Windows 7: Kensington Trackball OK In Vista But Not In Win7 Vista Compatibility

I have a Kensington Trackball (Expert Mouse) model 64217, which is the old grey 4 button billiard ball style trackball and which is far and away my preferred mouse device (it’s been around since Windows XP days). Kensington got considerable grief (and rightly so in my opinion) when Vista came out for not providing driver support for this mouse in Vista.

I was fortunate in being able to find a version of Kensington Mouseworks (6.2.2) which installed under Vista and supports my Trackball perfectly...even though Kensington provides no direct support for it under Vista. It provides driver support for not only the Trackball but about 50 or so other mouse devices. My Vista system is Vista Home Premium SP2, 32 bit and I must have been fortunate in finding a combination of Vista levels and Mouseworks driver that still supports my Trackball perfectly under Vista (even though many others have not been able to get their older Trackballs to operate under Vista).

My problem now is that I am migrating my computers from Vista Home Premium 32 bit to Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit but have been unable to complete this change because Mouseworks 6.2.2 will no longer work properly for me under Windows 7. It simply does not provide the support for the various button programming, etc. that it did under my Vista system. In other words, the problem others were experiencing when moving to Vista is now showing up for me when moving to Win 7.

I figured that I would be able to solve this problem by installing Mouseworks 6.2.2 under Vista SP2 compatibility mode in Windows 7 but no luck. Even after installing it using the Win 7 compatibility troubleshooting feature, Mouseworks still does not operate under Win 7 as it did under Vista (under Win 7, I only get the functions of a basic mouse without the Kensington programmability.

I have also tried downloading Kensington's more recent driver packages (Trackballworks). Those packages only support Kensington’s newer trackballs and will not install with an older Trackballs like mine connected (could Kensington possibly make this any more difficult or show any less sensitivity to their loyal customers?). Kensington's so called customer support has been no help with this.

I’ve tried using the Trackball under other packages such as “MS Intellipoint” and “X-Mouse” but again, I can only get *SOME* of the programmable functions of Mouseworks but not all of the ones I need. Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve this? It seems as if my best shot is to get Mouseworks to install under Vista compatibility mode under Win 7 and I frankly don’t understand why it won’t do so.

Thanks for any help or feedback.

Maybe you should be using Kensington Trackballworks instead of Mouseworks?

http://accoblobstorageus.blob.core.w...84f0462b50.exe

The above is a download link from here:

Software & Drivers - Kensington

It's the first one listed.

I had some issues with freeze-ups at work and they gave me a link to a newer version than they had listed on their site, but I think this one is probably the latest one since it was posted last month.

I realize that you don't have the same trackball that I do, and that this may not work, but I would give it a try at the very least. Mine is a 4-button trackball and it has a scroll ring around the ball.

Hope it works for you, but you won't know until you give it a try.

Donald

Does Kensington offer 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the programs you mentioned? It's a grey area as to whether this utility is a driver or a program. Windows 7 64 bit will RUN 32 bit programs but not always 32 bit drivers and that may be your problem. If possible you may need to find a 64 bit version and then see if that works. I an a die hard trackball user myself so I can understand why you want to get all the buttons working. I have a Logitech M570 wireless and a Logitech Trackman Wheel USB.

Yes, they do offer both 32 and 64 bit drivers. A driver is really a program anyway, so I find it strange that 64 bit Windows 7 treats them differently, but it really doesn't matter since this driver is available for both. The download like I provided takes you to both. I don't remember if one installation program is used for both types of systems or if you choose the version of Windows you're running, but it works on the Win 7/64 system I use at work.

A driver is more than just a program, and I have seen Windows 7 64 bit reject 32 bit drivers. I have some install packages that are 32 and 64 bit and some that have separate 32 bit and 64 bit install packages. It can make it hard to keep track of some times. Hopefully the OP can find something that works.

True, a driver program is handled a bit differently than a typical program, but it is coded like a program, works like a program, and is essentially a program. How Windows handles programs designated as "drivers" is a different story. So, depending on your viewpoint, it is or isn't, a program.

It is a shame that some (or maybe all) 32 bit drivers don't work in 64 bit environments.

Donald

I do believe there is a bigger difference than that and it has to do with the way Windows handles the actual driver files installed by the installer/program. If I tried to explain it, I know I would only make a mess of it, so I'll leave it at that. Either way 64 bit Windows 7 won't accept 32 bit drivers.

Thanks for the responses. By doing some Google research, I have found a number of instances where some people using Win 7 64 bit have been successful in getting the same Trackball as mine to configure and operate successfully. They apparently did so by either installing Mouseworks 6.2.2 (the same version as I have) on Win 7 in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode (NOT Vista compatibility mode) or by copying the Kensington Trackball drivers (KMW_KBD, KMW_SYS, KMW_LIB, and KMW_USB) to the C:Windows\System32\Drivers folder and going to the Device Manager and pointing the "Human Interface Devices" and "Mice and other pointing devices" driver fields directly to them.

Others have apparently tried those methods without success. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency on this. I personally tried both of those methods and neither worked for me. The bottom line seems to be that some have been able to get the 64217 Trackball to work properly under Win 7 64 bit with the Kensington Mouseware software and others have not. After spending more time than I care to admit on the subject, I have been unable to find any explanation for why those work on some Win 7 systems and not on other apparently identical Win 7 systems. As I pointed out in a previous thread, Trackballworks will not support this device either.

In case anyone else is experiencing the same problem, I WAS successful in finally getting my Trackball to work under Win 7 by using another program that I found called "X-Mouse Button Control" http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/X...tonControl.htm. It's a great program and after playing with it for a while, I was able to get it to provide all of the same functions I had used under Kensington's software. Since others may use different functions under the trackball than I do, XMBC may not provide all of the functions for others (such as chording). It's worth trying however.

The Trackball buttons map to the buttons in this software as follows:

"Left Button" = Lower-left button
"Right Button = Lower-right button
"Middle Button" = Upper-left button
"Mouse Button 4" = Upper-right button

You can map these buttons to whichever button function you wish (left-click, right-click, etc). In addition, you can set the buttons to represent hotkeys in specific applications by using the "Simulated Keys (undefined)" command provided in the list of commands for each button. You can add whatever application you wish via the "Add" button on the left of the panel then set the "Simulated Keys" command to whatever hotkey you wish for that particular application.

As I mentioned previously, this program doesn't provide ALL of the functions that Kensington's did but it provides enough for my particular needs.

Thanks for the response. I did try the latest version of Trackballworks without success. The first time you try to configure it after installation, it displays pictures of the only devices that it will recognize. As you can imagine, it only shows Kensington's most recent and current trackballs, such as the newer Expert Mouse (64325), Slimblade, Orbit, etc. It wouldn't even let me get started configuring my older model.

As I pointed out in another post in this thead however, I finally WAS successful in finally getting my Trackball to work under Win 7 by using another program that I found called "X-Mouse Button Control" http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/X...tonControl.htm. It's a great program and after playing with it for a while, I was able to get it to provide all of the same functions I had used under Kensington's software. Since others may use different functions under the trackball than I do, XMBC may not provide all of the functions for others (such as chording). It's worth trying however.

Well, it looks like your diligence in finding something that works paid off. Nice to hear you finally got it working.