When using RealVNC's VNC Viewer Enterprise Edition on Windows XP, to connect to an RHEL machine running a GNOME2 session, I have configured the VNC client to turn on the "Pass special keys directly to server" option. This means that when the client is in focus, the Alt+Tab combination switches focus between the windows that are open in my GNOME session (on the VNC server).
However, when the client is not in focus, Alt+Tab switches focus between windows open on my Windows XP desktop.
This becomes a problem when my Windows XP desktop looks like:
[WinXP_window1] [[GNOME_window1] [GNOME_window2]] [WinXP_window3]
If I'm on [WinXP_window1]
, and want to get to [WinXP_window3]
, I simply cannot do it using the keyboard, because the moment the VNC client comes into focus, it starts capturing Alt+Tab. I'm forced to click with the mouse instead (which is irritating).
How can I get around this problem, while still having my GNOME windows respond to Alt+Tab properly?
An acceptable solution shouldn't require the installation of any program on either the client, or the server (I don't own either, and don't have administrative privileges / root access).
Best Answer
It's probably easier to just change the hotkey for switching between windows within Gnome2 to something that doesn't involve "special keys", then uncheck the
Pass special keys directly to server
checkbox. That way, you can alt-tab and it will ALWAYS (regardless of focus) work on the XP box, and your reassigned hotkey will switch between windows in the guest, as long as the VNC client has focus.Check out the GNOME2 Users Guide for info on customizing shortcut keys.
Obviously you can't make it something like "a" because you will be typing that a lot, so maybe try a function key that isn't already used, or unassign a function key that is assigned to something you never use, and re-assign it to switching windows.
Remember that
Shift
is not considered a special key because obviously you can type "ABCD" within the guest, so you can use, say,Shift+F1
as a possible key combination if plain old pressing a function key seems too dangerous to you. But by disablingPass special keys directly to server
, I don't think you can useAlt
orCtrl
anymore.Edit/Update: If you want to use an alternative task switching hotkey in Windows without changing the key bindings within the remote host, you can try, e.g. AutoHotkey, which is a program that will intercept other hotkeys and perform the same functionality as
Alt+Tab
. See here for info. Important: Since you still want to useAlt+Tab
within the guest, you will need to leavePass special keys directly to server
enabled in VNC, so thatAlt+Tab
gets handled properly for the remote host. You will still be unable to literally use theAlt+Tab
key combination to task switch the host when the VNC window has focus. But you can bind another hotkey using AutoHotkey on the local machine, so that you can press something likeShift+Esc
orShift+F5
to task switch on the host. Note that you will not be able to use your modifier keys (Alt
,Ctrl
) for the AutoHotkey re-bind command either, because those keys will get trapped by VNC.From the link: