I’ve noticed this several times recently when evaluating new VMs – typically unix based across a wireless link to an ESX 3.5 server.
If you are using a wide-area or low-bandwidth connection, the time delay over the network may be long enough to cause the virtual machine to start auto-repeat.
To reduce these effects, increase the time threshold necessary for auto-repeat in the remote console.
Power off the virtual machine.
Add a line similar to the following to your virtual machine’s configuration (.vmx) file.
keyboard.typematicMinDelay = “2000000”
The delay is specified in micro-seconds, so the line in the example above increases the repeat time to 2 seconds. This should ensure that you never get auto-repeat unless you intend it.
Power on the virtual machine.