Remote Support for a New iMac Running iMac OS Ventura

[Wheelie]

Hi folks,

I remotely connected my Windows 10 PC (GTA v.4.8.0.17) to a brand new Apple iMac running OS Ventura (their latest OS). Once connected there is an issue when I type the letter "e" (in any box) it brings up the Apple Emoji Insertion Menu. It also happens when typing the letter "d" .... except that brings up the Apple Dictation Menu. The end user can type these letters for me and all is fine but when I try either of those 2 keyboard letters on my end - it doesn't work. I tried running Apple Updates, ending the support session, rebooting both computers, and reconnecting with a new remote session, and it still happens. Thanks for any insight the community may have with fixing this issue.

[GlennD]

Hi @Wheelie, welcome to the community.

Does the same thing happen if you connect to the iMac from a different computer? It sounds like an Alt or Shift key is also being passed to the iMac.

[Wheelie]

Unfortunately I do not have another PC to try it on. In the 13+ years I've been using GTA I have never experienced this with PCs or Macs. I worked on a very old iMac last week running Catalina and a last month a MacBook running Big Sur and they did not have this issue. I'm suspicious this might be a Ventura issue.

[GlennD · Accepted solution]

No worries, I was able to test with a Windows 11 PC connected to a MacBook Pro running Ventura. After trying different key combinations the key combo of Ctrl+Win+Space was the only way I could launch the emoji picker on the Mac. After a lot of random button pressing I was able to trigger the Mac into some kind of accessibility mode that resulted in certain keys acting like keyboard shortcuts, but I could not identify which one caused it. In the end, ending the session and starting a new one corrected it for me. If you tend to use any keyboard shortcuts during your sessions please try to make a note of which one you used before you see this issue happen again.

[Wheelie]

Thanks for looking at this issue Glenn. I am pretty sure I did not 3 finger Ctrl+Win+Space. And I connected to this new iMac three different times over a two day period. Each time - as soon as I connected and pressed the letter "e" the emoji window popped up or if I typed a "d" the dictation window popped up - so I had to ask the end user to enter the "e" or "d" for me or I simply typed what I wanted in a Notepad window on my PC and then copy & pasted into the iMac.

[Wheelie]

Hi GlennD - today I connected with a different client with an Apple computer (Mac Mini) running OS Ventura and everything was fine for about 30 minutes then out of the blue my keyboard began doing it again. All the number keys work fine but most of the letters have been remapped to functions. I asked the end user to unplug their keyboard and mouse (wired USB) and it still did it. Rebooted and it still did it. My workaround was to open the on-screen keyboard and use that for the balance of my support session. If I recall correctly the last time I worked on a OS Ventura Mac it was fine for about the first 30 minutes then went haywire. I do not believe I did anything unusual during either  support session with keyboard commands, and definitely no 3-finger combination commands. Note: I have recently worked on a number of other Apple Mac OS (Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina) and have never had this issue with them. Thanks for the help!

[GlennD]

@Wheelie I'm going to run some tests on my iMac that is running Mavericks and my MacBook which runs Ventura. I managed to enable emojis while typing random things (Command+Control+Space on Mac, Ctrl+Windows+Space on a PC keyboard), and I've now installed an app called keycastr which displays your keystrokes on the desktop to help identify what is happening.  

[Wheelie]

Sounds good. Thank you. It's weird there have been no other reports of this happening to other folks using GoToAssist Expert. I am running Windows 10 Pro v.22H2, Logitech wireless keyboard & mouse (K270), and currently on GoToAssist Expert v.4.8.0.1702. Both times I logged on to the client's Apple Ventura OS and everything was normal for about 30 minutes or so then without any provocation (that I recall) the keyboard goes berserk.  And I do work on other Apple computers running a wide variety of the other OS versions over the years and have never had this problem. And it has never occurred while connected to another Windows based PC. The only 2 times it's ever happened to me was on 2 different customer's Macs and both were running  OS Ventura, and both did the exact same thing. Anyway. Thanks!!

[GlennD]

@Wheelie While I have not been able to recreate the issue reliably without keyboard mashing I talked to a developer on another team about it. What he has seen happen was the use of Windows keyboard combos repeatedly in irregular intervals can trigger the Mac Function key. When this happens tapping the Ctrl key on your keyboard a few times should switch off the Function mode and allow you to type normally again.