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21.13. Missing Characters on Guest Console with Japanese Keyboard

On a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 host, connecting a Japanese keyboard locally to a machine may result in typed characters such as the underscore (the _ character) not being displayed correctly in guest consoles. This occurs because the required keymap is not set correctly by default.
With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guests, there is usually no error message produced when pressing the associated key. However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 guests may display an error similar to the following:
atkdb.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x0 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes 00 <keycode>' to make it known.
To fix this issue in virt-manager, perform the following steps:
  • Open the affected guest in virt-manager.
  • Click ViewDetails.
  • Select Display VNC in the list.
  • Change Auto to ja in the Keymap pull-down menu.
  • Click the Apply button.
Alternatively, to fix this issue using the virsh edit command on the target guest:
  • Run virsh edit <target guest>
  • Add the following attribute to the <graphics> tag: keymap='ja'. For example:
     <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes' keymap='ja'/>