For me, it turned out that the "Caps Lock as an extra control key" was the culprit. xmodmap was
xmodmap: up to 4 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses): shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e) lock Caps_Lock (0x42) control Control_L (0x25), Caps_Lock (0x42), Control_R (0x69) mod1 Alt_L (0x40), Alt_R (0x6c), Meta_L (0xcd) mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d) mod3 mod4 Super_L (0x85), Super_R (0x86), Super_L (0xce), Hyper_L (0xcf) mod5 ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c), Mode_switch (0xcb) I removed the Caps_Lock (0x42) from the control line and the problem went away. VMWare stopped flushing my mappings and my keys all worked the same as before. Somehow my CapsLock is still mapped as a control key as well. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/195982 Title: Shift key (and caps lock) stop working when using VMWare Status in The Linux Kernel: Invalid Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Status in “xkeyboard-config” package in Ubuntu: Invalid Status in Gentoo Linux: New Bug description: [Problem] VMWare's keyboard mapping is imperfect, sometimes resulting in certain keys stopping functionality when running under VMWare, requiring the user to setup their configuration settings manually in VMWare. For a detailed explanation see the following article: http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_devices_keymap_linux_longer.html [Original Report] After a day or so of running the shift key mysteriously stops working as does the cap lock. In other words I cannot enter shifted characters of any kind. The keyboard is connected to a KVM and all other systems respond to it properly. In additional any VMWare sessions I have open respond correctly. So I have the condition where all non-vmware applications in Ubuntu Hardy (all updates applied as of 2008-02-26 at 12:43 UTC) fail to recognize the shift key BUT applications within an active (a paused/restarted session also works) VMWare sessions running DO recognize the key. When this condition occurs ALL applications (except those within a VMWare session) are also unstable and will usually crash within a few keystrokes.If I continue to operate in this mode. I cannot pinpoint what, if any, application triggers this. It has always happened while working within terminal/browser/vmware sessions and NOT when opening a new application. It could be related to the KVM switch, but none of my other systems (2 Mandriva, 1 Windows) are affected by this. This bug has been present on my system for a number of days across daily updates and reboots (if the update requested it) and I think since I installed Hardy Alpha 1. A work around: log off and back on. A reboot/restart does not appear to be needed. Error logs show some unusual activity. --- MARK ---- ... ... kernel ... rtc lost 7 interrupts ... --- MARK --- .... Plus some segfaults indicating which application crashed as I tried to type into it (mouse works fine). System: HP dv9743cl (which otherwise works lovely) Ubuntu: Hardy 8.04 (from lsb-release) ---- TEST CASE: 1. Click inside the VM and 2. Hold any of the Ctrl, Alt and/or shift keys while releasing the keyboard/mouse to the host OS (which you obviously do when you press Crtl-Alt to revert back to windowed mode, as the cursor is then released from the VM). WORKAROUND: After this happens to recover your keyboard execute 'setxkbmap' in a terminal To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linux/+bug/195982/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
