VMRC Ctrl+Key Combos

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System Center Virtual Machine Manager Beta 1 has a cool feature called Self-Service. This allows administrators to build virtual machine templates and associate policies to them so that users (think testers or devs, for example) can spawn VMs on-demand through a web portal.

Pretty nifty.

Because this opens up VM use to a an audience that may not have used VMRC to control VMs before, and because the VMRC control is hosted in a web page, it is handy to keep this list of key combos nearby to help if you see other-than-expected mouse or keyboard behavior.

VMRC keyboard controls.

By default, the Host key is the right Alt key on your keyboard. Pressing the Host key will release the mouse/keyboard from guest access to host access. Press the Host key while simultaneously pressing another key as follows:

  • Set Host Key (Right Alt) = Host+H
  • Connect to Server = Host+C
  • Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete = Host+Delete
  • Switch to Administrator Display = Host+A
  • Connection Properties = Host+I
  • View Only = Host+V
  • About VMRC Client = Host+B

Update 1/11/07:

Default Host key assignment and non-English characters

The Host key is assigned to the right ALT key by default, which might interfere with inputting certain characters on a virtual machine running a non-English operating system. You can resolve this issue by assigning the Host key to a different key.