Open Bug 1722435 Opened 3 years ago Updated 27 days ago

numpad misbehaves in Virtual machines in Firefox extended support release

Categories

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect, P3)

Product:
Web Compatibility
Component:
Site Reports
Type:
defect

Tracking

(firefox111 affected)

Status:
ASSIGNED
Tracking Flags:
Tracking Status
firefox111 --- affected

People

(Reporter: omji.verma, Assigned: denschub)

References

(
URL
)

Details

(Keywords: webcompat:site-wait)

User Story

platform:windows,mac,linux
impact:feature-broken
configuration:general
affects:some

Attachments

(1 file)

Firefox workaround instructions
127.00 KB, image/png
Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/92.0.4515.107 Safari/537.36

Steps to reproduce:

I'm using Firefox extended support release 78.12.0esr (https://www.screencast.com/t/DfQBOa0GcDG), everything is working fine unless I use any virtual machine inside that, numpad starts misbehaving.

Whenever I type any number using number keys given below function keys, it works fine. But when I type any number from numpad situated at right side of full keyboard, it starts misbehaving. It types an alphabet with every keys.
Video screenshot of the issue: https://www.screencast.com/t/ovucf32Tpz1d

Actual results:

When you open any virtual machine (vcenter machines) on Firefox extended support release 78.12.0esr, and type any number from numpad situated at right side of full keyboard, it starts misbehaving. It types an alphabet with every keys.
Video screenshot of the issue: https://www.screencast.com/t/ovucf32Tpz1d

Expected results:

It should only type numbers instead of doubling with alphabets

Hi Om Ji Verma!

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
At the moment I do not have any virtual machine tools in order to test this issue, but in the meantime I will add a product and component for visibility.

Regards,

Estanislao

Component: Untriaged → Graphics
Product: Firefox → Core
Component: Graphics → DOM: Events

Does the issue happen only with the ESR version? Have you tried latest non-ESR version?

Do you happen to have a link to the web site where the issue happens? I assume you mean some VMWare virtual machine running inside browser?

This does smell like a webcompat issue.

Component: DOM: Events → Desktop
Flags: needinfo?(omji.verma)
Product: Core → Web Compatibility
Version: 78 Branch → Firefox 78

Yes, this issue happen only with the ESR version.
We have tried everything in the latest non-ESR version, it worked totally fine in any browser version other than ESR version.

We have a link to the website, but you need our login to go there.

And, yes, I mean some VMWare virtual machine running in browser and they use VMWare official js to sent inputs from keyboard to browser.
Below is the link of the official document of VMWare to use virtual machines. You can get the details of sending input keystrokes in page 22 and 23. And other details on different pages.
https://vdc-download.vmware.com/vmwb-repository/dcr-public/b7ae1097-9dc8-4323-9877-6e5380c54d17/48aca922-d7ac-455d-865d-50c9194de37a/HTML-Console-SDK-21.pdf

Please have a look and do the needful.

Flags: needinfo?(omji.verma)

any updates?

this appears to be impacting my ability to use uCertify for school, though the recommended workaround (disabling input_event_queue.supported in about:config) seems to work. Seeing as this is a setting only accessible via the config editor, I have to ask: what exactly does it do? I'm going to leave it disabled for now, but I'd like to know what the risk is either way since, according to uCertify's documentation about this problem, it results from some sort of security feature?

smaug, do you know about this pref/code?

Flags: needinfo?(bugs)

The input event queue means that input events are put to their own queue in the child process and usually processed right before a tick.
So it does affect timing.

What is uCertify? Do you run that through some virtual machine?

Flags: needinfo?(bugs) → needinfo?(4i2mz0emy)

Hello There,

I'm from uCertify who have opened this ticket 6 months ago.
I've posted a question on firefox's support forum too: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1344260
Our customers who are using Firefox or Firefox ESR and using are having issues with Numpad (on Firefox ESR) and repeated letter typing issues in other Firefox versions.

We have got the workaround on another ticket available on Bugzilla (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1419376) which we recommend our users who use firefox and are having these issues.
Disabling input_event_queue.supported (https://www.screencast.com/t/XuiIANz5F) didn't help completely, but for most of the time, it helps.

Let me know the permanent solution.

Thanking You,
Om

Om Ji Verma

(In reply to Olli Pettay [:smaug] from comment #7)

What is uCertify? Do you run that through some virtual machine?
uCertify is a third-party website my school uses for some of their courses. One of their features, VM based labs, runs into this problem when I or other students connect to the remote system, particularly if we have to type ".", "_", ",", apostrophes, or quotation marks. All of which, incidentally, get used a lot when programming (as you are no doubt aware)...

Flags: needinfo?(4i2mz0emy)

can I just take a moment to note how weird that formatting is... I only had a "greater than sign" on the first line, why is the entire thing in a quote block?

This requires special config and a special account.

Firefox ESR has been updated, Om Ji Verma cna you still reproduce this?

Flags: needinfo?(omji.verma)
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true

Yes, I can still reproduce this.
Please see the screenshot video.
https://www.screencast.com/t/o4lajnGrXP1c
Firefox ESR is already the latest version. https://www.screencast.com/t/iRPa3vmtWUq

Whatever firefox I'm using, either it is a normal firefox browser or it is Firefox ESR, this issue is happening.
Either in Firefox or in Firefox ESR, When I open any VMware vcenter virtual machine, letters, symbols, and numbers doubling start happening.
And with the above issues happening, Firefox ESR has an extra issue with Numpad. When I type any number from the Numpad available at the right side of the keyboard, it types with a letter. But when I type any number from the number row available below the function keys, then it types normally.

As soon as I updated the input_event_queue as false and restarted the firefox browser, the problem is almost resolved about 90% of the time.

Let me know if you need any other details. I'll be happy to get this solved from Firefox's end.

Flags: needinfo?(omji.verma)

(In reply to Om Ji Verma from comment #12)

As soon as I updated the input_event_queue as false and restarted the firefox browser, the problem is almost resolved about 90% of the time.

Ok, that tells that the issue isn't about input_event_queue. That just changes the scheduling a bit.

Are there any exact steps to reproduce here?
(I assume the issue is that the VM sends native events in a different way than non-virtual OS.)

Yes, as I've shown it to you in the screenshot video. It's not the issue about input_event_queue. It's about the typing issue that is being solved a little with input_event_queue.

Just open a Vmware virtual machine in Firefox browser and try to type anything and you will be able to reproduce it.

If you need, we can do a screenshare meeting with Firefox developers who can debug the issue at same time.

Any update available for this issue?

Dennis is there anyone that can debug this?

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)

I've tested numpad inputs in Parallels Fusion, and in VirtualBox, and could not spot any difference in the fired input events. I sadly don't have a VMware license handy to test this, so I can't test this.

However, assuming there would be a difference in the input events, this is either a bug in VMware, or a bug in how Firefox handles input events. It doesn't sound like something that would be a WebCompat issue, as I don't see how a site would break in a VM for site-issues instead of Firefox-issues. I'll move this into the DOM teams component, maybe they can have a closer look (or maybe they have someone with a VMware product license).

Component: Desktop → DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling
Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
Product: Web Compatibility → Core
Version: Firefox 78 → unspecified

Sounds like similar to bug 1769175. Probably, it's a bug of VMware.

keyCode values of numpad keys are:

  • Numpad1 -> 97
  • Numpad2 -> 98
  • Numpad3 -> 99
  • Numpad4 -> 100
  • Numpad5 -> 101
  • Numpad6 -> 102
  • Numpad7 -> 103
  • Numpad8 -> 104
  • Numpad9 -> 105
  • Numpad0 -> 96

And if they are converted to ASCII characters, it becomes

abcdefghi`

, this matches with the oddly inserted character in the video in comment 0:

a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9`0

, so this must be mishandling of vmware with UA string check or something.

Component: DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling → Desktop
Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
Product: Core → Web Compatibility

Note that for numpad handling, NumLock modifier state check is required on Windows and Linux at least. Therefore, I think that this might be related to bug 1769175.

Sorry for the delays here. I tried to reproduce this myself, but couldn't get my hand on a relevant setup.

Either way, I sent a message to someone who might be able to route me into the right direction at VMware. I'll update this bug as soon as there is an update.

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
Keywords: webcompat:site-wait
Assignee: nobody → dschubert
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
status-firefox111: --- → affected
Restrict Comments: true

Dennis, any update on this? A local community college is running into this (they contacted me directly) and shared that they are having to recommend Chrome to their students (see attached). I'm working with them to see if a Chrome UA in Firefox resolves this issue. If so, I wonder if we could consider shipping an intervention (I have no idea what domains are involved).

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)

Okay, I have to officially resign from this bug, as besides re-poking contacts (which I just did), there seems to be little I can do here. Here's what I tried:

  • VMware is hosting online "hands-on labs", which I've been told uses the same remote desktop interface. Numpads work fine there on Windows and macOS, tested in several ESR, Stable, and Nightly versions. I noticed quite a bit of input lag, however it never dropped an input, and the lag was just as bad in Chrome, so this is probably just ... remote desktop being remote.
  • I signed up for a vSphere evaluation license here, deployed it on local testing hardware, installed Windows 10 and 11 in there, and tested the numpads again in different browsers and operating systems. Again, no issue whatsoever.

So there is very little I can do without having access to a system. I re-pinged my contact at VMware, hoping that they might find someone who can help here. Also, I just reached out to Ucertify via their contact form on the website, requesting a test account there.

I noticed that in mconca's screenshot that this local college is referring to bug 1419376. This is a bug that VMware has fixed five years ago (see bug 1419376 comment 14), so if they still run that old version, there might be an issue. However, the best I can test with is version vCenter 6.7U3t (surprisingly, the 6.7 'branch' is still supported), and I don't see an issue with that either. So it's very possible that we're hunting down already-fixed bugs here, but we, of course, don't know that until we can confirm that ourselves.

I'll leave the webcompat:site-wait flag, because that's essentially what is happening. However, I'll cancel my ni? for now, because until we receive access to some affected system, this is blocked.

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
URL: https://www.ucertify.com/
Severity: -- → S4
User Story: (updated)
Priority: -- → P3
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