Shift key not working for first character when Remote Desktop connected

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ConsultDavidW

Bit poster
Since upgrading to v10, the shift key is not working for first character when Remote Desktop connected. I'm running Windows XP and Microsoft Remote Desktop to my client. This was not an issue with v8 or v9.
 
Confirming same issue on Windows 8 with remote desktop to windows systems.
Shift key not working on first character (caps lock does..)
 
Also confirming issue using Parallels v10 while using Remote Desktop running on XP and Windows 7 hosts. Shift key does not work on first character. Needless to say this makes it very challenging to log in to remote systems.
 
I have been experiencing this same behavior since upgrading to version 10.

I opened a support ticket and they pointed me to a link to download Version 10.0.1 (27695).

I installed the new version and it seemed to fix my problem initially, but the problem began happening again.

I seem to have found a workaround for the moment.

I find that if I shut down my virtual machine in Parallels Desktop and then start it up, I can connect to remote computers using Remote Desktop from within the virtual machine and my modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt) work as expected.

If I "suspend" my virtual machine and then resume it, when I connect to a remote computer using Remote Desktop, the modifier keys only work after typing more than one key while holding them down.

For example, if I open Notepad, hold down the shift key and type three "t" characters, instead of it coming out as TTT, it comes out as tTT.

Again, this only seems to happen if I "suspend" my virtual machine instead of shutting it down.

At least I have a workaround for the moment, but I prefer to use Suspend instead of Shut Down, so I have sent a follow-up message to Parallels support to let them know what I've found.

Hopefully it will help them recreate the issue and can patch it.
 
Looks like another workaround is to change the keyboard to 'Optimize for gaming'.
This seems to fix the remote desktop issue.
 
I saw that fix, too. And when I first turned on keyboard optimization for gaming, it seemed to fix the issue.

But there must be more to it, because now it's not working again, even with that setting enabled.

And my previous statements about shutting down and starting up may have been premature, as well.

As of this morning, that workaround doesn't seem to be 100% effective, either.

It's like the optimize configuration works sometimes, but not others in my case.

I'll keep working with support to try to pin down exactly when it does and does not work.
 
So, here's my latest:

I seem to be able to fix the problem by:

* shutting my virtual machine completely down instead of suspending
* quitting Parallels Desktop completely
* reopening Parallels Desktop
* opening the configuration for my virtual machine
* on the Hardware > Mouse & Keyboard screen, I see that "Optimize for games" is selected
* I toggle the value to "Don't optimize for games" and then back to "Optimize for games"
* Start my virtual machine and the modifier keys work as expected in Remote Desktop

If I then suspend my virtual machine, quit Parallels Desktop and open the machine back up (without changing any configuration values), then the problem returns. My modifier keys only work after the second character typed while holding down a modifier.

So, it looks like it is somehow losing the configuration for "Optimize for games" between one session to the next.

I have reported all of this to support, so hopefully it will help them recreate the problem.

In the meantime, if anyone else is having the same issue where it works for a while and then doesn't work, maybe this workaround can help.
 
I found this thread because I am having this same issue.

One thing I found is that hitting the Shift key does not work for the first key stroke but does for subsequent keystrokes. For example: hold Shift and press the letter "D". The first letter is lower case 'd' but all subsequent are capital 'D'.
Not a solution but something I observed.

ken
 
I'm experiencing the same issue. I used to have this issue with prior versions but with the ctrl-key. Second character typed would "take." Very frustrating, and seems to eventually get resolved in a patch, but gets re-introduced after next major upgrade. Trying the "optimize for gaming" fix, but really this should be fixed or at least clearer since I don't play games on my VM.
 
Update - I turned on "Optimize for Games" and then my CPU pegged and fan spun up as soon as I opened an RDP session. Guess I'll have to live with the stupid broken keyboard for now, or port this VM over to Fusion.
 
Thanks, this solved a major headache. The shortcuts are actually very powerful - endless possibilities. I ended up configuring HOME, END and a bunch of other Windows keys :-)
 
Thank you!
Key mapping suggested by Steve_Wlodkowski solved the problem.
I was battling with tech. support for 3 days until I realised that the issue only appeared when I upgraded Parallels Desktop 8 to Parallels Desktop 10 3 days ago :)
 
Perfect! Thanks so much - I've been scratching my head for weeks and wasn't sure if it was my new VM, new 64-bit Windows 7 install, Yosemite or anything else apparently random. Finally after a concerted search tonight I found this page and voila! Problem sorted - thanks. I too have added Ctrl, Shift, Alt etc. Perfect fix!
 
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