virtualbox - How to use the ALT key in a Virtual Box guest session?

06
2014-04
  • vertoe

    I'm running a Virtualbox session of Windows XP (guest) from a Sabayon GNU/Linux system (host).

    I'm doing projects with Adobe Illustrator CS2 and some of the functionallity is accessed with left mouse click and the ALT key.

    But it seems the ALT key is not forwarded to the guest system.

    Why?

    I've found a lot of forum threads and bug reports on the internet describing the same behaviour. But no workaround works or it seems no real good solution has been found/implemented yet.

    Is there any solution for that? I really need that key for a lot of commands!

    • Answers
  • vertoe

    This worked for me finally:

    The ALT key works within the virtual box guest session if you run it in fullscreen without mouse integration.

    • HOST+I disables the mouse integration.
    • HOST+F switches to fullscreen.

    Hit HOST+I and HOST+F again to return to your host system.


    • Related Question

    keyboard - Alt key codes - 2 digits vs 3 digits
  • Ragha J

    Open up notepad and type Alt+Numpad 1+ Numpad 6 and this give a character ► But when I type Alt+Numpad 0+ Numpad 1+ Numpad 6 I dont get any character

    Whats the difference here

    When I type Alt+2+2+5 I get ß When I type Alt+225225 I get ╔ which corresponding to Alt+201

    How is Alt+225225 is same as Alt+201?

    Thanks


    • Related Answers
  • Brian

    225225 % 256 = 201

    Or, the binary representation of 225225 ends in the binary representation of 201.

  • Dennis Williamson

    The reason that Alt+Num16 gives you ►, while Alt+Num016 gives you nothing, is so you can access both the characters that are mapped to codes 1 through 31 by IBM PC code page 437 and the control characters in that range of ASCII. You enter a leading zero for the control characters and omit leading zeros for the graphic characters in this set: ☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○◙♂♀♪♫☼►◄↕‼¶§▬↨↑↓→←∟↔▲▼

    To give this a try, you can type Alt+Num9 for ○ (circle) or Alt+Num09 for Tab and Alt+Num13 for ♪ or Alt+Num013 for Return. Let's just say that the use for ASCII 16 (Ctrl-P) is lost in the mists of time.

    If you are using a Unicode-compatible application such as Wordpad, entering Alt+Num225225 is the same as Alt+Num28617 (225225 % 65536 = 28617) which is character U+6FC9 or 濉