Automation Inc.

Quick tip to switch terminals in a Linux VM running on top of VirtualBox. The following commands send the keyboard combo Control+Alt+FX (where FX is F1,F2,F3,…) to the specified VM, so you can switch from graphical desktop to terminal 1, 2, etc. Open a terminal and type:

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 3b 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F1)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 3c 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F2)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 3d 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F3)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 3e 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F4)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 3f 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F5)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 40 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F6)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 41 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F7)

VBoxManage controlvm my-linux-vm-name keyboardputscancode 1d 38 42 
(Equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-F8)

See Linux keyboard scancodes