clipboard not working -> middle-button-copy not supported by design

[omergrigg]

Hello, I have the newest virtualbox version installed on a 64-bit Win7 pro machine. I have a VectorLinux 6.0 Lite VDI as a guest (I downloaded it from virtualboximages).

Copy/Paste doesn't work, never has. bidirectional clipboard is enabled. Any help?

Thanks

[Michael Thayer]

Could you please attach a log file from a run of the VM? And did you install the Guest Additions?

[omergrigg]

I'd gladly do it, if you could tell me how to create a log file...

[Frank Mehnert]

omergrigg, I've deleted your pasted log file as it was completely unreadable. Please use the ATTACH button to attach the file, do never copy'n'paste log files.

[Michael Thayer]

I copied and pasted the log file into a text file and attached it. I had to run it through an html stripper, so it may not be perfect, but it is an improvement.

[Michael Thayer]

Log previously pasted by omergrigg

[Michael Thayer]

omergrigg: please make sure that you are doing Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V copy and paste in the guest, and not the middle-mouse-button sort.

Could you try the following in the guest: kill the "VBoxClient --clipboard" daemon and restart it (as user, not root) by typing the following into a console window:

$ VBOX_RELEASE_LOG_DEST=file=clipboard.log VBOX_RELEASE_LOG=+shared_clipboard.e.l.l2.l3.f VBoxClient --clipboard -d

and then trying some copying and pasting? That should create a log file in the guest called "clipboard.log", which you can attach to this defect.

[omergrigg]

Replying to michael: How do I kill the ""VBoxClient --clipboard" daemon" ?

omergrigg: please make sure that you are doing Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V copy and paste in the guest, and not the middle-mouse-button sort.

Could you try the following in the guest: kill the "VBoxClient --clipboard" daemon and restart it (as user, not root) by typing the following into a console window:

$ VBOX_RELEASE_LOG_DEST=file=clipboard.log VBOX_RELEASE_LOG=+shared_clipboard.e.l.l2.l3.f VBoxClient --clipboard -d

and then trying some copying and pasting? That should create a log file in the guest called "clipboard.log", which you can attach to this defect.

[Michael Thayer]

You can use the command

$ ps ax | grep VBoxClient

to find the right process ID for it, and then use the "kill" command with that process ID.

[omergrigg]

I ran the ps command - there was no process called "VBoxClient" "3412 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep VBoxClient". (What's the specific syntax for the kill command?) I ran the command "VBOX_RELEASE...." that you wrote and something started happening (the command prompt disappeared but never came back). After a while I just ctrl+c it. I don't know where clipboard.log should be located.

[Michael Thayer]

OK, try running just

$ VBoxClient --clipboard

and see if things work after that. Probably your Linux guest doesn't support the normal methods of starting service applications for X window.

[omergrigg]

OK! So I ran the command you said "VBoxClient --clipboard" - and now I can copy/paste from my host (win7) to the guest (vectorlinux lite) but not the other way... at least we're getting somewhere. My virtualbox clipboard is set to "bidirectional", BTW. I really need it to work both ways, though...

[Michael Thayer]

You *did* read what I wrote about Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V versus middle-button copy and paste, didn't you?

[omergrigg]

Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V doesn't work at all inside the guest, just middle-button. There's no menu in the terminal as well.

[Michael Thayer]

I will have to close this as "invalid", I'm afraid. A couple of words of explanation below though.

Most modern X11 applications support Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V copy and paste. (In official X11 terminology, this is the "clipboard", and the middle-button thing is the "primary selection"). Sharing the primary selection with a Windows host would be rather problematic, as Windows doesn't have the same concept (and people would get very annoyed if their Windows clipboard got lost every time they selected something in X11), so we only share the clipboard. For convenience we do cheat a bit and set the primary selection if something is copied at the other end. This is close to what would happen in X11, as normally when you copy something into the clipboard you have to select if first anyway.

And it seems that your Linux distribution does not automatically start the shared clipboard guest service. To work around this, you could add the line "/usr/bin/VBoxClient-all" to the file .xinitrc in your home directory on the guest.