If you’re running Ubuntu inside Oracle VM VirtualBox and notice that pressing the apostrophe (’) or tildae (`) key doesn’t show anything until you hit space, you’re not alone.
This issue is caused by “dead keys” in keyboard layouts, where keys are designed to combine with others to create accented characters.
In this guide, I’ll show you two simple fixes to make your apostrophe key work.
Root cause
What you’re seeing is a keyboard layout / “dead key” behavior, not a VirtualBox bug.
In many layouts (like US International), the ' key is treated as a dead key i.e. it waits for the next character to combine (e.g., ' + e → é). That’s why nothing appears until you press space.
Fix: Change keyboard layout to a non-dead-key version
Method 1: Using GUI to fix
On your Ubuntu VM (inside Ubuntu):
- Open Settings
- Go to Keyboard
- Under Input Sources, check your layout
- If it says something like: English (US, intl., with dead keys)
- Change it to: English (US)
- Remove the “intl” layout
Method 2: Using terminal
Run:
setxkbmap usTo make it permanent:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configurationThen choose:
- Layout: English (US)
- Variant: English (US) (not international)
After changing, log out and log back in (or reboot VM).