How do I get my mouse back from qemu/kvm?

Question

I'm running qemu/kvm on Debian testing x64 with this command:

kvm -m 1024 -hda win7.img -cdrom win7x86.iso -boot d -net user

but when I click inside the virtual machine, qemu captures my mouse and won't let it go. I thought the key combination to free the mouse was right ctrl, but nothing happens when I do that. I also tried appending the -usbdevice tablet or -usbdevice mouse options

kvm -m 1024 -hda win7.img -cdrom win7x86.iso -boot d -net user -usbdevice tablet

or

kvm -m 1024 -hda win7.img -cdrom win7x86.iso -boot d -net user -usbdevice mouse

but the situation is the same. I'm using QEMU emulator version 1.7.0 (Debian 1.7.0+dfsg-2).

Answer 1

Keyboard methods

1. If using the SDL frontend of QEMU:

   You can release focus using the Left Ctrl+ Left Alt. Notice you have to use the left keys!

2. If using the GTK frontend of QEMU (default since QEMU 1.5):

   Press Ctrl+ Alt+ G

Focus free method

See my question I posted on this exact thing on ServerFault. The Q&A is titled: Any way to release focus on a KVM guest in virt-manager without having to click Ctrl_L + Alt_L?. This will allow you to no longer have to use the keyboard to release focus between the host and the guest.

There are 2 methods discussed in answers to the question. The first involves adding another mouse, the other makes use of Spice which allows for smooth focus transitions between the host and the guest.

Answer 2

Depending on which linux guest you have, install the qemu-guest-agent package, run systemctl enable qemu-guest-agent, stop your vm, and then according to this RH KB article, add the following to your vms xml config:

<channel type='unix'>
  <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
</channel>

Then restart your vm. If you can mouse into the vm, mouse out, even copy/paste.