I'm running VirtualBox with Windows Vista as host OS and Windows Server 2008 as guest OS. To login to Windows Server I have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but my host OS reacts on that so I can not send it to VirtualBox. How can I do it?
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on a mac host OS, with xp as the guest OS, how do you do control alt delete to log in? – Dec 19 '10 at 07:43
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Usually there is an entry in a menu somewhere. Host key+Del1 should work too, though.
If you're using Remote Desktop, then use Ctrl+Alt+End instead.
1 You should know what your host key is, but it's configurable. Mine usually was Right Ctrl.
If you want to know what your Host Key is, open VirtualBox and go to File → Preferences → Input. If you don't like the current key, you can change it to whatever you wish.
Joey
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1Just curious, how did you get the keystrokes in the answer to look like keys? I looked in the markdown documentation and couldn't see any way to do it... – nhinkle May 13 '10 at 05:15
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6@nhinkle: Stack Overflow's (and Super User's) style sheet abuses the `` tag for that purpose. It's not part of Markdown. – Joey May 13 '10 at 10:04
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2@Corporate Geek, please use proper arrows when editing my posts. `->` is an ugly abomination I don't want to have associated with my name. – Joey Feb 24 '12 at 18:31
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@nhinkle, Just press `edit` to get the source. `edited` → `source` also works. – Pacerier Feb 28 '15 at 15:18
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@Joey, What does a "host key" mean anyway? What's the equivalent of that in VMware? – Pacerier Feb 28 '15 at 15:19
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1@Pacerier: The host key is the modifier that is used for shortcuts in the VM software itself and are not passed to the VM inside. And I have no idea. – Joey Feb 28 '15 at 16:57
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@Pacerier wow, and award for "digging up a comment from 5 years ago for something I no doubt know now" goes to.... you! – nhinkle Feb 28 '15 at 18:26
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@Pacerier I had 826 reputation points on May 13th, 2010, and at that time suggested edits weren't a thing, so there would not have been any edit button available. Back then the only way to view source was to know the URL to see the source view, there was no button for it exposed in the UI. – nhinkle Feb 28 '15 at 18:31
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@Pacerier: You cannot. That's why it's usually bound to a key you have a spare of, e.g. Right Ctrl or Right Shift. – Joey Mar 02 '15 at 14:03
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@Joey, But when you host a VM inside a VM, you'll need a way to pass the "host key" into the VM. There got to be a way to do it even without unlimited keys. – Pacerier Mar 08 '15 at 23:37
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3@Pacerier: Don't do that to a level where you run out of keys, then. Seriously, what's the point of this discussion? – Joey Mar 09 '15 at 07:23
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@Joey, To figure out how to send a host key into a VM within a VM. That's definitely useful. I'm currently remote-desktoped on a server through a client which is itself host to a remote-desktop session of which the client is *this* physical laptop. – Pacerier Mar 11 '15 at 09:46
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On an OS X host, try
control+alt/option+fn+delete or
cmd+fn+delete
I used the onscreen keyboard in Windows 7 which showed the guest OS receiving ctrl and alt/option, but not delete. By adding the fn key to the combination, it seems the Mac's idea of "delete" (normally like Windows' "backspace") becomes Windows' "delete".
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In the menu called Input, click Keyboard then Insert Ctrl+Alt+Del:
A reminder of the shortcut is also visible there.
Note: In older versions it used to be in the Machine menu.
Nicolas Raoul
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@Pacerier: If you are in fullscreen, then the solutions of Joey and Christian are more convenient, you just have to remember the keys combination. – Nicolas Raoul Mar 01 '15 at 08:04
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In more recent versions of Virtualbox, this option is found in the "Input" menu rather than the "Machine" menu – Henrik Kjus Alstad May 10 '16 at 08:01