[ALUG] VirtualBox (XP host, Debian client) & shared clipboard

[Chris G]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 10:55:00PM -0000, Ted Harding wrote:
> Hi folks (and apologies to any who may be affected by cross-posting).
> 
> I have VirtualBox installed on a Windows XP machine, and Debian Etch
> installed as a guest. The Linux Guest Additions have been installed,
> and generally seem to be doing their job.
> 
> However, the Shared Clipboard facility apparently does nothing.
> It is enabled as "Bidirectional" in the virtual machine.
> 
> If, for instance, I highlight some text in an XP window, and
> select "copy selection", and then go to a Linux text window
> in X and middle-click (the usual "paste" manoeuvre) then nothing
> happens.
> 
> In the reverse direction, if I highlight text in the X window
> (the usual "put into clipboard" manoeuvre), and then go to an
> XP window and "Paste", again nothing happens.
> 
> If I first highlight text in the Linux X window, then go to the XP
> window and "copy selection", then when I go back to Linux the Linux
> text is still there (can be pasted with "right click"), so it has
> not been changed by the XP operation.
> 
> I've read some indiciations on the web that this feature has
> caused such problems, but have not seen a solution. It could also
> be that I'm not doing the right manoeuvres for copying into the
> clipboard and pasting out of it, in this context.
> 
> If anyone has useful comments, I'd bevery grateful to receive them!
> 
> VirtualBox 1.5.0 (2007-08-31).
> 
I'm running the other way around - Ubuntu 8.10 host and Windows XP
guest. In addition I'm running a much newer VirtualBox, version 2.1.4.
Among other things I'd recommend moving to a newer version of
VirtualBox, there's *lots* of improvements and bug fixes.  There's
even a 2.2.x version in beta now so moving to 2.1.x is hardly pushing
the limits.

Having said all that I too find that cut and paste between host and
guest doesn't always work.  I *have* found though that it depends how
you copy text into the clipboard in the Linux host. If I double click
to select text it doesn't work whereas if I use CTRL/C (in Firefox in
particular) to copy text in the Linux host then it *does* work and
can be pasted in the Windows guest.

On the other hand, for me, copy text in the XP guest and pasting in
the Linux host seems to always work OK on my system.

-- 
Chris Green