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I installed Ubuntu via virtualbox under Mac OS.

My keyboard-shortcut experiences with guest Ubuntu until recently were the same as mine with Ubuntu installed directly on a computer. For example, text copy can be done by ctrl-C, instead of Command-C.

Yesterday, I found that right-clicking by tapping the right region of the trackpad in the guest Ubuntu doesn't work, while two-finger tapping does work like right-clicking in PC.

My solution was to change the trackpad setting under system preferences of Mac OS, from two-finger tapping to right-region single-finger tapping. So the solution seems to tell me that right-clicking under guest Ubuntu is the same as that in host Mac OS. This is contrary with my previous impression that keyboard shortcuts in guest Ubuntu are almost the same as those in Ubuntu installed directly on a computer. So why is right clicking treated differently?

Thanks.

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The multitouch events are handled exclusively by OS X and not passed through to the guest OS. Basically, the focus that keyboard and pointer have passes faithfully to the VM. Focus for the trackpad is filtered and not passed.

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  • thanks. do you mean any of my operations on trackpad is not passed to the guest OS, but handled by OS X directly? Is it the reason why tapping trackpad while pressing ctrl key doesn't do any thing, apple.stackexchange.com/questions/242264/… ?
    – Tim
    Jun 12, 2016 at 14:50
  • Yes @tim - precisely. You would want to set up a dual boot situation and run Ubuntu directly on the Mac hardware to expose the trackpad to the drivers. I haven't used virtual box in a long time, but I believe it tells Ubuntu that a mouse is connected instead of trackpad and only passes on specific events as opposed to the touches and gestures.
    – bmike ♦
    Jun 12, 2016 at 14:58
  • In your reply, (1) is it more accurate to say that "multitouch events for the trackpad is filtered and not passed" than "the focus that keyboard and pointer have passes faithfully to the VM"? Single tapping on the trackpad still works in guest Ubuntu. (2) Does " the focus that keyboard and pointer have passes faithfully to the VM" also apply to mouse?
    – Tim
    Jun 12, 2016 at 23:23

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