I'm using vmware ESXI 6.7 (also known as vSphere Hypervisor) on a 64-bit Dual Socket server (2x Xeon X5672, 16 GB RAM). I've got two guests running on it, both CentOS 7 machines (64-bit).
Problems start, when I'm using the web-console, which is the preferred option to administer an ESXi-host according to vmware. It seems to me that the keyboard layout is completely screwed up.
I'm using the German layout on the CentOs-machines and also for the pop up console in-browser. It does not recognise |, @, {, }, [, ] and many other Alt Gr-characters.
The problem occurs across all major browsers, from Opera 57 over Firefox 64 and the old Microsoft IE. And because my passwords contain those characters, I'm unable to login (no, it's not a typo on the passwords). E.g. if trying to use VMRC client from Windows, I cannot login due to that issue.
Does anybody have a workaround?
Best Answer
So, it turned out that using the VMRC client (e.g. for Windows) which you can reach/start through the web client, is the only option (at least the only one I found/suggested by @yagmoth555) to get all characters working like they should.
Just click on "Actions" > "Console" > "Open Remote Console" (if you haven't installed VMRC on your local computer, do so by clicking "Download VMRC" first): Screenshot: How to open VMRC from web client
Your browser will prompt "Open .vmrc link in application?". Click on "Yes" (additionally check the checkbox to set as default procedure if clicking on .vmrc links).
VMRC will probably throw a security warning about an invalid client certificate at first start due to the unknown and not CA-signed certificate generated by ESXi. You can trust it.