Several keyboard keys not working in VMWare (Host=Linux, Guest=Windows)

Question

I installed VMWare Server 2.0 on Ubuntu 8.* and 9.*, with Windows XP as the guest system, and several keys aren't working.

They either do nothing, or invoke the wrong keypress. They keys are All Arrow Keys, Windows Key, Print Screen, Scroll Lock, Pause or Break, Insert (Ins), Home, Page Up (PgUp), Page Down (PgDn), Delete (Del), End.

How do I fix this?

Answer 1

If you have an English keyboard, just add this line to the VMware configuration file:

# In the file: /etc/vmware/config
xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true

If you have something other than an English keyboard, the above solution won't work, apparently. So add these lines:

# In the file: /etc/vmware/config    
xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78  = 0x46  # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu

I found the answer here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/177321