Moving keyboard focus between virtual machine and macOS in VMware Fusion

By Chris, 14 October, 2024

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi,

I'm trying to help someone install Windows 11 in VMware Fusion, but I'm having issues moving the keyboard focus between macOS and the VM. I thought pressing tab repeatedly or pressing Control-Command-f would do it, but this doesn't work. Is there a reliable way to get the keyboard focus to switch? The person I'm helping is using Fusion 13.6.1 on Sequoia 15.0.1. I'd also like to know myself since I plan on getting an M4 Mac Mini.

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Comments

By Anna D on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 09:48

Press Command-Tab to move between Fusion and other Mac software. If you switch to Fusion and focus isn't in Windows but Windows is onscreen, press Control-Command-F. This switches between full screen and window mode. In the window mode, where Windows doesn't cover the whole screen, keyboard focus goes to Windows. You can then switch back to full screen mode if you want. Good luck!

By Chris on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 09:48

I thought full screen mode was better, since it allowed keyboard navigation to pass to the VM. Is there a dedicated keystroke like Control-g on Windows and Control-Alt to force keyboard focus in and out of the VM? I tried Command-g, but that doesn't seem to work. What you say should work, but it doesn't seem to be reliable anymore.

By Igna Triay on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 09:48

What I found that works for me in this situations, when keyboard focus is not focused in the Moore fusion automatically, that is on the virtual machine automatically but on vmware fusion, option tab a few times that’ll get it to focus on the virtual machine.

By Mlth on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 09:48

Ctrl+cmd will release focus from the VM. To get keyboard focus into the VM, I find that having the virtual machine in single window, then pressing tab a couple times after focusing on the "suspend" button does the trick for me.
Best
M