Finally, an easy way to share mouse/keyboard between PCs

[Jackolantern]

I just found Mouse Without Borders, by Microsoft Garage Projects, when I was looking for a way to share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers at my desk. It is free, and extremely easy! If you have up to 4 different computers on the same network, all you really have to do is install it, type in a code to configure it, and you are done and can share 1 set of mouse/keyboard between multiple PCs. It works just like having 2 monitors on the same computer, where you just mouse off the screen and it goes to the other. Whichever window between the 2 PCs has focus also gets the keyboard input. You also share the copy clipboard (so you can copy and paste between the PCs), and can just drag and drop files between the computers as well.

Of course, since it is from Microsoft, it is Windows-only, but that is fine for me. This also isn't the first product like this, but it is by far the easiest. Synergy creates a competing product, but apparently the setup is complicated enough that people have to make guides for it. MWOB is easy enough that no instructions are needed beyond what it gives you in the installation.

My only complaint so far is that it doesn't support vertical screen stacking, so right now I have to mouse out to the right or left to get to a monitor that is actually above, but that is fine by me. It is understandable, since I don't think tons of people have vertical dual monitors lol.

Anyway, if you have 2 separate computers hooked up at your desk, check it out. It has made my life so much easier

[Callan S.]

So each computer effectively becomes a window?

[Jackolantern]

So each computer effectively becomes a window?

Kind of

It is really more like creating a dual-monitor setup (like if you had 2 monitors on 1 PC) out of 2 - 4 separate PCs.

But you could look at it like they are windows

[hallsofvallhalla]

Except you cannot drag widons from one computer to the next right? Not sure how they would do that unless it was something like a control panel and it called the other pc to open its control panel.

Very kewl regardless.

[Jackolantern]

Except you cannot drag widons from one computer to the next right? Not sure how they would do that unless it was something like a control panel and it called the other pc to open its control panel.

Very kewl regardless.

Ahh, true! I forgot about that. I don't think you can drag windows between computers. That would be quite complicated to work out lol

[OldRod]

I used to have a similar product back running under Windows XP - it was great. You couldn't drag from one to the other, but you could copy/paste between them. I used it to dual-box games that wouldn't run two instances on the same PC

Unfortunately, the program broke under Win7 and the company never updated it.

[Jackolantern]

Yeah, this is definitely not the first of its kind. Just from what I have seen, it is the easiest to start up of all the ones still working.

I wonder if it would still work well between 2 different versions of Windows. Both of the PCs I am using with it are Windows 8, so I don't have an answer for that.

[Callan S.]

Except you cannot drag widons from one computer to the next right?

Sure you can! You just reach out with your hands and drag the computer across...

I imagine it'd be fiddley to make an application a kind of self contained module that could slip across. Never mind the question of where it stores its hard drive information.

Though making monitors change what computers information they show, that's probably fairly straight forward.

[Jackolantern]

Yeah, that would be a host of technical issues. When would you actually physically move all the files inside the window to the other computer? What about applications?

It does allow dragging of files from one computer to the next just like it was a dual-monitor setup. I would assume if you dragged an installed application icon between computers, you would just get a link error just like if you preserved an application shortcut icon after the application has been uninstalled.

[hallsofvallhalla]

you could write scripts to do things like when dragging control panel, browser, standard windows on windows that it will just open that app or window on the machine and make it look like it was actually drug over. The browser window could open say google and navigate to that page.