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I have a weired sympton with a fresh Windos 10 guest OS under VirtualBox 5.1.28 under Ubutunu-MATE 16.04:

I can't move the window at all, when [x] Auto Capture Keyboard is on.

Neither dragging the outer windows borders (resize), nor the titlebar (indeed just move the virtuabl box. So this is not about auto-resize on or off...). If I deactivate the option, things work fine again. (I do not even understand the relation). – sounds like a virtual box bug? Can't reproduce the opposite, but I have been working with virtual box (and Win7 guests) for long, never encountered this until 2 weeks ago.

enter image description here

But then, common shortcuts I have defined in host and guest, don't work on the guest but rather the host (i.e. WIN-R to get a run programm...). So, of course capturing is desirable.

Frank N
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  • I have been having this problem too(various guest os's) although for me unchecking "Auto Capture Keyboard" is good enough of a solution for me. – silverduck Oct 17 '18 at 20:49
  • Possible duplicate https://askubuntu.com/questions/1088850/ubuntu-18-04-in-vm-desktop-does-not-restore-window-size – acgbox Nov 23 '18 at 23:29

4 Answers4

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I find the same thing when imwheel is running, the utility that allows change to the mouse wheel. Holding down the Right-Control dows allow VirtualBox windows to be moved around.

JoeWilsonJones
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  • Instant hit. I couldn't move as described, I did a `killall imwheel`, I instantly could! (not even restart of OS or Virtualbox or anything). Thanx! – Frank N Mar 28 '19 at 09:23
  • I had to press host key before each move/resize – d9k Jul 16 '21 at 13:06
11

For some reason, the auto capture of Virtual Box seems to conflict with the way how dragging a window from the title bar works

One easy workaround for this is to press the "Host key" (right control by default) to temporarily turn off auto capture mode, so you move the window around normally. (The status of keyboard capture, and the Host key, can be seen in the lower right of VirtualBox)

Zanna
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Ferrybig
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Just uncheck "Auto Capture Keyboard" was enough for me

sirga89
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Workaround: We can move a VM window when it has not the focus. No need to press the rigth Ctrl. Here is a video recorded: https://video.antopie.org/videos/watch/8c69f9e5-d844-4f80-b30d-01456e2fa6eb

NicolasSmith
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  • I am not fully getting what you are doing different (sorry. Perhaps because because I have no audio at hand) – Frank N Aug 13 '20 at 13:48