Changing an xfce workspace from within a VirtualBox VM
 

Hi there,

So, I have Slackware64 14.2 with xfce running on my laptop. I also have VirtualBox installed so I can have a Slack64 14.2 VM, also with xfce; I use the VM for various tasks I don't want on my 'host' setup.

On my host (laptop), I have 2 workspaces in xfce. In the second workspace is where I run my VirtualBox VM, full-screen.

What I want to be able to do is use a keyboard shortcut to change between the two workspaces. This is already defined in xfce, so changing from workspace 1 to workspace 2 is pretty easy.

But getting back isn't as easy.
In my VM, running full-screen, if I use the same shortcut within the VM, it changes the workspace in the VM, as expected.

So then, I need to define a shortcut on my host xfce that differs from the shortcut in the VM, correct? That way xfce in the VM won't recognize it but xfce on the host will, and will change the workspace accordingly. Am I correct in that assumption?

So then, how/where do I make that change?
I've looked at the xfce keyboard settings; I assume I'd need to put it in there, but what command do I use?

Can someone help steer me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Virtualbox uses the "Host key", usually it's the right Ctrl key.
If your keyboard is "caught" in the VM, you press Right Ctrl once, then move out of that workspace.
You can also disable "Auto capture keyboard" in VB Preferences => Input.

you can not trust anything so you run it all in a jail

but you could run BSD unix on apple, have 100% uptime and hardware fully supported, get apps from app store and not worry about jails (and the underlying system uses "sandboxes" to run most services though you need not worry about that)

:)