Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 18 of 18

Thread: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Beans
    1

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    This issue has been bothering me for the past few days and the solution presented here just worked. I just wanted to thank you all.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Beans
    2

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Quote Originally Posted by Platypus222 View Post
    OK, so since the original post, I've upgraded to Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10, so let's see what's different.

    In Windows, go to Bluetooth Settings (in the Start Menu, type in "bluetooth" and choose "Change Bluetooth settings"). There, go to the Hardware tab and select your primary Bluetooth radio (for me, one had a physical location and the other had the first one as its location, so I picked the first one). Hit the "Properties" button and go to the "Advanced" tab. Here, you'll want to copy down the Name and Address.

    OK, now, on Ubuntu, go to the terminal and type the same command as before, although a sudo would probably help:
    Code:
    sudo hciconfig hciX name "name"
    where "name" refers to the Name as stated in Windows (including the quotes). As I said before, you could also go into the Bluetooth Settings in Ubuntu (System > Preferences > Bluetooth) and change the "Friendly name" to match that in Windows.

    I would assume you could change it the other way around (match Windows to match Ubuntu), but I think this is probably the easier route to take.

    Now, I'm not sure if you got this far or not, but I had to cover my bases. If it's still not working at this point, you just have to make sure that the mouse is using the same PIN on each OS. When connecting the mouse, it should ask you for a PIN. You can have no PIN (not a big deal for a mouse), but you have to have no PIN on both. If it doesn't ask for a PIN, then I would assume it's using the default PIN for the mouse, which can probably be found on the underside of the mouse or in the documentation that came with it. If you still can't find it, Googling the specific model of mouse may help. You then need to try putting in the default PIN on the other OS for the PIN.

    At this point, it should work, but if it's not, let me know (as a reply here, not another PM) with specifics.

    Good luck!
    Thank you for your instructions, but unfortunately for me, the problem is not solved.

    I did every step as you stated, 1) found the name and address of the bluetooth radio under windows, 2) restart to ubuntu, make sure the bluetooth radio has the same address, and change it tot the same name. 3) connect the mouse in ubuntu 4) restart into windows, the mouse is still NOT connected automatically.

    I've tried to switch off the mouse while restarting into different system, but no help.

    I also tried to configured under ubuntu first, without connecting to the mouse, restart into windows, connect the mouse, then restart into ubuntu, the mouse is not connected either.

    So now everytime I boot into a system different than last time, I've to remove the bluetooth mice first (the one remembered by the system, but couldn't be connected), and the run a setup as adding a new device. I need to do this regardless booting into ubuntu or windows.

    I'm using the Apple might mouse, do you think this could be the cause of the problem? Or I'm doing something else wrong?

    Thanks for your help in advance.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Beans
    6

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Have this same problem. Vista SP2, and actually using openSUSE 11.4. Hey, at least its Linux. I think that the GUIs for the "pairing" process in each OS are hiding from the user the fact that it is using a default passcode for the mouse, or no passcode. So, you end up with a mismatch between the OSes, and the mouse won't join the piconet of the penultimately paired OS. I haven't found out how to peer into the inner workings of Vista to figure out what it is using for a passcode for my mouse (or none) which is a MS Bluetooth Laser 5000. I think with the bluez stack in Linux, the passcode should be found in a file under /etc.

    I'm going to try this sequence: find the local device's name (the BT adapter or dongle) in Windows, set the BT adapter's name to that in Linux, pair the mouse to Linux, find the passcode for the mouse in Linux, start Windows, let Windows complain that a mouse is requesting a passcode, enter the passcode from Linux, go on with life.

    I'll update on whether or not that works the next time I have 45 minutes to spare while I reboot a few times.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Beans
    6

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Quote Originally Posted by gregdavisfromnj View Post

    I'm going to try this sequence: find the local device's name (the BT adapter or dongle) in Windows, set the BT adapter's name to that in Linux, pair the mouse to Linux, find the passcode for the mouse in Linux, start Windows, let Windows complain that a mouse is requesting a passcode, enter the passcode from Linux, go on with life.
    Tried this sequence. When Windows asks for the passcode for the device that is requesting access (my mouse), I give it 0000, which is what I told the KDE bluetooth pairing wizard. But, Windows doesn't like that response and throws a device not connected error (device doesn't connect). Tried turning off the mouse, and back on, as some people have had to do that. I suspect now that Windows authenticates to the mouse correctly, but the mouse appears foreign to Windows, and it throws the error. I'll try forcing a passcode in Windows first, then starting Linux second.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Beans
    7

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Hi,
    first thanks for that instruction. However it did not work but I found out what else is necessary to get it working. My setup is:

    - Windows Vista
    - Debian Linux with KDE
    - Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

    First start Linux and bind the mouse in the usual way. Open the list of bluetooth devices and mark the mouse as "trusted" so it can connect to the computer when switched on. Otherwise you would need to initiate the connection always manually from PC side. You possibly know that already. Maybe the bluetooth Manager of Ubuntu sets that flag automatically. I dont know, because I always worked with KDE on different Linux distributions.

    Then start Windows and remove the mouse from the list of registered bluetooth network devices (if it exists). Still in that window, click on the button to add a new device. Press the bind button on the mouse and wait until the mouse gets detected by the computer.

    Now comes the important part that was missing:

    Right-click on the mouse to open the list of available services that the mouse offers. There is normally only one entry, which is the HID device (mouse and keyboard). Check this entry. Windows will install a driver immediately, before you clicked on any confirm or save button. The mouse starts working. Then click on cancel - not on Ok! (If you click on Ok, then Windows activates encryption and then the mouse will notwork with Linux anymore).

    If you connect the mouse the "normal" way, you connect it with encryption and then it cannot be shared to multiple operating systems. Just to be sure, mark the mouse in the list of connected devices and take a look at the status bar. It should say "Encryption: no" and "Connected: yes".

    Open the hardware detail window to get the name of the bluetooth sender. In my case, the name was the same as the computer name in windows networking (stefanspc).

    Then boot Linux. In a terminal window, enter

    sudo su - (in debian only: su -)
    hciconfig

    In my case, only one device with name hci0 appeared, which is the bluetooth interface.

    hciconfig hci0 name stefanspc

    Power off the mouse and power it on again. It should immediate connect and work now in both operating systems.
    Last edited by a.frings; November 18th, 2011 at 07:37 PM.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Beans
    1

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Hi, I have a pc with Ubuntu, Windows 7 and OS X Lion, and a Magic mouse, but I don't get use my magic mouse in the three S.O. whitin to install each time.

    Can you to explain a bit in detail how to connect whitin encryption? I can't get.

    Thanks in advance!

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Beans
    7

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    If you enable encryption (which is the default behaviour on WIndows), you cannot share the mouse to other operating systems because they will use a different key. The key is well protected, so there is no way to read it out of the registry and copy it to the other operating systems.

    You must connect the mouse to Windows without encryption.
    Then you can also connect it to Linux without encryption.

    I dont know whether Mac OS support non-encrypted connection.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Singapore
    Beans
    718
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: Sharing bluetooth mouse between Windows and Ubuntu

    Quote Originally Posted by a.frings View Post
    Hi,
    first thanks for that instruction. However it did not work but I found out what else is necessary to get it working. My setup is:
    Hi, I am trying to disconnect my BT mouse from Ubuntu and then reconnect it easily to Windows 7, but Windows is the OS that is giving me a major problem. Unlike Ubuntu, Windows does NOT give me a button to "connect" the BT device.

    Using your note, I noticed that Windows 7 installed the BT Mouse driver correctly but the mouse does NOT appear in the BT Devices list. Of course, I still CANNOT connect the BT Mouse under Windows easily...

    p/s1. My disconnected BT Mouse can be simply reconnected to Ubuntu by either using the "Connect" button or turning it off and on again. I wish Windows would just give me that dang "Connect" button!

    Ubuntu 12.10
    Windows 7
    Prolink BT Mouse

    p/s2. Now the "unencrypted" BT Mouse DOES show up in the Windows 7 BT Devices List, but once I disconnect it from Windows, there is NO easy way to reconnect it back. No button, right-clicks or turning on/off any switches works. By the way, how do I see whether the BT Mouse is "connected to Windows but not encrypted"?

    Thanks for your help!
    Last edited by rykel; December 9th, 2012 at 04:32 PM. Reason: Additional Information...
    RYKEL™ | Google+ OR Skype Name: rykellim

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •