I recently had to install Debian on VMware Fusion (a product similar to VirtualBox) for the work I was doing. Everything went smoothly until I started using the command line. My favourite key on *nix world ‘THE PIPE’ wasn’t mapped correctly.
It’s easy to correct, and this is how it’s done. Install the console-data package and configure the keymap with the right type. As I use a MacBook Pro with an American keyboard, I had to do this.
$ sudo apt-get install console-data
Once the command completes installing the package, you will get a series of screens to configure. Pick ‘Select Key map from full list’ and choose the key map as appropriate.
Once the configuration is done, it won’t be reflected until you restart the virtual machine or press Ctrl+Alt+Del. At least that’s what I did to get the keyboard to work as I wanted.