Issue with keyboard becoming completely unresponsive

M

maxpaj

Bit poster
Hi, I'm having an issue where at random points, the keyboard will become completely unresponsive. Here is what I've gathered so far:
  1. The keyboard inside the VM becomes unresponsive and keeps "pressing" the key that was pressed when this "freeze" occurs. If I go into a text editor in Windows, I will see that key's character being spammed continuously
  2. Outside the VM, in MacOS, the keyboard works perfectly fine
  3. Disconnecting the keyboard completely from the Mac does not "unfreeze" the keyboard in the VM
  4. Suspending and resuming the VM actually "unfreezes" the keyboard inside the VM
While suspending and resuming is a workaround, it doesn't work for me, since I'm using Parallels for gaming.

As for my own theory:

Suspending and resuming a VM should not make any changes to the OS running inside the VM. The VMs software-implemented hardware (mouse, keyboard, etc.) may reset, though, when the VM suspends and resumes. This is my understanding of how VMs work in general. If this is correct, this must suggest that there is nothing wrong with the OS inside the VM (Windows).

The keyboard itself is obviously responsive outside the VM, so the keyboard cannot not be the culprit either.

It can't be the OS that is failing and it cannot be the keyboard itself. My conclusion is that there must be something wrong with the software that implements the virtual keyboard.

I'm running a M1 MacBook MAX with Parallels 17.1.1 (51537)


Has anyone found a solution to this?
 
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Try connecting your keyboard as a USB device to Windows (there is a feature for this in Parallels), and remove the "Virtual Keyboard" under "Bluetooth and devices" inside Windows. So far no freezes for me with this solution!
 
maxpaj said:
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Try connecting your keyboard as a USB device to Windows (there is a feature for this in Parallels), and remove the "Virtual Keyboard" under "Bluetooth and devices" inside Windows. So far no freezes for me with this solution!
Click to expand...

Hi Maxpaj, where is the feature option for this in Parallels.
 
Disregard. I see it under Configure > USB & Bluetooth > USB Connection Preferences and adding a device. Keyboard is added when I did that.
 
I can assign it to one guest only. I guess time will tell whether this helps. I don't consider this a solution, as it can only be assigned to a single rather than all guests. Also, it's a workaround and not a solution. I wouldn't want Parallels to consider it a solution when in reality, they have a huge bug to fix.
 
Unfortunately, this will not work for me, as it disables my Mac's key commands when in Windows, so I can no longer CONTROL+ARROW from Windows full-screen to my Mac's desktop. This makes the workaround a deal-breaker for me. But thanks for the suggestion.
 
I have found that by connecting a controller I can navigate the game and at least quick save so that when I get back to playing I'm left at where the bug happened... but have not found a way of getting it unstuck yet. Tried everything and managed to get it unstuck only once when randomly disconnecting the controller led to the keyboard working again (I'm using the internal laptop keyboard so no usb's connected)
 
This problem happened to me 4 times yesterday over a period of 2 hours. Fortunately, it left me alone tonight. Been playing UT2004 with a friend. It's the only problem I've had with Parallels, but it really sucks when it happens. I have to force-quit Parallels and restart each time. Not fun for a networked-game session. Seems to only happen with games. I use the Win11 guest to telecommute, and I haven't had a problem with that so far, which I do 40+ hours a week.
 
wavemechanic said:
This problem happened to me 4 times yesterday over a period of 2 hours. Fortunately, it left me alone tonight. Been playing UT2004 with a friend. It's the only problem I've had with Parallels, but it really sucks when it happens. I have to force-quit Parallels and restart each time. Not fun for a networked-game session. Seems to only happen with games. I use the Win11 guest to telecommute, and I haven't had a problem with that so far, which I do 40+ hours a week.
Click to expand...
Yes exactly... been using bootcamp to do a variety of things, edit word documents, photoshop, some programming and no issue. While playing Skyrim I get stuck every time walking and it's such a hassle to save the game and restart.
 
We seem to be getting somewhere. All of us with this Parallels keyboard problem seem to experience it only when doing hardcore gaming. By the way, I'm running at 60FPS on 1080P.
 
After attempting to connect a bluetooth controller yesterday, my Windows 11 ARM image won't accept mouse or keyboard inputs. Clicking anywhere in the VM captures the mouse cursor (Ctrl + Option to get cursor). I tried all the troubleshooting steps I could find for both mouse and keyboard including adding bootflag `video.hw_pointer=0`, installing Parallel Tools, etc. The VM still won't accept inputs. I'm really hoping I don't have to start a new image from scratch.
 
Keyboard "freezing" inside VM Windows 11 has been happening for me as well on M1 Max Macbook Pro. Makes playing some games with Parallels pretty much impossible. Major bug for me.
 
I have figured out a way to fix this issue whenever it happens based on the advice to connect the keyboard to the virtual machine:
1. File -> Control Panel to open the Control Panel inside of the VM.
2. "View devices and printers" under Hardware and Sound.
3. Right-click the virtual keyboard, remove device. Try to be fast because the keyboard spam makes it difficult to do anything.
4. If you have a Magic Keyboard, connect it physically instead of Bluetooth. In the top right of the VM controls, select the USB icon and connect it to the VM. Click allow. Make sure to not click "always allow" because it will break this fix for future use. As for other keyboards, I'm sure it works similarly.
5. The keyboard should be working fine in the VM, but obviously the Mac doesn't take keyboard input anymore. Simply reconnect the keyboard (on/off switch on Magic Keyboard) and click deny when Parallels asks you.
6. Keyboard should be functioning as normal.
Alternatively, as someone else said, you can just suspend and resume but that crashes some games unfortunately. Also, pro-tip, turn on Coherence Mode so that you can easily click between apps via the Dock while the keyboard is glitching out.
Hopefully some day this bothersome issue actually fixed so that it doesn't happen.
 
Thanks for the workaround. This is unfortunately not a fix in my case. Coherence Mode is not an option and "1. File -> Control Panel to open the Control Panel inside of the VM." does not work since I cannot even minimize the game.
Suspend and Resume only works for some games, others need a complete shutdown of the VM to be fixed. Also obviously even suspend is not an option for a lot of games in general.
Still major bug, so far haven't heard anything useful from Support either.
 
I use windows 11. I'm also facing the same issue. When I move a mouse cursor into the windows' app textfield, then typed on it. But it's not typed, even typed in safari and act wrong action on safari; playing youtube or something else. When I typing on safari, suddenly pop up windows' app placing under safari. Opening control panel in windows, it works correctly to type on windows app's textfield. I don't know why. I think it works before a couple of months. one day is not working. After removing HID keyboard driver, it works for a while. After that it's also not responsive.
 
It just doesn't work at all.
DRC.Shrimp said:
I use windows 11. I'm also facing the same issue. When I move a mouse cursor into the windows' app textfield, then typed on it. But it's not typed, even typed in safari and act wrong action on safari; playing youtube or something else. When I typing on safari, suddenly pop up windows' app placing under safari. Opening control panel in windows, it works correctly to type on windows app's textfield. I don't know why. I think it works before a couple of months. one day is not working. After removing HID keyboard driver, it works for a while. After that it's also not responsive.
Click to expand...
 
I am also having this problem.
Setup
I'm running Parallels 18 desktop version 18.2.0 (53488) on a Macbook Pro 14-inch, 2021 with Apple M1 Max chip. The VM having issues with froze keyboard and mouse is running Ubuntu 22.04.

Behaviour
Keyboard and mouse will suddenly freeze inside on Ubuntu VM. Keyboard and mouse works fine outside the vm. It is just like the connection to the VM is cut off for some reason. Instead of handing the keyboard and mouse input it suddenly stops responding to input. I am effectively locked out from my own vm. If I hard reset the VM I'll get the controls back - but with the obvious drawback that I have lost all unsaved work in the VM.

For the love of God Parallels - Prioritise fixing this bug. Leaving issues that break peoples workflow unresolved for months is not acceptable.
 
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