FreeBSD 13 console stops working under VMware

[Dimitry Andric]

On 8 May 2021, at 16:02, Roger Leigh <rleigh at codelibre.net> wrote:
> 
> This might sound like a bit of an odd one, but I’ll try to describe it.  When I run a FreeBSD 13-RELEASE virtual machine under VMware, it appears to work correctly, but randomly stops working.
> 
> If I focus the VMware window, and press Ctrl-G to grab input focus (or click in the window), I can log into the system using the console.  However, if I press Ctrl-Alt to ungrab the input focus, or click outside the window, the block cursor on the console vanishes, and it’s no longer possible to type any input.
> 
> However… if I grab focus again, I can use Alt-Fn to switch to a different virtual console, log in again and everything is fine… up until I switch focus to something else and the block cursor vanishes in that virtual console.  Repeat until you run out of virtual consoles!
> 
> I can’t reproduce this with FreeBSD 12.  It seems to only happen with FreeBSD 13.  I’ve had it happen reproducibly when losing focus, but then again sometimes I’ve had a few minutes where it doesn’t happen, until it starts occurring again.  While it seems that losing focus is the trigger, there might be something else going on.
> 
> Has anyone else noticed this or have any suggested workarounds?

Press the Scroll Lock key to 'fix' it, if that is possible for you. This is some weird interaction between VMware's input focus grabbing method and our console, which sometimes turns on Scroll Lock accidentally. I have not been able to put my finger on when it happens exactly, but it does happen often.

For me, it usually occurs when I use Microsoft Remote Desktop to access a Windows machine running VMware, and switch back and forth between Remote desktop and another application. Something about losing the focus is making the VMware GUI inject a Scroll Lock event. It's pretty tricky to generate Scroll Lock via Remote Desktop though, especially from a Mac, which doesn't have that key at all. :)

-Dimitry

PS: Note that Scroll Lock is normally used in FreeBSD's console to scroll back in the virtual consoles, as opposed to Linux's shift-PageUp and shift-PageDown. But it is a toggle, not a one-off key.

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