Whonix 18 - Wayland based - VirtualBox - Clipboard Sharing - Broken

Patrick · September 28, 2025, 11:34am

For users:

related user documentation:
VirtualBox, Shared Folder

For developers:

VirtualBox bug report:

github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbox

Clipboard sharing with wayland guest not working

opened 07:01AM - 09 Jun 25 UTC

sledgehammer999

Host: Windows 10 Guest: EndeavourOS (Arch based) with Plasma 6 Virtualbox versio…n: 7.1.10 Guest additions version: 7.1.10 ### Problem description Pasting from host to guest (wayland) -> works Pasting from guest (x11) to host -> works Pasting from guest (wayland) to host -> doesn't work ### Pinpointing the problem I did some debugging and the problem is that this check is always false: https://github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbox/blob/ecf221fc944207a749ec5c1e3fb3071e175c54ef/src/VBox/Additions/x11/VBoxClient/wayland-helper-dcp.cpp#L831 Small description of the codeflow: 1. `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_gh_clip_report_cb()` waits on `g_DcpCtx.Session.clip.uFmt` and, if successful, it sets `Session.clip.pvClipboardBuf` and `Session.clip.cbClipboardBuf` (via a call to `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_receive_offer()`) 2. `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_gh_clip_read_join_cb()` sets `g_DcpCtx.Session.clip.uFmt` and waits on `Session.clip.pvClipboardBuf` and `Session.clip.cbClipboardBuf` 3. `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_gh_clip_read_join_cb()` is called after `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_gh_clip_report_cb()` This is a cyclic dependency that results in all those values being empty (defaulted) when read. I think there is a logic problem here. `vbcl_wayland_hlp_dcp_gh_clip_report_cb()` does 2 actions that are meant to be distinct. It both reports to the host that clipboard data is available AND copies the clipboard data to internal buffers. The latter fails because it doesn't know which format the host expects at this point. The data should be copied only after the host requests them.

Patrick · October 2, 2025, 2:02am

For developers:

wl-clipboard won’t work as a workaround either.

clipboard is not synced with Wayland or Xwayland so wl-clipboard cannot be used to circumvent the issue.

chadsec · October 3, 2025, 12:54pm

Hey Patrick, bit off topic, but why are you posting this? Will Whonix 18 get ported to Wayland? How ? XFCE doesn’t support wayland afaik…

Have you decided on a DE change?, or will it be a WM ? If latter, I highly recommend checking out Sway.

Patrick · October 3, 2025, 2:15pm

Thanks to your question, a update has been posted here just now:

chadsec · October 3, 2025, 3:00pm

Awesome, switching to Wayland is definitely the right call!

But I think it could’ve been improved further by switching to something like SwayWM.

IMV · January 11, 2026, 4:37am

Will it be possible to enable clipboard sharing in Whonix 18 (VirtualBox)? We can’t rely for this as I understand it.

Patrick · January 11, 2026, 7:37am

There’s no timeline.

The original post in this forum post, the wiki is up-to-date.

If there are changes, these would br announced here, wiki would be updated and if fixed by VirtualBox you’d probably also see new comments in Clipboard sharing with wayland guest not working · Issue #33 · VirtualBox/virtualbox · GitHub.

cusobru · January 14, 2026, 4:50pm

@Patrick
without shared clipbord it became very sad and it is not clear what to do next because it is not clear whether Virtualbox will even fix this

My personal wish is to return XFCE if possible
Otherwise, I can’t imagine how to surf the Internet every day without Whonix it is insane…

P.S. I continue to use Whonix 17 until the shared clipboard works inside VirtualBox.

In any case, to all of you who are leading this project, Universal Gratitude

arraybolt3 · January 14, 2026, 8:27pm

An idea for a workaround was shared here, this would basically implement clipboard sharing via the shared folder:

tylereaston · January 21, 2026, 8:36am

Wrote a (temporary) fix:

http://forums.dds6qkxpwdeubwucdiaord2xgbbeyds25rbsgr73tbfpqpt4a6vjwsyd.onion/t/i-made-a-fix-for-the-shared-clipboard-issue/22705