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I managed to successfully install VMWare Workstation 6.5.5 (64-bit) on Ubuntu 10.04 (64-bit). It works well and somehow feels faster and snappier than the same exact version on Ubuntu 8.04.

However, there is one slight issue, somewhat hurting productivity:

When the guest VM is Microsoft Windows (2K, XP), the mouse cursor turn from an arrow to a hand when it hovers over the Task Bar. When the mouse moves, this hand cursor blinks and the system doesn't respond to mouse clicks. When the hand cursor blinks, the Num Lock LED on my keyboard blinks as well.

When I move the mouse cursor back to the desktop area, it functions normally.

That is, the problem exists only in the Task Bar area.

Obviously, this makes it very difficult (read: impossible) for me to use the Start Menu, SysTray and the rest of the Task Bar.

My workaround for now is to launch programs via their Desktop shortcuts or via the keyboard.

Note: The same exact VMWare Workstation 6.5.5 (64-bit) on Ubuntu 8.04 (64-bit) doesn't exhibit this problem.

Anyone seen this problem before? Do you know of a solution (or better workaround) to this problem?

Android Eve
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    Do you have the vmware tools installed on the guest operating system(s) – Fergus Jan 10 '11 at 23:26
  • @Fergus Yes, I have the latest VMWare tools installed on the guest operating systems. +1 for an excellent troubleshooting step question. – Android Eve Jan 10 '11 at 23:30
  • Thanks for the vote. Are you using the console window to operate the guest? have you tried to RDP(or XRDP) to the guests? – Fergus Jan 10 '11 at 23:42
  • @Fergus, what do you mean by "console window to operate the guest"? I run VMWare Workstation **locally** on my PC. I don't use RDP (or need one for now). – Android Eve Jan 10 '11 at 23:57
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    I understand. When you have VM Workstation opened, are you using the console view to access the guest? sounds like you are. I rarely use the console to access guests (locally) I use rdp (or VNC) to the ipaddress. Sometimes the rendering in the console view can be tricky. I bet that will eliminate the problem you are having. – Fergus Jan 11 '11 at 00:06
  • Oh, I think I understand what you mean by "Console View" (never used this term before). Is it the GUI-based interface described here? https://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_learning_display_console.html ? – Android Eve Jan 11 '11 at 00:09
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    thats it... VMware is good but sometimes rendering gets sluggish or (in your case) acts strange. Here is a great post for the various RDP clients for Linux OS (http://www.mynitor.com/2010/02/07/15-remote-desktop-solutions-for-linux/) – Fergus Jan 11 '11 at 00:17
  • Yes, I use the Console View, but isn't this faster than a TCP/IP based viewer? Also, why would it do this on 10.04 and not 8.04? – Android Eve Jan 11 '11 at 00:19
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    Here is a great explanation (http://serverfault.com/questions/96981/what-makes-rdp-so-great-is-it-really-faster-than-connecting-to-a-vm-via-admin-co) not sure why the change in updated version, but I have had strange things happen in the console view (similar to what you are describing) – Fergus Jan 11 '11 at 02:26
  • Unbelievable. This goes against intuition but now that I read the links you brought I believe that RDP could actually be faster than straight X server. I will delve deeper into this (to learn how to use RDP instead, i.e. **locally**). Please post this as an answer so that I can accept it. :) – Android Eve Jan 11 '11 at 06:04

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