Xdotool – How to Press the Windows Key with Xdotool

I face the same issue. The magic trick is in the order of the keys. You have to:

1. press and hold Ctrl
2. press and release Shift
3. release Ctrl

If you release the Ctrl before Shift, or use any other order, you will face the issue. Pressing those keys together at the same time makes the order random.

BTW. It doesn't depend on the WM at all. It seems to be Xephyr related.

To get a window id run:

sleep 5; xdotool getactivewindow

This will wait 5 seconds and then get the active window ID. Run this command, click on Firefox, and wait for it to finish. Use that ID in the next step.

You can send keystrokes directly to specific window, by executing:

xdotool type --window [window ID] Hello World

Use the command man xdotool to get a full list of commands and functions!

Xdotool will generate key events and send them directly to window Firefox. But sending keystrokes to a specific window uses a different API than simply typing to the active window, and many applications just ignore them.