qemu/kvm woes - spice-vdagent isn't running and copy/paste problems

[chimak111]

I have the following packages and their dependencies installed in Kubuntu 18.04 which itself is a clean install.

$ apt policy qemu-kvm virt-manager spice-vdagent
qemu-kvm:
 Installed: 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.4
 Candidate: 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.4
...

virt-manager:
 Installed: 1:1.5.1-0ubuntu1
 Candidate: 1:1.5.1-0ubuntu1
...

spice-vdagent:
 Installed: 0.17.0-1ubuntu2
 Candidate: 0.17.0-1ubuntu2
...

05:25 PM ~ $

I noticed some weeks ago, can't say exactly when, that I was having problems not only copy/pasting between host and guest but also within host applications themselves or the guest applications.

The copy/paste problem, within host applications, goes away once virt-manager is closed.

Today, I realized that no spice-vdagent (or spice-vdagentd) is running in the host.

locate spice-vdagent shows:

$ locate spice-vdagen
/etc/init.d/spice-vdagent
/etc/rc0.d/K01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc1.d/K01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc2.d/S01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc3.d/S01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc4.d/S01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc5.d/S01spice-vdagent
/etc/rc6.d/K01spice-vdagent
/etc/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.target.wants/spice-vdagentd.service
/etc/xdg/autostart/spice-vdagent.desktop                                <<<<<
/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagent.service
/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.service
/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.target
/lib/udev/rules.d/70-spice-vdagentd.rules
/usr/bin/spice-vdagent
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/spice-vdagentd.conf
/usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd
/usr/share/doc/spice-vdagent
/usr/share/doc/spice-vdagent/README
/usr/share/doc/spice-vdagent/TODO
/usr/share/doc/spice-vdagent/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/spice-vdagent/copyright
/usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow/spice-vdagent.desktop <<<<<
/usr/share/gdm/greeter/autostart/spice-vdagent.desktop     <<<<<
/usr/share/man/man1/spice-vdagent.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/spice-vdagentd.1.gz
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.conffiles
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.list
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.md5sums
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.postinst
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.postrm
/var/lib/dpkg/info/spice-vdagent.prerm
/var/lib/systemd/deb-systemd-helper-enabled/spice-vdagentd.service.dsh-also
/var/lib/systemd/deb-systemd-helper-enabled/spice-vdagentd.target.wants
/var/lib/systemd/deb-systemd-helper-enabled/spice-vdagentd.target.wants/spice-vdagentd.service
$

I've tagged three entries with "<<<<<".

/etc/xdg/autostart/spice-vdagent.desktop contains

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Spice vdagent
Comment=Agent for Spice guests
Exec=/usr/bin/spice-vdagent
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization
NoDisplay=true

Would I need to modify that is some way for Kubuntu? And would I need to add it, modified or not, to my own autostart via System Settings > Startup and Shutdown?

Whatever the issue is with spice-vdagent not running, I don't understand why I can't copy/paste between applications in the guest itself or in the host itself.

Any guidance will be most appreciated!

[chimak111]

Well, I installed Ubuntu 18.04.1 on another partition on the same machine. No issues with qemu/kvm or with copy/pasting there: host to guest, guest to host, etc, all work fine. Tested with Xubuntu Cosmic and Kubuntu Cosmic.