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Unable to type @ in VirtualBox

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sympatiqueCCM Posted messages 408 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -  
mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   -

Hello,

I installed a Linux virtual machine running Debian (Kali Linux for white hat) under VirtualBox.

Everything works, but I can't type certain characters, like the @ character.

How do you do that?

Thank you very much for your help,

6 answers

Answer 1 / 6
mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   7 940
 

Hello,

Regarding your APT error, it's probably because you haven't run sudo apt update recently.

As for your keyboard issue, it might be the KEYMAP that is incorrect (uk instead of us, see this page). If that's the case, you would need to correct /etc/default/keyboard:

sudo apt update sudo apt install console-setup sudo nano /etc/default/keyboard

... then once the /etc/default/keyboard file is corrected (ctrl x, o, enter to save and exit):

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration sudo service keyboard-setup restart

More details here.

Good luck
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Answer 2 / 6
mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   7 940
 

Hello,

  • Are you in console mode or in a particular application (terminal, browser, email client)?
  • What key combination are you pressing to try to type @?
  • What keyboard layout are you using? azerty or qwerty?

Good luck
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Answer 3 / 6
sympatiqueCCM Posted messages 408 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   14
 

Thank you very much mamiemando,

I am on a QWERTY keyboard and the @ character is located above the number 2, so Shift + 2.

But I have also tried all the other keys in lowercase or uppercase (SHIFT) but the @ character never appears.

I am in what Kali Linux calls the Terminal Emulator.

I tried:

dpkg-reconfigure locales

And I tried:

sudo apt install console-setup

... and it didn't change anything. Errors occurred with this command.
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Answer 4 / 6
sympatiqueCCM Posted messages 408 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   14
 

Thank you for your help.

I can't edit the keyboard file. I'm pointing with my mouse but

I can't write in the file. I want to replace "ca" with "us" but it's not working.

I included sudo in the command... that is to say:

sudo nano /etc/default/keyboard

What I have in the keyboard file:

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page. XKBMODEL = "pc105" XKBLAYOUT="ca" XKBVARIANT="" XKBOPTIONS="" BACKSPACE="guess"
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mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   7 940
 

nano does not support the mouse and works purely with the keyboard. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard.

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Answer 5 / 6
sympatiqueCCM Posted messages 408 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   14
 

Thank you mamiemando,

The keyboard arrows worked very well. I was able to enter "us" in the keyboard file.

Now I have a problem with sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration.

I don't quite understand...
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mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   7 940
 

The first line of your /etc/default/keyboard file seems strange to me, it looks like the # is missing. That's probably why sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration failed, but if the problem persists, please report the error message to me. Please avoid screenshots and prefer copy-pasting (on Linux, especially in a terminal that launches nano, you can select text, copy it, and paste it elsewhere).

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Answer 6 / 6
sympatiqueCCM Posted messages 408 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   14
 

Thank you mamiemando,

It's resolved. I added a # at the beginning of the first line and it became printed in blue.

Then I ran sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration and answered the questions, and now it works well.

You really know Linux well...!

Thanks again a thousand times for your help.
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mamiemando Posted messages 33228 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   7 940
 

Congratulations and thank you for the compliment :-) Here is how to mark your topic as resolved for next time.

Good luck!

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