Support multiple mice.

[msauper]

I've always thought it would be useful for windows to support multiple, distinct mice -- each with their own programmable cursor. it would at least be useful for multi-player games. I'm thinking it could also be used for collaboration.

[AlexanderMattheis]

Great idea!
To work with multiple persons on the same computer would be great.

Another extension:
Connect two monitors and it should be possible to say which monitor should be controlled by which keyboard and mouse. That would be a great feature, a system where multiple users can work in parallel.

[GreenMan36]

I really don't get why this isn't default.
I would also like to see support for multiple keyboards, being able to type on two different text fields with two different keyboards would be amazing.

[thomassth]

Technically MS did it before:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/zh-tw/library/windows/desktop/ee906605.aspx
Would like to see it updated and open sourced though!

[MikeWilliams-UK]

In my family there is a mix of left and right handed people.

It would be nice if something could be done to enable two mice to be connected to the computer with each configured differently.

Layout :-
| Left Mouse | Keyboard | Right Mouse |

Left Mouse -- Right Button is primary
Right Mouse -- Left button is primary

The standard implementation in Windows is that both mice share the same setting for which button is the primary one.

[crutkas]

Is the ask here more targetted at enabling window to be multiple active user aware basically? More than one user interacting with multiple applications at the same time? Playing a game with multiple mice, the game would have to support multiple mice.

[crutkas]

@MikeWilliams-UK, your ask is pretty crisp here and makes sense. Have two mice share the same cursor but allow each mouse have different settings.

[thomassth]

@crutkas , I think there are two ideas overlapping here

1. Multiple hardware mouse controlling multiple curser.
   Done by Microsoft Research before in One Mouse Per Child, should allow multi-touch-like control or split screen usage. Mentioned by @msauper , @AlexanderMattheis and others.
2. Multiple hardware mouse sharing control of one software mouse.
   Akin to Xbox's copilot feature, mentioned by @MikeWilliams-UK

[MikeWilliams-UK]

To clarify further, with my suggestion I would envisage one physical mouse being moved at a time. Two users of PC one a leftie second a rightie, never trying to use pc at the same time, they would pick up and start using the appropriate physical mouse.

[DanNeely]

There have been times in the past where I used both a righthand and (hardware button reversed) lefthand mouse on the same computer. At my previous job I semi-regularly had 2 computers setup side by side. I'd have both a left and right hand mouse plugged into them so that if I was primarily working on one I could reach over with my off hand using a mouse setup for it if I needed to do a few quick clicks without having to roll my chair over. Mostfrequently this was when I was working on the secondary PC but needed to open a new email on my primary one.

[enricogior]

This cannot be done in PowerToys, it requires support at system level.

[GreenMan36]

Honestly, this should be indeed built-in to Windows.
Multiple mouses, mouse management and settings per-mouse.
Locking mouses to monitors (Excluding the master mouse).
With the master mouse being the legacy mouse in programs which would not support multiple mouses, maybe a fallback to multi-touch.
Group them with a new keyboard system and call them Input Groups or User Input Groups.

How would you distinguish the two or more mouses? Small numbers? Colors? Shouldn't be that hard, custom mouses have been a thing since the creation of XP as far as I know.

Its 2021 now and this is one of those features that seems odd but enables other devices and use cases, both professional and recreational.

[MikeWilliams-UK]

This cannot be done in PowerToys, it requires support at system level.

Or hardware, one of my thoughts on how to achieve this for my parents was to break open the second mouse and rewire it to swap the buttons over.

Maybe manufacturers ought to sell lefty mice :-)