VBoxManage controlvm keyboardputscancode fails on macOS

[houtanb]

When I run the script with the following options

vmname="macOS"             # name of the VirtualBox virtual machine
storagesize=22000          # VM disk image size in MB. minimum 22000
cpucount=4                 # VM CPU cores, minimum 2
memorysize=8192            # VM RAM in MB, minimum 2048
gpuvram=128                # VM video RAM in MB, minimum 34, maximum 128
resolution="1280x800"      # VM display resolution

choosing C for Catalina, I eventually run into this problem:

Press enter when the Terminal command prompt is ready.

Partitioning target virtual disk.
VBoxManage: error: Failed to send a scancode

I have tried creating a Virtual Box for Mojave as well. It always fails on write to Terminal. Any suggestions?

[myspaghetti]

Please check that the VirtualBox Extension Pack and Virtualbox are the same version.

[houtanb]

They are both 6.0.14

[myspaghetti]

Would you mind trying to remove and reinstall the extension pack?

[houtanb]

I did it. It didn't work.

Partitioning target virtual disk.
VBoxManage: error: Failed to send a scancode

Here's a screenshot. Note I was not pressing any buttons on the keyboard when this happened (other than Enter when the Terminal window popped up

[houtanb]

A second attempt:

Press enter when the Terminal command prompt is ready.

Partitioning target virtual disk.
VBoxManage: error: Failed to send a scancode

[myspaghetti]

Please download the attached file and rename it to macos-guest-virtualbox.sh and attempt to run it. You can skip all the stages before populate_virtual_disks. It's version 0.76.1 of the script with each keystroke sent by an individual instance of VBoxManage instead of sending entire lines with the same instance.

macos-guest-virtualbox.txt

I'll try to reproduce the issue later, meanwhile you can see if this change works around the issue.

[houtanb]

It worked! Thanks so much :)

[myspaghetti]

Could not reproduce on macOS 10.14.6 (18G103) i5-7360U with VirtualBox and Extension Pack version 6.0.14-133895-OSX.

• Is your processor very fast or very slow that it might affect the VM's input rate?
• Do you have any USB peripherals or other input devices that might affect keyboard input?
• Do you have any accessibility settings that might affect keyboard input?

[houtanb]

Thanks for looking into this. I have a MacBook Pro Mid 2014, i7-4770HQ CPU @ 2.20GHz with 16 GB RAM running macOS 10.14.6

I have an external Dvorak keyboard connected via USB port. Other things connected by USB: mouse and iPhone.

No specific Keyboard/Accessibility settings

[myspaghetti]

The external keyboard could be causing the issue. I tried running the script with an external keyboard on macOS and Windows on a couple of machines but I could not reproduce the bug.

If you could troubleshoot, it would be very helpful.

• On the guest, open TextEdit or Terminal or any other app that echoes keyboard input
• On the host, enter the following [replace "macOS" with the name of the VM if necessary] in Terminal:

faceroll=$(for i in $(seq 2 13) $(seq 16 27) $(seq 30 38) $(seq 43 53); do let j=i+128; printf '%02X %02X ' ${i} ${j}; done); faceroll="2A 04 84 AA ${faceroll} ${faceroll} ${faceroll} ${faceroll} ${faceroll} 1C 9C"; while True; do read -p "CTRL-C to quit, ENTER to continue"; VBoxManage controlvm macOS keyboardputscancode ${faceroll}; done

This will repeatedly prompt you to press enter to send keystrokes to the virtual machine. If the line aborts in the middle you should see a repeating character or no enter being pressed, as with the bug before.

Please test this a few times with the USB keyboard connected and disconnected, it would be very helpful in confirming or excluding the keyboard as the reason for the bug.

[houtanb]

With keyboard plugged in

[houtanb]

With all USB devices unplugged

[houtanb]

NB: Using GNU bash, version 5.0.11(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin18.6.0) installed via homebrew

[myspaghetti]

So it's not the keyboard. I'll keep trying to reproduce the bug. Thanks for all your help!

[houtanb]

No problem, thanks for all the work you put into this!

[thoernle]

Had the same issue and it got fixed by your edited file. Please let me know if you need any further information.

[myspaghetti]

@thoernle thank you very much.

• Any USB or Bluetooth devices that might produce/interrupt keyboard input?
• Dvorak keyboard layout?
• Any host settings that might affect keyboard accessibility?
• Is the host OS macOS?

[thoernle]

- Any USB or Bluetooth devices that might produce/interrupt keyboard input?
Yes, I am using a Apple Magic Keyboard on a MacBook Pro connected via USB

- Dvorak keyboard layout?
No, I am using "ABC - QWERTZ"

- Any host settings that might affect keyboard accessibility?
Nothing special set

- Is the host OS macOS?
Yes, macOS Mojave - Version 10.14.6 to be exact

[myspaghetti]

I'm sorry, I haven't been able to reproduce the issue still. Closing unresolved, feel free to reopen the issue or start a new one.

[myspaghetti]

Script version 0.96.0 defaults to sending one scancode at a time, so this issue is workaround-ed.