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Determining when input will be grabbed

You can control how input is grabbed from virtual machines. To do so:

  1. Start VMware Workstation.
  2. Select Settings > Input Preferences.
  3. Select the options you want to enable . These options are described below.
  4. Click OK.

Option

Behavior

Grab on Mouse Click

When you click the mouse inside the virtual machine, Workstation will begin grabbing the keyboard and mouse input.

Grab on Key Press

When you hit a keyboard key when the virtual machine is active, Workstation will begin grabbing the keyboard and mouse input.

Grab when Cursor Enters Window

Workstation grabs the keyboard and mouse when the cursor crosses over into the virtual machine. When this option is enabled along with the Ungrab when Cursor Leaves Window option, the mouse pointer becomes the mouse pointer of your guest operating system when it crosses into Workstation.

Raise Window to Top on Grab

Workstation sets the focus of the application when the cursor passes over the application view.

Ungrab when Cursor Leaves Window

Workstation enables you to transition seamlessly between the virtual machine and your host operating system graphical interface. In a windowed environment, the mouse pointer becomes the mouse pointer of your host operating system when it hits the edge of Workstation.

Note: This option only has effect when VMware Tools is running in the virtual machine.

Hide Cursor on Ungrab

The mouse pointer of the guest operating system is hidden when the mouse is controlling the pointer of the host operating system, and vice versa. This is particularly useful when your guest operating system and host operating system are identical.

Note: This option only has effect when VMware Tools is running in the virtual machine.

Scroll When Cursor Approaches Window Edge

If your virtual screen is larger than Workstation can display it, then Workstation will only display a part of the virtual screen. To see the rest of the screen, you will need to use scroll bars to move the viewable part of the virtual screen. When this option is enabled and Workstation is in a windowed mode, the virtual screen automatically scrolls the Workstation window when the mouse pointer nears the edge of the viewable portion of the virtual screen.

Note: This option only has effect when VMware Tools is running in the virtual machine.

Enable Copy and Paste to and from Virtual Machine

The host operating system clipboard and the guest operating system clipboard are able to communicate. Each time the mouse pointer of your guest operating system is released by Workstation, the content of the guest operating system clipboard is copied into the host operating system clipboard. Similarly, each time the mouse pointer of your host operating system is captured by Workstation, the content of the host operating system clipboard is copied to the guest operating system clipboard.

Note: This option only has effect when VMware Tools is running in the virtual machine.

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