Mouse Doesn't Work with MS-DOS Shell (96706)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
This article was previously published under Q96706

SYMPTOMS

When you use MS-DOS Shell, your mouse moves erratically, or the mouse pointer doesn't appear at all. Or, the following dialog box appears when you start MS-DOS Shell for the first time:
Warning:

You do not have a current mouse driver. This driver may cause your system to stop or cause other problems with MS-DOS Shell.

Contact your vendor to get more information or a driver that will work with MS-DOS Shell.

<Disable Mouse> <Use Mouse Anyway>
NOTE: If the dialog box appeared earlier and you now want to disable or re-enable your mouse, you must modify your DOSSHELL.INI file. For more information about modifying DOSSHELL.INI, see the "Disabling and Re-Enabling Your Mouse with MS-DOS Shell" section in this article.

CAUSE

The mouse driver you are using may be installed incorrectly or may be incompatible with MS-DOS Shell or MS-DOS Editor. (The mouse driver is a file that enables your computer to interpret your mouse movements. Every mouse should come with its own mouse driver.)

Some earlier mouse drivers do not work well with MS-DOS Shell because they cannot perform all the functions required by MS-DOS Shell. Also, using the wrong mouse driver for your mouse can cause some problems due to hardware differences.

WORKAROUND

If you have no mouse pointer at all, refer to the "Check Your Mouse Driver Installation" section below. If you do have a mouse pointer, but it moves erratically or not at all, or if the "You do not have a current mouse driver..." dialog box appears, refer to the "Check Your Mouse Driver Compatibility" section later in this article.

Check Your Mouse Driver Installation

To determine whether your mouse driver is installed correctly, use the procedure below.

NOTE: The following steps assume your mouse uses a driver called MOUSE.SYS or MOUSE.COM. If you don't find either file on your hard disk, check the documentation that came with your mouse for the correct driver name and use it wherever appropriate.

  1. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type the following and press ENTER after each line

    <drive>:
    cd <drive>:\
    dir mouse.* /s

    where <drive> is your hard disk drive. (If you have more than one hard disk drive, perform this command for all the hard disks on your system.) For example, if your hard disk is drive C, type the following command and press ENTER after each line:

    c:
    cd c:\
    dir mouse.* /s

    MS-DOS displays the location of all mouse files on the drive.
  2. Make sure you have either the MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS file, and note which directory contains the file. If you have more than one hard disk drive, check each drive for these files.

    If you don't have either of these files on your hard disk, copy them from the floppy disk that came with your mouse.
  3. Use a text editor to open your CONFIG.SYS file (if you have MOUSE.SYS) or your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (if you have MOUSE.COM). If you want to use MS-DOS Editor, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER

    edit <drive>:\config.sys

    -or-

    edit <drive>:\autoexec.bat

    where <drive> is the startup drive where either AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS currently resides. For example, if your startup drive is drive C, type the following command:

    edit c:\config.sys

    -or-

    edit c:\autoexec.bat

  4. Check the file you open to make sure it contains a command for starting your mouse and that the location of your mouse file is the same as the location specified in the command. Also, make sure your path points to the most current version of your mouse files. If you have MOUSE.SYS, a command similar to the following should be in your CONFIG.SYS file

    device=<path>:\mouse.sys

    where path is the path to your MOUSE.SYS file. For example, if MOUSE.SYS is located in the MOUSE directory on drive C, a command like the following should be in your CONFIG.SYS file:

    device=c:\mouse\mouse.sys

    If you have MOUSE.COM, a command similar to the following should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file

    <path>:\mouse.com

    where <path> is the path to your MOUSE.COM file. For example, if MOUSE.COM is located in the MOUSE directory on drive C, a command like the following should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

    c:\mouse\mouse.com

  5. Save the file and quit the text editor. If you're using MS-DOS Editor, choose Exit from the File menu. When MS-DOS Editor displays a dialog box prompting you to save your file, choose the Yes button or press ENTER.
  6. If you modified your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file, restart your computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.
  7. Start MS-DOS Shell to determine whether this solved the problem. If the problem still occurs, check your mouse driver's compatibility with MS-DOS Shell, as described below.

Check Your Mouse Driver Compatibility

To determine whether your mouse driver is compatible with MS-DOS Shell, proceed as follows:

  1. Determine the version number of your mouse driver.

    For some mouse drivers, you can find out what version you have by typing mouse at the MS-DOS command prompt. Or, observe the message your computer displays when your mouse driver starts. If your mouse driver starts from your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file, as is usually the case, the message appears when you start your computer. This message often includes the version number.
  2. Ensure your mouse driver is compatible with MS-DOS. The following is a list of compatible mouse drivers: 
          Type of Mouse       Compatible Versions
      ---------------------------------------

      Genius              9.06 or later
      Hewlett-Packard(R)  7.04 or later
      IBM(R) PS/2(R)      7.04 or later
      Logitech(TM)        5.01 or later
      Microsoft           6.21 or later
      Mouse Systems       7.01 or later
  3. If your mouse driver is not on this list, contact your vendor for an updated driver. If you have a Microsoft Mouse and MS-DOS Upgrade version 5.0a (MS-DOS file dates of 11/11/91) or 6.0, you can install a compatible mouse driver from your MS-DOS installation disks by doing the following:

    1. Perform Procedure 1 to determine if you are loading MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS and where the mouse driver you are currently using is located.
    2. MS-DOS 5.0a and 6.0 both ship with MOUSE.COM only. If you found in Procedure 1 that you are using MOUSE.SYS, you'll need to disable the command in CONFIG.SYS by changing it to resemble the following 
               rem device=<path>:\mouse.sys
      where <path> is the path to MOUSE.SYS. For example, if MOUSE.SYS is located in the MOUSE directory on drive C, the command should appear as follows: 
               rem device=c:\mouse\mouse.sys
      The REM command stands for "remark" and tells MS-DOS to ignore the command it precedes.

      Then add a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file using the same location for the path as you found in Procedure 1. It should look similar to the following line 
               <path>:\mouse.com
      where <path> is the path to MOUSE.COM. For example, if MOUSE.COM is located in the MOUSE directory on drive C, use the following line: 
               c:\mouse\mouse.com
    3. To determine which MS-DOS installation disk contains the new mouse driver, insert the disk containing the PACKING.LST file in your floppy disk drive. To find the disk containing the PACKING.LST file, use the following chart: 
               MS-DOS 5.0a           Disk Number
         ---------------------------------

         5.25-inch 1.2 MB      1
         5.25-inch 360K        3
         3.5-inch 720K         3

         MS-DOS 6.0            Disk Number
         ---------------------------------

         5.35-inch 1.2 MB      1
         3.5-inch 1.44 MB      1
    4. Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER to see the contents of each installation disk

      type <drive>:\packing.lst | more

      where <drive> is the floppy disk drive containing the installation disk. For example, if the installation disk is in drive A, type the following command:

      type a:\packing.lst | more

      NOTE: MOUSE.COM will appear as MOUSE.CO_ because it is a compressed file.
    5. Insert the MS-DOS installation disk containing MOUSE.CO_ in your floppy disk drive.
    6. To expand the compressed mouse driver file and copy it to your hard disk drive, you must use the EXPAND command. For example, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER after each line

      <drive>:
      expand mouse.co_ <path>:\mouse.com

      where <drive> is the floppy disk drive containing the installation disk and <path> is the path to the directory where your current mouse driver resides. For example, if the installation disk is in floppy disk drive A and your current mouse driver is located in the root directory of drive C, type the following commands and press ENTER after each command:

      a:
      expand mouse.co_ c:\mouse.com

      You now have an MS-DOS Shell compatible mouse driver installed for your Microsoft Mouse. To start using your mouse, remove any disks from your floppy disk drive and restart your computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Disabling and Re-enabling Your Mouse with MS-DOS Shell

If the "You do not have a current mouse driver..." dialog box appeared the first time you started MS-DOS Shell, you had the choice of disabling the mouse or using the mouse anyway. MS-DOS Shell recorded your choice in a file called DOSSHELL.INI, which contains information about how MS-DOS Shell appears on your system.

NOTE: If you just installed a new mouse driver, you do not need to manually edit the DOSSHELL.INI file to enable the new mouse driver. MS-DOS Shell will automatically update the DOSSHELL.INI file the next time you start it.

If you chose the Disable Mouse option, MS-DOS Shell added the following line to your DOSSHELL.INI file: 
   mouseinfo=<version>,disabled
However, if you chose the Use Mouse Anyway option, MS-DOS Shell added this line: 
   mouseinfo=<version>,ignore
The <version> parameter represents the version number of the mouse driver MS-DOS Shell detected on your system.

To either enable or disable your mouse, you must manually change the "mouseinfo=" (without the quotation marks) line in the DOSSHELL.INI file.

If you originally chose Disable Mouse, and you want to enable your mouse, follow this procedure:

  1. Use a text editor to open your DOSSHELL.INI file. If you want to use MS-DOS Editor, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER

    edit <drive>:\<directory>\dosshell.ini

    where <drive> is your hard disk drive and <directory> is your MS-DOS directory. For example, if your hard disk is drive C and your MS-DOS directory is called DOS, type the following command:

    edit c:\dos\dosshell.ini

  2. Find the "mouseinfo=" (without the quotation marks) line and change it to read as follows

    mouseinfo=<version>,ignore

    where <version> is the version number of the mouse driver MS-DOS Shell detected on your system.
  3. Save the file and quit the text editor. If you're using MS-DOS Editor, choose Exit from the File menu. When MS-DOS Editor displays a dialog box prompting you to save your file, choose the Yes button or press ENTER.
If you originally chose Use Mouse Anyway and you want to disable your mouse, follow this procedure:

  1. Use a text editor to open your DOSSHELL.INI file. If you want to use MS-DOS Editor, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER

    edit <drive>:\<directory>\dosshell.ini

    where <drive> is your hard disk drive and <directory> is your MS- DOS directory. For example, if your hard disk is drive C and your MS-DOS directory is called DOS, type the following command:

    edit c:\dos\dosshell.ini

  2. Find the "mouseinfo=" (without the quotation marks) line, and change it to read as follows:

    mouseinfo=<version>,disabled

  3. Save the file and quit the text editor. If you're using MS-DOS Editor, choose Exit from the File menu. When MS-DOS Editor displays a dialog box prompting you to save your file, choose the Yes button or press ENTER.

REFERENCES

For information about using MS-DOS Shell, see Chapters 3 and 8 of the Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 "User's Guide and Reference" or Chapter 2 of the "User's Guide" for version 6.0 or 6.2.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/13/2003
Keywords:KB96706
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.