Serial Mouse Stops Responding on System Connected to Manual Switch Box (246967)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
This article was previously published under Q246967

SYMPTOMS

When you connect a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server-based computer and a second computer to a manual switch that allows you to shift keyboard, monitor, and mouse input from one computer to the other, your Microsoft serial mouse works normally at first. However, after you switch the input from the Windows 2000 Server-based computer to the other computer and then back, the mouse stops working (hangs).

Windows 2000 Server does find the mouse when you scan for hardware changes in Device Manager.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional do not support manual switch boxes.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, change a value in the Msmouse.inf file to turn off removal detection:

  1. Open the file %WINDIR%\Inf\Msmouse.inf in Notepad.
  2. In the [Ser_Inst.HW.AddReg] section, remove the semicolon (;) from the following line:
    ; HKR,,''WaitEventMask'',0x00010001,0xFFFFFFFF
  3. Save the file, and then quit Notepad.
  4. In Control Panel, double-click System, and then click the Hardware tab.
  5. Click Device Manager, and then remove the serial mouse.
  6. On the Action menu, click Scan For Hardware Changes to reinstall the mouse.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/3/2003
Keywords:kbprb KB246967
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.