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velis
Asked: 2019-06-06 23:11:13 +0800 CST

remmina + qemu + linux client == clipboard woes

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I have a kubuntu host running 19.04 and remmina installed from remmina-next. Guest is regular ubuntu 19.04, accessed through spice protocol.

More than half of clipboard copies get "eaten" by the host: when copying to the clipboard, the guest will not have copied the item. Instead I will find it in the host's clipboard - not pastable on the client of course.

More details:

  • copying / cutting to clipboard usually doesn't work in first try
  • The client's clipboard will "know" something's wrong when a cut / copy doesn't work: it will not paste a previously successful item. See below for an example of extra weird behaviour
  • second try almost always works
  • since I don't know whether copying worked, I will notice this when it fails to paste
  • then I go copying / pasting again - with a > 80% chance for success
  • Sometimes, on the second copy, the now finally copied item will immediately paste where I previously unsuccessfully attempted to paste it. This one is especially weird - just like there was a placeholder in the editor waiting for something to get to the clipboard. Depending on the editor, it might just paste immediately after the item being copied (so I end up with a duplicate in the editor)
  • I'm using CopyQ for clipboard manager in the guest, but nothing changes if I remove it and use built-in clipboard

I have noticed this with linux guests only, but not on Windows guests. I also tried virt-viewer, but it suffers from the same issue. Same when accessing the guest through RDP.

I have found some old topics about a Remmina clipboard bug, but nothing recent.

How can I diagnose and fix this issue?

Edit: I have changed the Video QXL setting from VirtIO to QXL and the problem has heavily subsided. It's not gone, but the issue now occurs in about one out of ten copies to clipboard.

qemu spice

1 Answers

  1. Disclaimer: this is a workaround, not a solution.

    Yesterday the problem was so insanely severe that I decided to finally give up and go fetch the zero-client I have stashed away in the closet. It's an entry-level NUC with an i3/4GB/128GB inside.

    The problem is GONE!!!

    It seems the problem is only experienced if the host is at the same time also the viewer!

    Edit2: HA!!!! I found it: the problem is only occurring on kubuntu hosts! Yesterday I accessed the computer from my home PC running kubuntu 18.04 and the problem was immediately apparent.

    Observations for people running into this:

    • Video driver set to QXL resulted in MASSIVE bandwidth usage - 1Gbit/s and it was still somewhat sluggish. My resolution is 3440x1440. The bandwidth usage was constant regardless of happening on VM screen. Useless on WiFi (433Mbit/s), OK on Gb LAN.
    • Changed gfx driver to VirtIO and now I'm enjoying smooth sailing. Some minor banding while watching videos, but I'm not using these VMs for videos...
    • Additional note: when working over WiFi, it's a bit more sluggish, but still quite usable. When working over Gb LAN, it's almost as good as RDP to Windows 10 host is. Client Remmina 1.3.4 in both cases.
    • One more performance note: performance of VirtIO driver over WAN (20/4 mbit / s) is close to useless. One can see the refreshes and dragging a window on a 2560x1440 display is a 1 FPS slideshow.

    So, I could say I'm quite happy now. Wondering if I could use spice for remote access to physical machines as well ;-)

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