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Is it somehow possible to use two mice in Windows 7? I think this could be useful; like using two fingers on a multi touch display...

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Aug 25 '09 at 13:45

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.
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Related: Why can't I use two or more keyboards/mice at the same time on one computer? – Ilari Kajaste Feb 1 '12 at 19:08
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Microsoft Research article referring to this idea: MultiPoint – Ilari Kajaste Feb 1 '12 at 19:10

11 Answers 11

up vote 12 down vote

You're looking for TeamPlayer.

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Correct link seems to be here. I have no idea if it works, since it's not free - though a tool like this really should be... – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Mar 24 '13 at 1:36
    
This one actually works. However, in my case, the effective mouse input update/refresh rate was reduced when I used it. – Sam Jun 29 '13 at 6:22
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If you're just looking for two, for noncommercial use, this is the right link. – Menasheh Jul 8 '16 at 1:34
up vote 11 down vote

I haven't tried it myself but Pluralinput looks to be another option.

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this is buggy but is beta in active development, this will have a nice future :) – José Roberto Araújo Júnior Mar 30 '13 at 18:10
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This didn't work for me with Windows 8; it thought both mice were just one mouse. – Sam Jun 29 '13 at 6:04
    
This worked for me after a reboot in Windows 7. Its a little buggy but works. Developer needs to add an option to flip the mouse image! – hooby3dfx Feb 24 '14 at 21:00
    
@sam are you sure? – Menasheh Jul 8 '16 at 1:23
    
@JoséRobertoAraújoJúnior it doesn't seem to be in active development anymore – Menasheh Jul 8 '16 at 1:23
up vote 9 down vote

yes, you can use two mice in MS Windows and have two cursors - if you like.

just check out EitherMouse http://www.eithermouse.com

Freeware, no ads, no nags.

it works on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.

individual settings:

  • multi-cursor
  • swap buttons
  • mirror cursors
  • set mouse speed
  • set double click speed
  • set scroll wheel lines
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what about win10? – user12363 Oct 22 '16 at 3:31
    
You can't move two mice at the same time with this. It draws a mouse cursor on screen and leaves it there when the other mouse starts moving and picks up from there when the other mouse starts moving again. – Mike de Klerk Dec 9 '16 at 11:57
up vote 7 down vote

Microsoft Touch SDK has this functionality.

Maybe this project on codeplex will be helpfully - http://multitouchvista.codeplex.com/

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This appears to treat multiple mice as multiple touches on a touch-screen, rather than multiple separate mouse pointers. I can't imagine a scenario where that would be useful. – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Mar 27 '13 at 22:43
    
@BlueRaja: It's a nice solution for multitouch developers who doesn't have multitouch screen... – itsho Apr 23 '13 at 17:56
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I don't think this is of much use to end-users. – Sam Jun 29 '13 at 6:09
up vote 5 down vote

I have been using two mice alternating (one on each side of my keyboard) for ergonomic reasons. Windows 7 allowed for this just fine for 2 years until a month ago or so, That is when the one on the left started to execute a double click if I clicked once. It also highlighted a whole word if I only wanted to place the cursor in a certain spot.

I asked my office professional for another mouse to check if this was a hardware issue - Nope! Same thing again. That's when I ran into EitherMouse and downloaded it. Alas, life is good again! No more crazy mouse behaviour.

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Is eithermouse.com what you're referring to? I guess as a new user, you might not be able to post such link. But also, your post smells a little bit like spam. But that links seems to be freeware? – Arjan May 21 '13 at 21:21
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This does not address the question on how to have multiple cursors. – AthomSfere May 21 '13 at 21:36
    
The website doesn't currently load for me, but from a cached Google version, it indicates that it just allows separate configuration (not use) for each mouse. – Sam Jun 29 '13 at 6:16
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@AthomSfere: Well, it does support multiple cursors. I've just downloaded the latest version and played in "Multi-Cursor" mode. It's almost working :) – dma_k Oct 31 '13 at 0:43
    
@dma_k Nice! I just looked at the site again and I do not see mention of that... But downloaded and confirmed! – AthomSfere Oct 31 '13 at 1:02
up vote 4 down vote

I was looking for collaborative screen sharing with two mice - found Screenhero . Free for now as it is in beta. Good times.

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Woah that actually looks really cool, I'm impressed. – Simon Sheehan Oct 17 '13 at 15:21
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Well, one needs to have two PCs and one is connecting to another (like Multimouse in post above). What the question is about: can one connect two mouses or keyboards to one PC and use them independently? – dma_k Oct 31 '13 at 0:06
    
@dma_k You're absolutely right, maybe I should have added this as a comment rather than an answer. My bad. – saranicole Nov 16 '13 at 17:12
up vote 2 down vote

I Considered all of the above Apps that claim to do this task. The BEST, most TRANSPARENT, USER FRIENDLY, SMALL LEARNING CURVE app was Plural Input

Currently in Beta Version but very good.

  1. Download and Install Plural Input
  2. Make sure Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 is installed too.
  3. Install Plural Input Drivers over your existing additional mouse driver under: Control Panel >> Device Manager >> Mice & other pointing devices.
  4. You will find the Driver under C:\Program Files (x86)\Pluralinput\Driver
  5. Install Correct Driver! Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 have their own 32 and 64 bit driver
  6. Setup Plural input
  7. Run Plural Input
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Hello Verus and welcome to Superuser. Unfortunatly your answer is the same as Danny's. If you have something to contribute, please edit the existing answer – nixda Mar 16 '14 at 15:23
up vote 1 down vote

I have no idea if this works, but here is an AutoIt script that claims to allow two cursors at once from two separate mice.

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The author says in the code comments that clicking isn't possible, so this probably isn't of much real world value. – Sam Jun 29 '13 at 6:15
up vote 1 down vote

Download the free GlovePIE. Its website states:

You can even use it to control multiple mouse pointers with multiple mice.

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The site has gone... – AntonK Mar 21 at 0:50
up vote 1 down vote

You can use Microsoft Multi-Point SDK (http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-sdk/ , for people who have basic developer/math skills) or Mouse Mischief (http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/en-us/default.aspx) for those who are teachers. P.S. never can you have two mouse cursors because usually the application draws them not the windows OS. I am researching this for my Kinect project here which will emulate multiple mice device and input to them from multiple Kinect users: http://kinectmultipoint.codeplex.com. Keep checking up on it because I am researching a better method then Microsoft's DSF(Device simulation framework) to do so. For the most part, the Kinect code is close to working but I am still working on the mouse simulation part.

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I know this is old but I have a mouse emulator I am working on which will allow anyone to distribute my project for anyone still interested. – jeffery Dec 30 '16 at 22:15
up vote 1 down vote

May I suggest a different approach, Multi User OS Interaction. Associating the control of different process's to multiple windows sessions. Implementing a shared desktop solution for windows, that would allow multiple windows sessions to share one desktop. Obviously every aspect of the OS should be accounted for this to work correctly. Multiuser OS development could allow interaction to work over remote sessions. This could greatly improve final value to high end multiprocessor hardware. Or multiscreen multiplayer game functionality.

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Can you explain how to implement this in a step by step manner? – Jason Aller Apr 1 '15 at 5:03

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