab keyboard and mouse input on mouse click — GSX Server grabs the keyboard and the mouse after the first primary mouse button click in the virtual machine console window.
Grab keyboard and mouse input on key press — GSX Server grabs the keyboard and the mouse after the first keystroke. The first keystroke is sent to the virtual machine. When the virtual machine console window is active and this option is selected, there is no way to use the normal application and system accelerator key sequences.
Grab when cursor enters window — the mouse pointer becomes the mouse pointer of your guest operating system when the mouse pointer enters the virtual machine console window. This does not apply in full screen mode.
Ungrab when cursor leaves window — the mouse pointer becomes the mouse pointer of your host operating system when the mouse pointer exits the virtual machine console window. This does not apply in full screen mode. Use this option to transition seamlessly between the virtual machine and your host operating system.
Hide cursor on ungrab — the mouse pointer of the guest operating system is hidden when your mouse is controlling the pointer of the host operating system. This option is particularly useful when your guest operating system and your host operating system are identical: it eliminates the confusion of having to think about which of these two identical pointers will move if you move your mouse.
Scroll when cursor approaches window edge — if your virtual machine's display area is larger than the GSX Server console window that displays it, then the console window only displays a part of your virtual screen. You can use scrollbars to scroll through the virtual machine's screen and see other areas of it. When this option is enabled and the virtual machine is not in full screen mode, the GSX Server virtual screen automatically scrolls the console window when the mouse pointer nears the edge of the viewable portion of the virtual screen. This option is useful since it avoids tedious "release focus, use scrollbars, capture focus" sequences.

Note: This option is always temporarily enabled if you press a mouse button while moving the mouse. This allows you to perform easily tasks like selecting a group of objects, or dragging and dropping inside the virtual machine.
Enable copy and paste to and from virtual machine — for copying and pasting text between the host and the virtual machine and among virtual machines. The clipboards of the two operating systems communicate with each other. When the mouse pointer of your guest operating system exits the console window, the contents of the guest operating system clipboard is copied into the host operating system clipboard. Similarly, each time the mouse pointer of your host operating system is grabbed by the console window, the contents of the host operating system clipboard is copied into the guest operating system clipboard. You can disable the ability to copy and paste to and from virtual machines.

Note: At this time, you cannot copy and paste between Red Hat Linux 7.0 through 7.3 and Windows 2000. It does not matter which operating system is the guest and which is the host.

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