Copy and paste text between your local computer and a VM

Copying and pasting text to and from an x86 The most common CPU architecture. x86 CPUs support Windows and Linux VMs in Skytap. VM in the Secure Remote Access (SRA) browser client is possible, but there are limitations. There are two ways to copy and paste text between your local computer and the VM:

Use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste text. On a mac OS computer, type ⌘ instead of Ctrl (for example, ⌘+C instead of Ctrl+C).
If the basic keyboard shortcuts don’t work, use the VM Clipboard in the browser client toolbar to copy and paste text.

The sections below provide detailed instructions for both methods.

Notes

These methods let you copy and paste plain text without formatting.
For additional information, see Transferring files to a VM.
When you use an SSH connection in a browser client session, the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste are different. For more information, see Using an SSH connection during an SRA browser client session.

Using keyboard shortcuts

To copy text from your local computer to a VM

Highlight the text on your local computer. Right-click and select Copy, or press Ctrl+C to copy the text.
In the VM, click where you want to paste the text.
Press Ctrl+V. There may be a short delay after you press Ctrl+V before the text is pasted.

Paste from a menu isn’t supported.

To copy text from a VM to your local computer

Highlight the text in the VM, and then press Ctrl+C two times to copy the text.
On your local computer, click where you want to paste the text.
Press Ctrl+V or right-click and select Paste.

Using the VM Clipboard

The SRA browser client toolbar contains a VM Clipboard tool that displays the contents of the VM keyboard. This tool provides a staging area for copying text between the VM and your local computer. It can hold up to 32KB of plain text.

VM Clipboard

If the VM Clipboard icon isn’t in the toolbar, you don’t have permission to copy and paste to the VM.

To copy text from your local computer to a VM using the VM clipboard

Highlight the text on your local computer. Right-click and select Copy or press Ctrl+C to copy the text. This places the text on your local clipboard.
In the VM browser window, click to open the VM Clipboard view.
Right-click and select Paste or press Ctrl+V (⌘+V if you’re using macOS) to paste the text into the VM Clipboard. A Success message displays in the VM Clipboard window.
In the VM, click where you want to paste the text.
Right-click and select Paste or press Ctrl+V (⌘+V if you’re using macOS).

Vim doesn’t use the system clipboard—to paste text into vim, press Ctrl+Shift+V (⌘+Shift+V).

To copy text from a VM to your local computer using the VM clipboard

Highlight the text in the VM. Right-click and select Copy or press Ctrl+C to copy the text to the VM Clipboard.
In the VM browser window, click to open the VM Clipboard view.
Highlight the text in the VM Clipboard window.
Right-click and select Copy or press Ctrl+C to copy the text to your local clipboard. A Success message displays in the VM Clipboard window.
On your local computer, click where you want to paste the text.
Right-click and select Paste or press Ctrl+V .

Troubleshooting copy and paste

When using keyboard shortcuts to copy text from the VM to your local computer:

If no text is pasted or if text from a previous copy operation is pasted, try the copy operation again with a short pause before you press Ctrl+C the second time.

If you can’t copy and paste to the VM:

Make sure you’ve used your mouse to click in the window you want to copy text from or paste text to. The window you’re viewing may not be the active window.
Check whether copy and paste has been disabled on the VM.
- If you have a Skytap account and permission to view the VM settings, check the copy and paste permissions on the VM Settings page (see Overview of VM hardware and guest OS settings).
- If you don’t have a Skytap account, ask your instructor or administrator to check the VM copy and paste permissions for you.
Make sure the most recent supported version of VMware Tools is installed on the VM; otherwise, copy and paste may not function.
- For Linux VMs, see Installing and upgrading VMware Tools on Linux VMs.
- For Windows VMs, see Installing and upgrading VMware Tools on Windows VMs.

Disabling copy and paste permissions

To control whether users can copy and paste text to and from the VM in a browser client session, see Overview of VM hardware and guest OS settings.