Sunday, April 13, 2008

Work around for KB938371 disabling HID-compliant input devices

After a few days of non-working mice, someone found a work around for KB938371. As I noted here and here, Vista Update 938371 disabled two the three mice I have I on my main home machine. Here's the work around that actually worked for me:

  • Just go to device manager -> HID-devices -> Unknown Device and search for drivers.
  • When prompted for how to search for driver software, select "Browse my computer for driver software"
  • Enter "C:\windows\winsxs" for the driver location and press the "Next" button.
  • If you get a popup saying "this is an unsigned driver...", just allow Windows to install the driver.

At this point, Windows should select the appropriate driver and your mouse will start working again.  When I tried this, only had one of the non-working mice plugged in.  When I followed those steps, the mouse started working.  I plugged the other mouse in and Windows enabled it without any prompting.

I went in to Device Manage and both mice were listed as "HID-compliant mouse" under "Mice and other pointing devices".  Just to be safe, I selected one the mice, right-clicked into "Properties, selected the "Driver" tab on the dialog that opened up.  I clicked the "Driver Details" button and the mouse was using mouclass.sys and mouhid.sys drivers, located in c:\windows\system32\drivers, which is what they were supposed to be using.

This tip was originally posted here and I came across it here.  I'm happy that I have my mouse functionality back, but how did this get past Microsoft's testing?  I saw too many people reporting this, it's not an isolated case.  I have a mouse that comes with my Wacom table that wasn't affected by this snafu, but what about the people who just had regular USB mice?  They were/are pretty much screwed by an update that can't be uninstalled with running System Restore. 

I still want to know what happened and why 938371 toasted my HID-compliant hardware.  Was there something broken already with my Vista installation and 938371 was just a symptom of the problem, or did 938371 actually break something?

I'm not allowing MS to automatically update my PC anymore.  That requires a certain level of trust that MS is going to push down updates that will be beneficial.  They just blew that trust.  I'll take the updates, but I'm going to decide if and when they get installed.

I was asked offline why I have three mice.  It's pretty simple (almost makes sense).  My day to day mouse is a Logitech MX™700.  It's a cordless mouse that uses rechargeable batteries.  It's been the best mouse that I have ever used and I continue to use it under Vista even though Logitech never ported the MX700 drivers to Vista.  It has a little dock that charges the batteries.  I almost always forget to put the mouse back in it's dock and a every few days, the batteries give out.  When that happens, I place it back in it's dock and use a Dell USB optical mouse while the MX700 is charging.   The third mouse is a digitizer mouse that comes with my Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet.  That mouse works, but only on it's little pad.  It was OK enough to use while tracking down this problem, but I wouldn't want it to be my everyday mouse.

Update: 2/22/2010
I repaved this machine with Windows 7 about 6 months ago and replaced the MX700 with a Logitech mouse that is supported under Windows 7.  For anyone that is still having this problem, consider Windows 7.  It’s much nicer than Vista.

93 comments:

  1. I tried your solution, but it told me my drivers were up to date. My mouse still does'nt work. Vista ruined my week-end and makes me seriosly look at apple for my next PC

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  2. I didn't get that message, did you try removing the drivers and adding them back?

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  3. Chris,
    Thank you, thank you thank you!!!! it worked after deleting the drivers. I spent countless wasted hours searching for a solution. Not even MicroSoft could provide the answer.
    Much appreciated.
    "You don't know what'ca got til it's gone"
    John

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  4. I got a PS/2 mouse working pretty quickly using your workaround. That's the first approach I recommend, then people have a mouse to try and get USB mice working.

    I was able today to get an older Logitech trackball working by uninstalling all USB devices in device managaer, and then plugging it in and letting Windows look for it. I think it essentially ran off some older legacy driver.

    I've gotten my Logitech wireless keyboard mouse combo working now. That required downloading the current Logitech software from their site and installing it. It was over 50mb, but it worked.

    It has the benefit of giving me a battery status on my wireless devices.

    I turned on restore and created a restore point for the first time.

    Support said that SP1 may remove all restore points, so I'm holding off on SP1 for a while, but likely I can use the Logitech software to fix the mouse if it wipes it out again.

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  5. Hey Chris, just like Anonymous I received the same prompt that my drivers are up to date, due to this I am not able to install the one from windows\winsxs. I tried both disabling then install and uninstalling it than install but it does not change.

    I have tried restoring my Vista as well to an earlier configuration and the mouse will work fine for several seconds until it starts reinstalling the USB and making it an HID-Compliant Device.

    This has been my problem for more than a week now and can't make my computer work at home. I need to use it badly!

    Hope you could help me and others still experiencing this issue.

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  6. Jiv,

    I can suggest a couple of things. One would be to delete the USB Hub that Device Manager shows that you mouse is connected to. Windows will then rediscover the USB Hub and and then reassign the drivers.

    Another thing to try would be to plug the mouse into a USB port running off a different USB hub. That too should force a new driver assignment.

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. Someone just left a comment that was totally bizarre. I've deleted it because it had no value. If the person who left that comment is still reading this post, I have a couple of points to make:
    1: I don't work for Microsoft, please register your complaints with the right party.
    2: I'm trying to help out people who hit the same problem that I can across. I figured the more exposure that this problem had, the more data would be available for Microsoft to fix it.
    3: It's hard to take a vulgar complaint seriously when you can't spell "incompetent".

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  9. a thousand thanks from germany, dude. this is the tip i was searching for for the last couple of weeks (!). thanks again

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  10. Thanks for this article, this finally solved my problem with all usb-device related problems I had during the last two weeks.

    If it doesn't work on the first try, just deintsall all related driver, unplug the device and try it again. For some reason my Logitech trackball needed 3 reinstalls but fortunatly it works fine now.

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  11. Thank you so much. I have been trying to find a solution for a month, it worked great!

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  12. I am in your debt, sir.
    Thank you for doing what Microsoft could not, (or would not).

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  13. I have never seen nor heard of your blog before, but I have been struggling with this problem for over a week on my Bootcamp-running Mac and I don't know how to thank you!

    Your fix worked right away with no problems at all, and I can use ALL my wireless USB devices again - including Apple licensed ones! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

    Shame on Miro$oft for doing this to us... but I swear, I'm going to subscribe to your blog.

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  14. DUDE YOU ROCK!!!!!!
    Fixed me right up, was dying without my track ball. Thanks for taking the time to post this.
    Bill
    projectoldwing.com

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  15. It seems the problem is not exclusive to Vista SP1. I've just installed Win XP SP3 on my laptop and now can't use any USB mouse. Is there a Win XP version of this work-around?

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  16. HI, I tryed the trick but when Vista find the driver it says that cannot install the USB Root HUB because "this operation requires an interactive window station".

    Please help!!!!

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  17. I've never come across the "this operation requires an interactive window station" message, but after reading some stuff after searching on that message, it may be a conflict with another app or service. I would close or stop everything that you could. Stuff like fireall, antivirus, anti-spyware, etc. I saw that tip here. I saw a few mentions of "Comodo Firewall with Defense+" causing problems with the installation of a USB mouse.

    You may also want to install Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista.

    For anyone curious about what a "window station" is, this is a pretty good description.

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  18. oh my gosh!! a two second answer after hours and hours of attempts!

    got my logitech v320 working

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  19. Thanks for the info. A wasted day, but at least my mice work.

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  20. Hi Chris, I`ve a question. My pc with Vista Home Premium sistematically looses all my restore points and this is killimg me. Today started loosing the restore point just after I create it!!!
    What can I do to resolve the problem???

    Thanks

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  21. Chris,

    Mnay thanks - reinstall drivers from windows\winsxs worked

    Jon

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  22. Dear Chris

    I have a problem for the last week with my USB HOTAS Cougar Joystick as you know...
    When i am running Hotas Cougar Control Panel i am getting the messenge "Device detection error...

    E8 Ensure that the device is connected and worked properly".

    I have un plugged the USB cable and plugged it again, I have uninstall the hole drivers plush software... NOTHING..
    Uninstall and install clear the registry reboot unplug the cable and put it in an other USB port... Nothing...

    I have Windows Vista 64bit.

    Thank you
    Michalis

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  23. Michalis,

    Have you tried the ThrustMaster site for support on this joystick? They may have some diagnostic tool to verify that the joystick is being recognized.

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  24. Dear Chris

    Well If I change USB port windows is finding that something new is connected! I have uninstall the device and plug it without drivers and Windows found the device but asking for me to install the drivers.

    (Sorry for my English).
    I can't think that its a problem of my joystick cause it was working last week. :(

    I have found this:
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1FD9BBC8-624E-442D-A36A-169C4B942BEF&displaylang=en

    BUT I can't install it...I got an error when i am running the file!

    Michalis

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  25. Hi Chris,

    More good news regarding the USB driver problems. First of all:

    Michalis: The Microsoft "Fix" you have found (KB940199) does not work at all!! I got the same suggestions when I had problems and I downloaded it like suggested, but when I tried to install this fix, I got an error message saying that my system didn't apply to this fix and it would not be installed! I would recommend to follow Chris's instructions in the first post, since this seems to work very good!

    Second: This workaround applies to many other USB driver problems. I bumped into this one evening, but my main problem wasn't just the mouse/keyboard. I had a lot of USB driver problems, and therefore I didn't look for any specific device problems. However, as mentioned, I bumped into this site and I tried the workaround.

    Basically it seems like this solution works for a lot of USB driver problems. I had problems with my mouse, camera, mobile phone, iPod and also general USB memory sticks (not the keyboard :-) ). My keyboard worked fine if I used the same USB port every time, however if I changed it to another USB port (physical port) it became unusable.... I've read several other posts where they describe a problem with Vista "loosing" their drivers, and how to get them back from FileRepository. This solution worked for a little while for some of my devices but not all, and in the end it didn't work at all!!

    Basically: If you have any kind of problems with your USB drivers not being found (for any kind of device), try the solution in the first post by Chris before you spend hours and hours figuring out why Vista don't "see" your drivers, or trying to install "fixes" from Microsoft who won't even get installed!!

    Chris: Thank you A LOT for this excellent solution, it has solved a lot of frustration. Best regards from Norway!!


    -KÃ¥re

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  26. Thanks a lot for your tips. It works well :D

    ~Rid

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  27. Dear Chris,

    I am writing in the hope that you might have a solution to a similar Windows Vista problem. Suddenly, I can no longer use my memory pen or digital camera SD card. This is because when I insert them into the USB/SD ports, although the PC knows they are there, when I go to "Computer" to open them up, all I have left are drives (C:) (D:) and (E:). The PC has several USB ports that used to appear as (H:) (I:) (J:) (K:) etc., and I could just stick peripherals in any port and open up the appropriate drive. These drive letters seem to have disappeared since Service Pack 1 and other updates were downloaded (but I can't uninstall SP1 because Cleanup has deleted some files that the uninstall requires).
    If I insert the memeory pen and go to Device Manager, it appears as "Unknown Device" with no driver, goes off looking for a driver and claims it cannot find one. This is rubbish as it's a Vista compatible flash drive that says on the packet there are no drivers required ... and they never were until these updates took away my drive letters.
    I ventured into Disk Management(the area where you're supposed to be able to reassign new letters to your USB ports) but again they do not show up there, all I have is (C:) (D:) and (E:) - and I didn't dare try to partition the C: drive in case I mucked it up!

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. All the best, Sue.

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  28. Sue,

    I found the following tip post at www.thedave.ca:



    1. Open a Windows Explorer window by right clicking on Start and then clicking on Explore.
    2. In the address bar, type C:\windows\inf and press Enter.
    3. Find and then right click on the file named INFCACHE.1.
    4. Select Properties.
    5. Click on the Security tab.
    6. Click on Edit to edit the permissions of the file.
    7. Click on Add to add User Groups.
    8. Type Administrators in the User Groups field and click on OK.
    9. Set Administrators to Full Control and click on OK.
    10. Move or delete the file INFCACHE.1.
    11. Reinstall a device to force Windows to rebuild the INFCACHE.1 file (DO NOT reinstall the same external hard drive that you were having issues detecting before. Please connect another USB device other than the one that Vista had an issue detecting).

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  29. Chris,

    Thank you so much for replying, and so quickly. I had actually read Dave's post whilst browsing for a solution, but I failed to identify it as a solution to part of my problem ... I was looking for a solution that would get my drive letters back in 'Computer', so that I could use the memory pen, SD card etc...

    The likes of me are lucky to have the likes of you guys to identify what the problem is, as I realise now that I had overlooked the main issue. Thank you!

    Anyway, I followed instructions 1 - 11, and YES the PC was suddenly happy to acknowledge that the drivers were in place. I then made the mistake of putting the memory pen into a different USB port, and had to go through 1-11 again, and, with a lack of new USB devices to trick it, it was a stroke of luck when I rebooted just now and it was once again happy to load the drivers. However, after all that, I still cannot use the memory pen (or camera SD card) because they do not open up automatically when I plug them in (and yes, the autoplay radio button is checked for all peripherals). The only way I know of to access them is to go in to 'Computer' and double-click - but they no longer appear in 'Computer' ...

    I wonder how many others apart from me feel like buying a copy of Windows XP and wiping out Vista in the hope of having a PC that you can use for simple tasks such as editing Word Documents without having to close down lots of windows and coax the monkey into opening a document without to answer all its questions first. I recall being a bit dismayed about having to be a guinea pig at the time when I needed a PC and suddenly this was all they had in the shops, but the little devil is rather taking over my writing time, and is starting to remind me of the film 'I Robot'!

    Sorry for using your space for a rant. I guess I should take up knitting.

    Cheers!
    Sue

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  30. Nice step wise explanation... thanks for your efforts...

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  31. Thank you so much for your work around! I have an issue with my 4-way scroll wheel (Dell optical mouse) where if the horizontal scroll was working then the vertical scroll will not work and vice-versa. Thanks to your solution now I truly have 4-way scrolling.

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  32. Chris....Here's a question. If I already have SP-1 on my Vista install and I am being asked to install KB938371, what is going on? I tried once to install the update, but got an error, so I haven't tried since. Since I use a Logitech cordless mouse, and having read the assorted issues, I am loathe to create problems for myself, but is this an update I really NEED to have if I already have SP-1 installed??? If not, how can I get rid of it so I don't keep getting an alert?

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  33. Okay, here is another puzzling observation. I have viewed installed updates and found this is already installed? Of note, I am using a slipstreamed version of Vista with SP-1 already in it, so I am curious why I would need to reinstall this, much less why I am being asked for it if it is already there. I could certainly understand if my custom slipstreamed install created an anomoly or two, but I must admit this is a bit baffling. I would prefer, since I already have it, to make this dissapear from my update alerts, but I'd like to know for sure what is going on first before I arbitrarily get rid of it. I just want to cover my bases and know I'm not making some sort of mistake that will haunt me later down the road.

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  34. James,

    If you have SP1 installed, the 938371 update will only a partial set of files, files there were updated post SP1. You are not reinstalling, just updating some of bits.

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  35. Thanks Chris! Got a USB memory stick working for your workaround! Thanks very much! Chris P.

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  36. U are the MAN it works

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  37. Hi, just want to say thanks for your tip! You fixed my mouse! Thanks so much!!

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  38. You are amazing. Windows 7 how has USB mouse - what a feature!

    MICROSOFT PLEASE SORT THESE DUMB PROBLEMS OUT

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  39. díky Chris ty zachráněný můj život.

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  40. Thank you so much! My problem began when my old mouse physically broke, and I got a new USB mouse. It would only work on one of the ports. This fixed the problem!

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  41. thankssss..its workingggg

    I was goin nuts, but this helps me so much!!!

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  42. Thank you - your fix did not work for me but it got me on the right track.

    My symptom was that I would continue to get "your driver is up to date" USB Browser mouse.
    Uninstalling it, and/or all USB Host controllers and letting them redetect had no effect.

    The resolution was:

    - Plug in the mouse. In the Device Manager it showed up as "unknown device" under "mice and other pointing devices"
    - Right click on it, choose Update driver software, Browse my computer, LET ME PICK FROM A LIST OF DEVICE DRIVERS ON MY COMPUTER
    - Choose anything other than USB Browser mouse

    It resolved my issue with 2 mice

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  43. you, my dear friend, are a genius. Thank you so much

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  44. my mouse, I believe a MX500, is listed as HID-compliant device. It does not work so I try updating driver software with C:\windows\winsxs but it can't find any driver software in that folder and then it says my drivers are already up to date. What should I try next?

    The date on my driver is listed as 6/21/2006. It's an HP dv9000 series laptop and the mouse used to work.

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  45. actually my mouse is a MX700, does anybody know what I should try next to fix it?

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  46. you are a star - was getting the same message when trying to install a sony dr150 printer - hours scanning the sony website and google and came across your site - followed your instructions bu just did the browse c:/ - i selected the printer installation file and hey presto within seconds it worked.

    you are a legend mate.

    Jon
    UK

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  47. Thanks so much Chris.

    I've spent so much time and frustration with this bug. Your solution simply worked.

    Note that in my case the driver was not found under HID but under "Other Devices".

    Thanks,

    Amichai
    ISRAEL

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  48. Hey! Big thanks! ^^

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  49. Chris,
    I have this problem with my mouse but it does not appear in hid it appears as unknown device under the heading of USB controllers.it says there are no drivers installed for this device. have you any ideas how to fix this?
    thanks,
    Brian

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  50. hi
    mice problem but this time in device mamager it says that the device works properly i really doesn't what shall i do its a zebronics and i am u sing vista

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  51. Hi Chris
    haven't been able to use a external mouse for 7 MONTHS !! used your work around and it fixed it in 5 minutes !! THANKS A LOT you are now in my will !! its just a shame i'm skint :(

    Gaz

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  52. Brian mine was EXACTLY the same just uninstall the HID then go down to the mouse driver section go to update driver and follow the instructions Chris left at the top of the page and re-boot !!!
    Good Luck
    Gaz

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  53. OMG You're a genius! I tried installing the driver and everything for 1 over hour. Searched for lots of solutions online but none of them worked! Finally saw your site with this solution and now my mouse works! Thanks a lot!

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  54. Thanks for the help Chris! I kept plugging and unplugging my mouse from the USB and it still didn't work, even after I tried to install the mouse software from Microsoft's website. Then I came across your post here. I tried you suggestion and it gave me "your driver is up to date" message. It didn't work at first but after I unplugged the mouse and plugged it again, and it worked! :D

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  55. Wow, it worked.
    THANKS!!!!

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  56. You are a ROCK STAR!!!!!! My IT Consultant (i.e. the spouse) and I thank you for your excellent help.
    BTW, my problem was that the computer didn't even recognize the usb mouse as a HID - it was showing up in the Device Manager as "Unknown Device".
    I just followed your instructions pretending that the device was in the right category and it still worked!
    The device is a GE ultra-mini retractable mouse (model #HO98768 in case anyone else has the same problem).

    Thanks again!!!!!

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  57. A million thanks. For some unknown reason my USB mouse has decided to work only on one of the oports directly on top of my case. I was afraid it would get damaged there. I know have it back in it's old place off of the hub on my monitor.

    I had to power off and power on the mouse to tget the battery status to show up again in the Logitech status monitor. Other than that, it's fine again.

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  58. Thanks for this post Chris! USB Mouse just started working again.

    jamXboree

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  59. My HID compliant Mouse isnt working with and error #10 can u pleas help me it said already i already installed the latest driver for this hardware... im using WindoWs Vista SP 1 thnx just pm me on my ym. jubet321_camagay and my e-add is jubet321_camagay@yahoo.com

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  60. Did you try deleting the driver and installing them from the winsxs folder?

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  61. hello from germany.... i have the same problem like john but i dont know, which driver to delete ! please help me... i got crazy
    thanks a lot in advance,
    phil

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  62. Hello Anonymous from Germany. You didn't say what kind of mouse that you were using, no way of telling what the driver is without knowing what the hardware is. If it's running off the standard mouse driver, then go after the two mouse drivers files listed in my message.

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  63. hi chris,

    im jeff, im also having the same problem.

    i have tried to delete the hubs and auto install them. then i have tried to plug in the device then use your advice but it still doesnt work. im using a microsoft compact optical mouse..

    please help..

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  64. Jeff, you might want to try doing the steps list at the top of this post a second time. I didn't have to delete the hubs, I just needed to pick the drivers from the winsxs folder.

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  65. Dear Chris,
    I am on Win 7 on a desktop Intel Dual Core 32bit machine. Recently we moved house, and when resetting up the computer (professionally packed my me back into all original casings and packing) the Creative optical USB mouse wouldn't work. It drove me nuts. Tried 3 others, all the same result. Tried Reinstalling drivers, Win7 message said driver update failed. Tried another update of drivers, and it said that all up to drivers were already installed. No Mouse! Went to MS Mr Fixit Software and let Microsoft detect the issue. No fix, just another round of reinstall drivers.

    Checked drivers, and as you listed above it was using mouclass.sys and mouhid.sys drivers (not Creative drivers). Tried a pile of solutions from the internet. Rebooting, rolling back updates, and more. Nothing.

    Then found your Vista post above. Tried that (in desperation). IT WORKED.

    Exactly as you typed, and it worked.

    Brilliant.

    But I have no idea why this happened under Win 7! (and not related to any upgrades to Win 7, as that was months ago)

    Thanks a million for the tip!

    David Letts
    Abu Dhabi

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  66. David, you are the first person that has posted having this problem with Windows 7. I'm glad that this worked for you.

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  67. Hello...

    Still not working :( ...

    In device manage> HID-Devices , there's no Unknown Device...

    There's only *HID-compliant device* and *USB Human Interface Device* ...

    I already try the other method(administrators thingy), still not working ...

    Please Help!!! THX

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  68. @Anonymous:
    Do you have any "Unknown Device" items in Device Manager? If the mouse isn't showing up at all, then it may be a problem with the USB port or the USB drivers. I would try to find a way to reinstall the USB drivers (without the mouse installed) and see if that clears up the problem.

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  69. There are no *unknown device/s* there...

    My usb flash drives are working... but, mouse isn't....

    I tried to reinstall all the usb drivers... but still, when i put the mouse, it is in the HID and said *ready to use* ...

    Do you think reformatting can solve this?

    Thanks again....

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  70. @Anonymous,

    Without knowing the root cause of the problem, a fresh install of Vista should work, but it could happen again. If you are going to go that far to fix the problem, you might as well upgrade to Windows 7.

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  71. Thanks so much for your tip!!!!!! Couldn't find anything to fix this! THANK YOU!!!

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  72. Hi Chris, I'm having the same problem the last guy. I am running Win7. My mouse just quit working. Didn't install any new hardware/software, no changes in the way I use my computer. Came home yesterday and mouse didn't work. Tried 2 other mice...Any other ideas?? Thanks, Ava

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  73. Ava,

    Where there any updates applied recently? If there were, I would System Restore and roll back the machine to the point just before those updates. If the mouse works after that, then you will know that a Windows Update took out your mouse.

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  74. Hi and WOW it worked a treat 1st time.

    Now why can't "Microsoft" solve it.

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  75. HERE'S THE FIX: (thanks prettypat)

    This problem seems to be a vista problem - plug in your usb mouse at the same time as a mouse that works(!) - I then had to find the mouse in device manager - listed not as a mouse but as "unknown device" with a yellow exclamation point, right-click for properties, then re-install driver, then choose "browse for driver software on your computer," then on the next screen do not hit browse, but instead choose the option on the bottom of the dialog box: "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, "then scroll down until you find "Human Interface device compliant mouse" or it might just say HID-compliant mouse." VOILA - the mouse will now work! Bought three mice that didn't work before I found this solution!

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  76. Anyone, I'm reading all theses posts regarding WIN7 usb mouse not working properly. I just bought this Dell Dimension Inspiron and it has no PS2 jacks to use for a another mouse. The current mouse freezes everynow and then and its annoying as ever. I'm pretty sure it might be a windows "down"date issue. Any USB mouse after a while starts freezing on the screen and locking my puter at times. SUre could use some help. thanks.

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  77. ANyone, I just bought a brand spanking new Dell Inspiron. I'm having the same type of USB mouse issues. Any USB mouse over a period of time seems to freeze or stutter on my screen. Apparently this is only happening to WIN 7 usb mouse users. There's tons of forums with this same problem but no answers. Just trying to get some help, thanks.

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  78. Hey Chris, my mouse of this website, http://www.freshpromotions.com.au/desk-and-computer/computer-mouse/cordless-usb-mouse.html, does not work as in everything is installed and the mouse lights up red but the cursor does not move when the mouse moves. i've already tried the thing you suggested but it says its up to date or something.....

    please help and sorry if i dont make myself sound clear.

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  79. Hi Chris! I have the same problem.... :( I even tried installing the Logitech drivers.

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  80. Hi Camilo,

    I don't know if you are running Vista or Win 7, but have you tried all of the suggestions that I and other people have posted? I've banished Vista and repaved my machines with Windows 7 and the problem has never returned.

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  81. Hey Chris, i see u have helped tons of people already. I read all the comments, and still no luck for me.

    Here s the deal:

    in Device Manager > HIDs: tried to install every HID thing id find, no luck for my mouse --- OR it cant find any drivers for the HID device in the winsxs map

    in Device Manager > Mouses: i only see my touchpad

    in Device Manager > other map: unknown device, its not my mouse


    I dont even get a confirmation that my mouse is connected. (USB works, confirmed, mouse works on other computer, confirmed)

    Please help me

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  82. Koef,

    What operating system and which mouse are you using? If you don't get a confirmation when you connect the mouse, try another USB port.

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  83. Wow, thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! It works :)

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  84. Hadn't really put this together till I switched mice to day and had to figure out why the mouse stopped working and deletion the old driver didn't help Thanks Chris.

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  85. I am using a Logitech VX Nano on a Win7 64 machine. I rebooted after installing VirtualCloneDrive 5.4.5.0, and encountered the same symptoms you describe. After fruitlessly searching for a Logitech driver, I came upon this site and tried your solution:

    1. Go to Device Manager -> Unknown Device and search for drivers.

    2. When prompted for how to search for driver software, select "Browse my computer for driver software", and enter "C:\windows\winsxs" for the driver location and press the "Next" button.

    3. If you get a popup saying "this is an unsigned driver...", just allow Windows to install the driver.

    It worked - thanks!!

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  86. SIMILAR SOLUTION: Got the "HID-compliant device" error with both my wireless Logitech and wired HP mice in 32-bit Vista. Searching for drivers in the Windows/winsxs folder didn't work for me, but I finally got my HP mouse working through a similar method:

    NOTE: I still had use of my laptop's touchpad to do all this, but these steps should be possible w/ just a keyboard (& lots of patience). If the original post's solution didn't work, then I hope you find luck w/ this one!!

    1) Unplug the mouse you're trying to install

    2) Open C: drive --> Windows --> System32 --> Drivers folder

    3) Find & delete the files "mouclass.sys" & "mouhid.sys" I'm not a computer expert, but by deleting these and plugging your new mouse in, Windows will re-populate fresh versions of these files automatically (at least it did in my case)

    (You may need to change permissions before you can delete these files: Right-click on each file --> Properties --> Security tab --> Advanced --> Owner tab --> Edit --> choose your User name or Administrators --> click OK twice. Now back on Security tab, click Edit --> choose yourself again --> check "Full Control" under Allow in bottom window --> click OK. Finally, on Security tab, choose yourself & click OK) Repeat these steps for the other file, as you can only change security settings for one at a time.

    4) Plug the mouse you're trying to install back in.

    5) Open Device Manager, you'll see the familiar yellow exclamation point next to your unidentified device. Right-click on it, choose "Update Driver Software" --> go to "Browse my computer for driver software --> for the path under "Search for driver software in this location," enter C:\Windows\System32\drivers

    6) Click next/OK and it should actually install your mouse drivers correctly this time!!


    Again, while this worked perfectly for me, I cannot guarantee it'll work for you or not produce adverse effects. In case anything goes haywire, make sure you know how to "System Restore" to an earlier restore point and/or undo software changes. Best regards!

    -MC

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  87. you are a godsend, thank you very much

    ive been ripping my hair out over this

    thanks to your info i now <3 you almost as much as i hate vista

    thanks again

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  88. DAMN YOUR GOOD!! Thank you for this.

    Ron
    Philippines

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  89. Finally, after many months of tinkering and despair, I found your page. The first solution didn't work, but changing the driver on the mouse did. I feel like the weight of the world is lifted off my shoulders and I can use the computer without getting ticked off again!!! Thank you so much.

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  90. damn man, you rock!
    thanks for all the efforts chris!

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  91. cool man, after trying several hours to install my acme mouse, i found your post, ... and finally it worked for me too. thank you so so much!!!

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