Linux-based virtual machines randomly stop responding to input from the keyboard and the mouse

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Keyboard/Mouse input would intermittently stop working in some Linux Guests while using web console or VMRC
• This issue is seen after upgrading to vSphere 8.0 Update 2

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Cause

This issue is caused due to timing-sensitive race conditions that are triggered by both keyboard/mouse events coming through simultaneously.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 2b 23305546 available at Broadcom Downloads.

For instructions on downloading, refer Download Broadcom products, patches and software

Workaround:

In order to workaround the issue, refer to the below steps:

1. Log in to the vCenter Server UI and
2. Right Click on the affected VM and select Power -> Shut Down Guest OS
3. Right click the VM and select Edit Settings
4. In the Edit Settings window, click on the Advanced Parameters tab
5. Add the following entries under Attribute and Value section
   • Attribute : keyboard.allowBothIRQs
   • Value : FALSE
6. Click Add
7. Click OK to close the window
8. Power on the VM
9. Open the VM console to validate the functionality