VirtualBox (XP host, Debian client) & shared clipboard
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). Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 18-Mar-09 Time: 22:54:56 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
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
On 19-Mar-09 08:38:40, Chris G wrote:
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 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
Thanks, Chris. I'd been wondering about the Version issue! Now I am wondering about installing the updated VirtualBox on the XP host. The user manual does not seem to discuss upgrading VirtualBox on Windows, so the implication is that ugrading simply means installing the later version as if from scratch. But the last thing I want is for that to break, and also kill the older version, leaving me Linux-less on that machine. Too much depends on it! So can anyone confirm by experience that upgrading that way is safe? Or is there a better way? With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 19-Mar-09 Time: 12:35:52 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On Thu, 2009-03-19 at 08:38 +0000, Chris G wrote:
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.
That because X (Linux etc) has two mechanisms for copying from one application to another only one of which is a clipboard. When you select something (usually text) in one application and then click to insert it into a different application this is using the selection mechanism, not a clipboard. Windows does not support copying between applications this way (though PuTTY simulates this by auto-copying to the clipboard anything you select). When you specically copy the selection to the clipboard with the menu or Ctrl-C it does use the clipboard and, in the case of the VM, means it becomes available on the clipboard in the guest. HTH, Steve.
participants (3)
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Chris G -
Steve Fosdick -
Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk