Configure the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard Feature in VMware Player

Learn how to enable, disable, or require VMware Player's Enhanced Virtual Keyboard feature on a Windows host, including modes, driver requirements, and troubleshooting.

The Enhanced Virtual Keyboard is a VMware Player input feature that uses more direct keyboard handling for a guest virtual machine. It can improve how VMware Player captures and sends keystrokes, especially when the physical keyboard uses a non-US layout or includes regional, media, or other special keys.

This guide explains how to configure the feature for a virtual machine running in VMware Player on a Windows host.

Understand the host and guest

The host system is the physical computer and operating system on which VMware Player is installed. The guest virtual machine is the operating system and virtual hardware running inside VMware Player. The Enhanced Virtual Keyboard setting depends primarily on the host system, not on whether the guest uses Windows, Linux, or another operating system.

What the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard does

Under normal input processing, Windows handles keyboard events through its usual input stack before applications receive them. Enhanced Virtual Keyboard handling captures raw keyboard input closer to the underlying device-input layer and sends it to the guest through VMware Player.

Raw keyboard input means input captured close to the physical keyboard and device-input layer, before ordinary application-level processing changes or interprets it. This approach can help VMware Player distinguish keys more accurately.

• It can improve delivery of characters from German, French, Japanese, and other non-US keyboard layouts.
• It can help with keyboards that have regional, additional, or special physical keys.
• It may make key behavior more consistent when the guest has a different keyboard configuration from the host.

For example, a user with a non-US keyboard can select Use if available and then test layout-specific characters in the guest. A user with extra physical keys can use the same mode to check whether those keys are delivered more reliably.

Security implications

Because the feature handles keyboard input more directly, it can reduce exposure to malware or other software that intercepts keystrokes at higher layers of the Windows input stack. This is useful when direct delivery of keyboard input to the virtual machine is important.

The protection is not absolute. Software operating at a lower input layer may still be able to intercept or observe keyboard input. Enhanced Virtual Keyboard is therefore an input-handling feature, not a replacement for host security controls such as trustworthy software, operating-system updates, endpoint protection, access control, and safe handling of sensitive information.

Availability and limitations

The feature is available only when VMware Player runs on a Windows host. The host must also have the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard driver, which is the host-side driver required for VMware Player to use enhanced keyboard handling.

A guest operating system cannot make the feature available if the host operating system does not support it or the required host driver is missing. If the option is unavailable or cannot be used, verify the host platform and driver availability before changing the guest's keyboard-layout settings.

Prepare before changing the setting

1. Open VMware Player.
2. Identify and select the target virtual machine in the VMware Player library.
3. Power off the virtual machine if it is running.
4. Change the setting and save it before powering the virtual machine back on.

Open the Enhanced virtual keyboard setting

Use this navigation path in VMware Player:

Select the virtual machine in the library, then open:
Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings > Options > General

1. Open VMware Player.
2. Select the desired virtual machine in the library.
3. Choose Player from the application menu.
4. Choose Manage.
5. Open Virtual Machine Settings.
6. Open the Options tab.
7. Select General.
8. Locate the Enhanced virtual keyboard drop-down control.

If the setting cannot be changed, confirm that the virtual machine is powered off and then reopen Virtual Machine Settings.

Choose an Enhanced virtual keyboard mode

Off

Select Off when VMware Player should not use the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard feature. This provides the broadest compatibility with hosts that do not have the enhanced driver, but it does not provide the feature's improved raw-input handling.

Use if available

Select Use if available when you want enhanced input whenever the host driver is present without making the driver mandatory. This is the recommended default because it balances improved keyboard handling with startup compatibility.

For example, a typical Windows-host user with an international keyboard can select this mode. VMware Player uses enhanced input when supported, but the virtual machine can still start if the driver is unavailable.

Required

Select Required when the virtual machine must use enhanced keyboard capture. This enforces the input mode, but it reduces compatibility: if the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard driver is missing or cannot be used, VMware Player displays an error and the virtual machine cannot start normally.

An administrator might choose this mode when consistent enhanced input is a firm requirement and the host environment is managed to keep the driver available.

Save and validate the configuration

1. Choose Off, Use if available, or Required from the Enhanced virtual keyboard drop-down.
2. Click OK to save the setting.
3. Start the virtual machine.
4. Test ordinary letters, numbers, punctuation, and modifier keys.
5. Test characters specific to the physical keyboard layout, such as accented or language-specific characters.
6. Test any regional, media, or other additional keys that matter to your hardware.
7. Confirm that the selected mode behaves as expected after the guest starts.

When testing a non-US keyboard, also verify that the guest operating system's language and keyboard-layout configuration matches the physical keyboard. Enhanced input cannot correct a guest layout that is configured for the wrong language or mapping.

Troubleshooting

The Enhanced virtual keyboard option is unavailable

• Confirm that the physical computer running VMware Player uses Windows.
• Check whether the Enhanced Virtual Keyboard driver is installed and available on the host.
• If the driver cannot be used, select Use if available or Off, as appropriate.

The virtual machine shows an error after Required is selected

This behavior means VMware Player cannot find or use the required Enhanced Virtual Keyboard driver on the Windows host. To restore startup, either make the required host driver available or power off the virtual machine and change the setting to Use if available or Off.

Keyboard layouts or special keys still behave incorrectly

• Power off the virtual machine and select Use if available or Required, depending on whether enhanced handling should be optional or mandatory.
• Confirm that the host driver is installed when enhanced mode is expected.
• Check the guest operating system's language and keyboard-layout configuration.
• Test ordinary keys and layout-specific keys separately to determine whether the problem affects all input or only particular keys.

The setting cannot be changed

The virtual machine is probably still powered on. Shut it down or power it off, reopen Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings, and then change the setting under Options > General.

Recommended choice

For most VMware Player users on Windows, choose Use if available. It enables improved raw keyboard handling when the host driver is present while avoiding a preventable startup failure when the driver is unavailable. Choose Off for maximum compatibility when enhanced input is not needed, or Required only when the virtual machine must enforce enhanced keyboard handling and the host driver is controlled and available.