WinXP: keys randomly stop working

B

Brian Trombley

Bit poster
I searched for an answer to this but was unable to find anything. Every now and again, while running Win XP in full screen, random keys stop working. For instance, I'll be typing an email in Outlook, and it will not respond when I type the "p" key. An email from a few minutes prior had half a dozen "p's" in it with no issues. Switching to any other Windows app, the "p" key still doesn't work. (The offending key is inconsistent; I'm using "p" as the latest example.)

Returning to OS X, the "p" key worked fine. I tried:

- Closing the app (usually Outlook) where the problem started, then restarting the app.
- Hiding and unhiding Parallels.
- Restarting the VM, without shutting down Parallels.

None of these worked. The only solution is quitting then restarting Parallels. Help, please? I'm running the latest version of 4.0.
 
Is it only with keys or Windows guest OS turns unresponsive for a short period overall?

In any case, try reinstalling Parallels Tools http://kb.parallels.com/en/4841 and make sure that under
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device manager -> Keyboard
you have the default standart Microsoft keyboard driver.
 
I haven't noticed any unresponsiveness preceding the problem. I've had a hard time finding a consistently reproducible use case. It simply seems to happen from time to time.

I will try the steps you suggested and report back if it occurs again. Thanks.
 
Update: the problem happened again, and I was paying closer attention this time:

1. I was replying to an email in Outlook 2007 on the guest OS (WinXP Pro).
2. In the middle of typing the word "until", the guest OS suddenly switched to the locked screen (i.e. ctrl+alt+del).
a. As best I can tell, I was hitting the "t" or the "i" key when it happened. I don't usually fat finger keys, but it's possible that I unintentionally hit another key at the same time.
3. After re-logging in, the "t", "h", "c", and "v" keys were no longer responsive in Outlook.
a. Strangely, those keys continued to work fine in Word, PowerPoint, Firefox, Notepad, and other apps on the guest OS.
4. I shut down Outlook, restarted it, and the keys above started working again just fine.


This is a different experience than I've had in the past, when I've had to quit and restart Parallels to resolve the problem.

The keyboard is listed as a standard 101/102 keyboard in the device manager with a Microsoft driver. It looks normal.
 
It is not the driver case then. This one looks like more of an Outlook issue at the moment but, since it was different before, just in case, check the following article: http://kb.parallels.com/en/4743
There is a known "sticky keys" problem, although it does not look exactly like what you describe, it still could be the case here.
 
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