virtualbox - How to use the ALT key in a Virtual Box guest session?

I'm running a Virtualbox session of Windows XP (guest) from a Sabayon GNU/Linux system (host).

I'm doing projects with Adobe Illustrator CS2 and some of the functionallity is accessed with left mouse click and the ALT key.

But it seems the ALT key is not forwarded to the guest system.

Why?

I've found a lot of forum threads and bug reports on the internet describing the same behaviour. But no workaround works or it seems no real good solution has been found/implemented yet.

Is there any solution for that? I really need that key for a lot of commands!

Answer

This worked for me finally:

The ALT key works within the virtual box guest session if you run it in fullscreen without mouse integration.

• HOST+I disables the mouse integration.


• HOST+F switches to fullscreen.

Hit HOST+I and HOST+F again to return to your host system.