To regain your keyboard in Vmware Workstation 6.5 installed on Intrepid Ibex do the following. Create the file ~/.vmware/config with the content: xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu Remember to restart Vmware before it take effect. And ét voila your keyboard is back online If your keyboard has a different layout this might help you out: What if your keycodes are different? To get the keycodes, you'll need xev. Run xev and place your cursor in the xev window. Then press the key you want (eg, right Control). You'll get output like this on the terminal: KeyPress event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x3200001, root 0x1cb, subw 0x0, time 749698, (167,181), root:(1793,706), state 0x10, keycode 105 (keysym 0xffe4, Control_R), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False KeyRelease event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x3200001, root 0x1cb, subw 0x0, time 749810, (167,181), root:(1793,706), state 0x14, keycode 105 (keysym 0xffe4, Control_R), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False Look at the value after keycode. In this case 105. Change the xkeymap.keycode. to 105: xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R 0x11d is the scan code. Source: http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html