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<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="keyb_mouse_normal">
<title>Capturing and Releasing Keyboard and Mouse</title>
<body>
<p>
Oracle VM VirtualBox provides a virtual USB tablet device to new
virtual machines through which mouse events are communicated to
the guest OS. If you are running a modern guest OS that can
handle such devices, mouse support may work out of the box
without the mouse being <i>captured</i> as
described below. See <xref href="settings-motherboard.dita#settings-motherboard"/>.
</p>
<p>
Otherwise, if the virtual machine detects only standard PS/2
mouse and keyboard devices, since the OS in the virtual machine
does not know that it is not running on a real computer, it
expects to have exclusive control over your keyboard and mouse.
But unless you are running the VM in full screen mode, your VM
needs to share keyboard and mouse with other applications and
possibly other VMs on your host.
</p>
<p>
After installing a guest OS and before you install the Guest
Additions, described in <xref href="guestadditions.dita#guestadditions"/>, either
your VM or the rest of your computer can
<i>own</i> the keyboard and the mouse. Both cannot
own the keyboard and mouse at the same time. You will see a
<i>second</i> mouse pointer which is always
confined to the limits of the VM window. You activate the VM by
clicking inside it.
</p>
<p>
To return ownership of keyboard and mouse to your host OS,
Oracle VM VirtualBox reserves a special key on your keyboard: the
<i>Host key</i>. By default, this is the
<i>right Ctrl key</i> on your keyboard. On a Mac
host, the default Host key is the left Command key. You can
change this default using the Preferences window. See
<xref href="preferences.dita#preferences"/>. The current setting for the Host
key is always displayed at the bottom right of your VM window.
</p>
<fig id="fig-host-key">
<title>Host Key Setting on the Virtual Machine Taskbar</title>
<image href="images/vm-hostkey.png" width="7cm" placement="break"/>
</fig>
<p>
This means the following:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Your <b outputclass="bold">keyboard</b> is owned by
the VM if the VM window on your host desktop has the
keyboard focus. If you have many windows open in your guest
OS, the window that has the focus in your VM is used. This
means that if you want to enter text within your VM, click
on the title bar of your VM window first.
</p>
<p>
To release keyboard ownership, press the Host key. As
explained above, this is typically the right Ctrl key.
</p>
<p>
Note that while the VM owns the keyboard, some key
sequences, such as Alt+Tab, will no longer be seen by the
host, but will go to the guest instead. After you press the
Host key to reenable the host keyboard, all key presses will
go through the host again, so that sequences such as Alt+Tab
will no longer reach the guest. For technical reasons it may
not be possible for the VM to get all keyboard input even
when it does own the keyboard. Examples of this are the
Ctrl+Alt+Del sequence on Windows hosts or single keys
grabbed by other applications on X11 hosts such as the GNOME
desktop Locate Pointer feature.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Your <b outputclass="bold">mouse</b> is owned by the
VM only after you have clicked in the VM window. The host
mouse pointer will disappear, and your mouse will drive the
guest's pointer instead of your normal mouse pointer.
</p>
<p>
Note that mouse ownership is independent of that of the
keyboard. Even after you have clicked on a titlebar to be
able to enter text into the VM window, your mouse is not
necessarily owned by the VM yet.
</p>
<p>
To release ownership of your mouse by the VM, press the Host
key.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
As this behavior is inconvenient, Oracle VM VirtualBox provides a set
of tools and device drivers for guest systems called the
Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions. These tools make VM keyboard and
mouse operations much more seamless. Most importantly, the Guest
Additions suppress the second "guest" mouse pointer and make
your host mouse pointer work directly in the guest. See
<xref href="guestadditions.dita#guestadditions"/>.
</p>
</body>
</topic>
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