Mouse buttons not working

Question

Level 1

8 points

Mouse buttons not working

I just upgraded to OS X 10.11 on my latest gen iMac. I have a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000, which has 5 buttons. I have the latest Microsoft Mouse driver software installed, 8.2. This is pretty old driver software actually, it hasn't been updated in years. Using the System Prefs> Configuration Panel I have always had buttons 4 and 5 set as 'Back' and 'Forward' respectively, allowing me to go back and forward on web pages. Up until 10.11, these buttons continued to work as they always had. But now, in El Capitan, they no longer function at all. I reinstalled the mouse 8.2 software, still no luck.

Apple's built-in mouse driver only allows for 2 buttons. I recognize that Microsoft should really update this driver software after all these years, but I'm guessing they won't for a while, if ever. Is there other mouse driver software for El Capitan that I can install to regain the use of my extra mouse buttons?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 2, 2015 8:26 PM

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Answer 1

brian163

Level 1

44 points

Oct 3, 2015 11:15 AM in response to droopy99

There is a thread on a Microsoft forum with some related tips here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-hardware/el-capit an-and-microsoft-mouse-intellipoint-not/…

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Answer 2

droopy99 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2015 7:31 AM in response to brian163

Interesting, that MS thread didn't show up in any of my google searches. Thank you. Of the solutions discussed, this one looks promising:

~~~~~

To make Intellipoint work in El Capitan, you don't have to disable System Integration Protection (SIP) entirely. You only have to disable one aspect of it. Here are the steps:

1. Restart your Mac.

2. Hold Command-R until the Apple logo appears.

3. From the Utilities menu, select Terminal.

4. In the Terminal window, type this:

csrutil enable --without debug

5. Press Enter/Return. This turns off the part of SIP that will let you run Intellipoint.

6. Type reboot and press Enter/Return to restart your Mac.

After the restart you can install Intellipoint. Restart again once you do, and you're set.

~~~~~

I'm not totally knowledgable with terminal commands. So if I execute 'csrutil enable --without debug' in the terminal window, and then later Microsoft releases a new update that fixes their driver, what command do I type into terminal to undo what I've done? Is it just 'csrutil enable'?

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Answer 3

droopy99 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2015 7:58 AM in response to droopy99

EDIT: The command as described in the MS spot does not resolve the problem. So I am left with just accepting it for now, but also not sure how to undo what I've done to the csrutil. Any ideas?

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Answer 4

Oct 4, 2015 8:17 AM in response to droopy99

I may have found the answer. I too had the problem with my Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer and after a bit of searching I found the latest version of USBOverdrive. It was released just last year and has all of the buttons on my mouse working again. Since your are using a wireless mouse, I don't know if it will work for you, but you can give it a try.

http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/Devices.html

http://www.senlick.com/html/01.01.html

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Answer 5

droopy99 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Rockhound211

No dice, but thanks for the recommendation.

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Answer 6

brian163

Level 1

44 points

Oct 4, 2015 10:48 AM in response to droopy99

The easiest command to put everything back to defaults is "csrutil clear". But note you can only do this when in recovery mode, per the original instructions.

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Answer 7

brian163

Level 1

44 points

Oct 4, 2015 5:31 PM in response to droopy99

I'm using the MS Wireless Laser Mouse 6000. Try the demo of SteerMouse, noted in the MS thread. It's working well for me. I preferred it over USB Overdrive because it has a "cursor snap" function that jumps the cursor to the cancel or default response button in pop up dialogs. I had shareware that did that years ago but it stopped working. Cool to have it back, saves a lot of wrist if you have a large or multiple monitors. (Would make SteerMouse worth the $20 in my mind.) IMHO, BetterTouch is far more geared towards the Magic Mouse and Touch pads. It didn't even have an option to adjust the scroll wheel speed on the MS mouse.

BTW, I'll be absolutely shocked if Microsoft bothers to update this driver. The devices our out of their lifecycle, MS is showing very limited interest in hardware sales (let alone Mac support), the last update was from June, 2011, and I believe their current devices are all BT (different driver altogether).

So if you love your current mouse like I do, $20 for either of these 3rd party options is a good deal. Otherwise, my 2 cents is look at Logitech. I have several of their palm size laptop mice and their Mac support is very proactive. They already released a Logitech Control Center update for 10.11.

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Answer 8

droopy99 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2015 5:30 PM in response to brian163

Well I think this is a case of not wanting to admit to oneself what you've been noticing until someone else echoes your fear. The sad thing is that keyboards and mice were something that Microsoft actually did really well. But it's been evident for some time that fewer and fewer Microsoft mice are on display at Staples/OfficeDepot/Max.

So I now have a new Logitech M510, and it works perfectly.

Thank you to you and everyone else for the advice.

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Answer 9

Dec 11, 2015 6:59 PM in response to droopy99

I tried SteerMouse, but the scroll wheel is very jerky, in both Scroll and Accelerated Scroll modes.

Any solution?

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