MouseMux Manual

Last updated August 11, 2026

Welcome

MouseMux turns a single Windows PC into a multi-user machine. Plug in extra mice, keyboards, pens or touchscreens and each one gets its own independent cursor, with its own color, speed and behavior. Several people can then work on the same screen at the same time, side by side or over remote desktop.

A one-minute introduction video

It is a deep and flexible tool, so it helps to know what you are getting into. Getting started is genuinely quick: plug in a second mouse, press Multi-cursor, move it, and you have two cursors. Beyond that, almost anything is possible: per-device acceleration, button remapping, converting one input type into another, simultaneous typing, macros, built-in multi-user apps and remote collaboration. All that capability means there are choices to make, so dialing in the perfect result for your specific use case usually takes a little configuration. The defaults are sensible, and this manual walks you through the rest step by step.

A quick word on modes, because they shape everything else. MouseMux has two main interaction modes. Switched (the default) is rock-solid: everyone can move, drag and type at the same time, taking turns only on a click. Multiplex is the advanced mode that adds fully simultaneous clicking in separate windows. Start in Switched, and switch to Multiplex whenever a setup needs it. There is a full explanation in Interaction Modes below. And Multi keyboard simply adds independent typing on top; it works with both modes, Switched and Multiplex.

What it can and can't do. MouseMux is powerful, but it is not magic: it will not turn every program into a multi-user app at the press of one button, and how well it works depends on the programs you use and how you use them. Moving, dragging and typing together always works in Switched mode. Fully simultaneous clicking is what Multiplex adds, and it works with most programs, though not every single one. Games vary too: many play perfectly as local multiplayer, a few do not cooperate. The fastest way to know is the free edition: try it on your own PC, your own apps and your own use case, and see exactly how it fits before you decide anything.

Installing MouseMux

Requirements: MouseMux runs on every Windows version from Windows XP up to Windows 11, 32 and 64-bit, and on Windows Server. There are no special hardware requirements; if the PC runs Windows, it runs MouseMux. Any mix of USB, Bluetooth or wireless mice, keyboards, pens, touchscreens and touchpads works, and there is nothing to configure on the device side.

Install: press the Download button on the download page, run the setup and follow the steps. The setup asks for administrator rights to install; once installed, MouseMux runs as a normal application and needs no special rights.

Updating: nothing to do. MouseMux keeps itself up to date automatically; when a new version is available it updates itself.

Uninstall: remove MouseMux through Windows Settings > Apps, like any other program. Uninstalling removes everything except your license, so when you reinstall later you are still registered. While MouseMux is installed, your configuration lives in Documents\MouseMux V3; to wipe all settings and installed apps in one go, use Factory Reset (in Advanced Settings under Maintenance). A factory reset cannot be undone.

Start Center

On startup, the Start Center opens alongside the main window. The Home tab has quick links to a video introduction, this manual and explanations of the interaction modes. Use Theme to switch between Light and Dark, and +/- to adjust zoom. Check Don't show again to skip the Start Center on future launches.

The Main Window

The main window is your control center, with three areas from top to bottom: the user list, the mode controls, and the action buttons.

The User List

Each row in the list is a user, identified by a color and a number. A user owns devices: a pointer and, optionally, a keyboard. Some pointers are virtual, like the touchpad device for laptop touchpads or the capture device for remote desktop.

A user comes to life through registration: move a mouse and it registers to the next free user; its icon in the R column turns black. Press a key while your pointer was the last one moved, and that keyboard gets mapped to that user.

The columns, from left to right:

User

The user's color and number: the fixed identity that everything the user owns and does hangs off.

R (role)

Gray means not registered; black means registered and active. The color then follows the user's role**: orange for the current root user, green when the user's lock is engaged, red when their input is blocked.

P (pointer)

The user's pointer type, shown as an icon: mouse, pen, touch, capture or virtual touchpad. Black while active; lights up orange on movement, clicks or wheel.

K (keyboard)

Black when a keyboard is mapped; lights up orange on keystrokes.

Name

The name of the user. You can change it in the user's settings, on the User tab.

** The role colors belong to Switched mode. Root is the user currently holding a mouse button: while they hold it, others cannot click, though they can still move, drag windows and type. Multiplex works differently: every user owns their own program and clicks never conflict, so there is no root and the R row stays without role colors.

The Buttons

Multi-cursor starts multi-user mode, and the ... button next to it opens the mode guide and the mode selection; both are covered in Interaction Modes. The Configure button always knows who is asking: hover the main window with any cursor and the button shows that user's name; click it and that user's configuration opens. The alternative is just as quick: double-click any user's row (their color or number) and their configuration opens directly. The bottom bar holds Settings, Hide and Apps.

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1User List

Each row is a user with its color and number; a user owns devices: a pointer (sometimes virtual, like the touchpad or capture device) and optionally a keyboard. The R column shows registration and role, P the pointer type (lighting up on activity), K the keyboard. Double-click a user's color/number to open their configuration panel.

2Multi-cursor

Press this button to start multi-cursor mode: everyone gets their own cursor with their own color. Under the hood, the default interaction is Switched: MouseMux manages click conflicts to keep things stable and predictable. While one user holds a mouse button in a window, others are blocked from clicking; they can still type and drag elsewhere.

Jump to Interaction Modes ↓

3Mode Options (...)

Available after pressing Multi-cursor. This is the gateway to the more advanced modes. Most setups are perfect on Switched (the default), so the other modes stay tucked away until you press ...: it opens a short guide and reveals the mode selection (Switched, Multiplex, Multi keyboard) underneath, with recommendations to help you pick.

Jump to Interaction Modes ↓

4Mode Selection

Switched (radio): the default. Click conflicts are managed per-window. This is what Multi-cursor uses by default.

Multiplex (radio): advanced mode. Each user's pointer is routed to a specific program window for full concurrency. Press "..." first to understand the trade-offs.

Multi keyboard (checkbox): adds independent keyboard routing. Each keyboard is directed to the window its user clicked in. Works with both Switched and Multiplex.

Jump to Interaction Modes ↓

5Configure User

Shows which user is hovering over the main window. Click to open that user's configuration panel. Configurations only affect that specific user.

You can also double-click a user's color/number in the device list above.

Jump to User Configuration ↓

6Settings

Opens the Settings dialog: license registration, startup options, and access to the full Advanced Settings tree.

Jump to Settings ↓

7Hide

Minimizes MouseMux to the system tray (if enabled in Settings) or the taskbar.

8Apps

Opens the App Launcher: quick access to applications customized for multi-cursor use. Browse and launch apps directly.

Can be disabled in Advanced Settings under Features.

Jump to Apps ↓

Interaction Modes

Press the Multi-cursor button in the main window to start: everyone gets their own cursor in Switched mode, which is all most setups ever need. The ... button next to it opens the built-in mode guide shown here and reveals the mode selection underneath: because Switched is right for the large majority, the advanced options stay tucked away until you deliberately open them. The same guide appears the first time you reveal the modes (with a don't-show-again checkbox), and its More help button brings you to this manual.

The main window works from the keyboard too: hold Alt to show the underlined access keys and press Alt + that letter (Alt+S for Settings, Alt+H for Hide, and so on); the main window needs to be focused for these. And for switching modes from anywhere, assign global hotkeys (Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+4) in Advanced Settings under Features > Hotkeys: toggle multi-cursor, switch straight to Switched or Multiplex, or toggle multi-keyboard; all without touching the main window. Available in the Advanced and Ultra editions.

User Configuration

Click the user button in the main window (or double-click a user row) to open the configuration panel. Every setting only affects that specific user; each user can have their own acceleration, theme, overlay, macros and more.

Input

Shows hardware identity, live state, and capabilities for the pointer device assigned to this user. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

The usage table lists everything the device reports it can do, every capability with its value ranges, so you can see at a glance what kind of hardware you are dealing with.

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1Device Identity

Shows information about the pointer device.
Name: vendor/product IDs (e.g., VID:2b89 PID:0043).
Type: Windows device class (e.g., HID-compliant mouse).
HWID: internal hardware ID MouseMux uses for device tracking across sessions.
Path: full HID device path. Press Copy to copy it to the clipboard.

2Live State

These fields update in real time. Xpos/Ypos are the absolute screen coordinates. Wheel shows the last wheel delta. State reports pressure, rotation and tilt. Mask shows the input capability flags for this device.

3Device Capabilities

A table showing what the hardware reports. Columns are Property, Min, Max and Details. Typical entries: Wheel (vertical wheel delta range), Buttons (total pointer buttons) and Sample (polling/sampling rate).

4Disable This Device

Silences this pointer completely: no motion, clicks or wheel. It does not unregister the device, so you can re-enable it anytime. Shortcut: ALT-D.

5Hardware

Opens a live view of what Windows reports for this device right now: identity, connection, driver, status and power state. From the same dialog you can change its power behaviour: allow the device to wake the computer, let Windows suspend it to save power, or toggle enhanced power management. Changes go straight to Windows, no restart needed. Shortcut: ALT-H.

6Winfo

Shows additional window information whenever the cursor moves over a new window. Shortcut: ALT-W.

Output

The Output tab decides what this user's input becomes. Input and output are decoupled in MouseMux: any pointer can be converted into any output type, so a mouse can act as a pen, a touchscreen as a mouse, and a pointer can even drive a virtual gamepad. Around that conversion sit the detailed controls: pen and touch emulation, axis options, overrides, and forwarding input to another user. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for the details of each. The tab is available in Switched and Multiplex modes, from the Advanced edition up.

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1Pointer Output Type

Choose what this device outputs as: Mouse, pen/touch types (Windows 10 Pen/Stylus, Windows 10 Touch screen, Windows 10 Touch pad, Windows 8 Touch), virtual gamepads (Xbox 360 / DualShock 4 via ViGEm) or No output. Any input pointer can emulate another type, so a mouse can act as a pen or a touchscreen can act as a mouse.

The output type only works in switched mode. In multiplex mode all devices act as virtual mice; the exception is when you enable Force root operation, which forces the selected output type in any mode.

2Pen & Touch Injection

X/Y injection: a manual pixel correction added to the position used for pen and touch injection. MouseMux already translates the cursor position into the injection space; these fields add a constant on top. Use them when injected pen or touch lands consistently offset from where the pointer is drawn, which can happen on unusual multi-monitor or DPI layouts. No effect when the output type is Mouse or a gamepad.

Disable skip filter: when MouseMux injects pen or touch, Windows synthesises legacy mouse events for it and feeds them back as new input. The skip filter recognises these echoes and drops them, so MouseMux does not read its own injection back in a loop. Disable it only for diagnosis, or when a legitimate injected input source (another injector, a virtual mouse) is being swallowed while a pen or touch user is active; expect feedback loops otherwise. Shortcuts: ALT-X / ALT-Y jump to the injection offset fields.

3Emulation

Emulate pressure: replaces the device's pressure with a continuously sweeping synthetic value, injected as pen or touch pressure. Lets an ordinary mouse produce pressure-varying strokes in drawing apps, or tests whether an app reads pressure at all.
Emulate rotation: the same idea for pen barrel rotation and touch orientation: a synthetic value stepping through 360 degrees, for rotation-sensitive brushes on devices that report none.
Emulate relative motion: for absolute devices (tablets, touchscreens, remote pointers). Instead of teleporting the pointer to the reported position, MouseMux uses the difference from the previous position, so acceleration, ballistics and the per-user speed apply and the device moves like a mouse. The 1:1 mapping to the physical surface is lost.
Force true coordinates: absolute devices normally report 0 to 65535 and MouseMux scales that onto the screen; this uses the raw value as a pixel coordinate directly. For software or virtual pointer sources that already report real pixels and would otherwise be squashed into the top-left corner.
Force screen offset: adds the virtual-desktop origin to incoming absolute coordinates. Only relevant when a monitor sits left of, or above, the primary one; turn it on when a tablet cannot reach those monitors.

4Disable Overrides

Disable motion: freezes the pointer completely. The internal position stops advancing, so a later click lands exactly where the pointer froze; macros, painting and forwarding stop receiving motion too.
Disable buttons: drops clicks before the button state updates, so nothing can latch a drag and button-bound triggers never fire.
Disable wheel: cuts wheel delivery; the wheel value is still computed and visible in diagnostics.
Disable clipping: the pointer position is normally clamped inside the virtual desktop, or inside the locked area when a Lock is set. This skips the clamp: the position can run past the edge, the cursor disappears until you travel the same distance back, and pointer locks no longer confine the user.

5Axis

For mis-mounted or rotated tablets, touchscreens and displays. Invert X-axis / Y-axis motion: relative devices get their deltas negated; absolute devices are mirrored across the whole virtual desktop.
Swap X/Y axes: exchanges X and Y after the inversions, so combining swap with an invert rotates the input rather than just mirroring it.

6Output Control

Enable delta motion: a resynchronisation watchdog for the root user. MouseMux compares the real Windows cursor with its own position; when something external warps the cursor (an application calling SetCursorPos, a game recentering, a UAC transition), it snaps its position to match. Turn it on if a specific application keeps warping the cursor and leaves the MouseMux pointer stranded.
Force root operation: skips the arbitration entirely; this user always injects through the real system path. In Switched mode they no longer take turns, and in Multiplex mode their input moves the single system cursor instead of being routed to their own window. Two users with this flag on will fight over the one system cursor.
Suppress output: everything still runs (the on-screen cursor moves; macros, drawing and SDK clients still receive the events) but the final delivery to Windows is dropped, and forwarding is suppressed too. Compare Disable motion, which freezes the pointer instead. Good for a spectator or annotation pointer, or for driving the SDK without touching the desktop. Shortcut: ALT-S (suppress output).

7Hardware Injection

Only relevant for Mouse output. By default MouseMux positions the pointer directly, which is fast and works for almost every program, but it is not a real input event: games, CAD and 3D packages and some drawing programs read the raw input stream or the Windows pointer history instead, and neither sees a directly positioned cursor. These options send a real hardware-level input event through the Windows input layer instead, which those applications do see.
Force hardware dragging: hardware injection only while a button is held, so you pay the cost just for drags. Some programs need this for drawing or file dragging (Photoshop, MS Paint, Paint.NET).
Force hardware motion: hardware injection for all movement, for the programs that do not follow the cursor at all. Leave both off otherwise: they cost more CPU, and drawing programs will smooth against MouseMux motion points rather than their own, so strokes can look slightly less smooth.
Disable virtual desktop: hardware coordinates are placed in virtual desktop space by default, which is correct on every monitor. This option reverts to the older primary-monitor space. Only enable this if an application specifically needs primary-monitor coordinates. On a multi-monitor setup it breaks drawing and handwriting applications: programs such as Paint.NET read the Windows pointer history to smooth their brush strokes, and in primary space those points are recorded at the wrong coordinates, so strokes shoot off towards a point elsewhere on the desktop. The cursor itself still moves correctly, which makes it look like a bug in the application rather than a setting.

8Forward to

Send this user's input into another user's cursor instead of driving its own; for example to merge two trackballs, or a mouse and a trackball, into one pointer. Pick a target user from the dropdown, or (none) to stop forwarding. Check Forward keyboard to forward this user's keyboard along with the pointer.

While forwarding is active this user's own cursor is hidden automatically; set the dropdown back to (none) to undo, or unhide it on the Theme tab. Chains (A → B → C) are allowed; loops are blocked. The target's acceleration applies on top of the source's, so for a predictable merge set the target's Ballistics to Disable (raw). Keyboard forwarding is skipped in Multiplex mode unless Multi keyboard is on, and keys are dropped if the target has no keyboard.

Forwarding is the mirror image of the Replicator: the Replicator fans out one user's actions to an extra virtual cursor, while forwarding merges input into an existing one. Shortcuts: ALT-F (forward to), ALT-K (forward keyboard).

Keyboard

Shows which keyboard is paired to this pointer and provides options for how keystrokes are delivered to applications. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Pairing Basics

Move your mouse, then press any key; the keyboard auto-pairs to whichever cursor moved most recently. To unpair, click Unmap. The keyboard options take effect in Multiplex mode or when Multi keyboard is enabled in the main window.

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1Keyboard Information

Identifies the keyboard mapped to this user.
Info: a live status line, not a device property. It shows "Keyboard now mapped user:N" when this user owns a keyboard, otherwise the prompt "Press a key on the keyboard you want to map"; that prompt is literal, pressing a key on an unmapped keyboard is exactly how it gets assigned (see Unmap below).
Name: the full device description reported by the driver.
Type: the parsed device class and vendor.
Path: the Windows device-interface path. This string uniquely identifies the physical device and is what the keyboard-to-user mapping is keyed on.

2Hardware Numbers

Raw values reported by the keyboard driver.
Type: the keyboard hardware class code.
Subtype: a vendor-defined code with no standardized meaning.
Mode: the scan-code mode.
Keys: total number of keys.
Indicator: number of indicator LEDs (Num, Caps, Scroll: usually 3).
Funcs: number of function keys (usually 12).

These come straight from the driver, and many USB keyboards report the same generic values regardless of their real layout. Treat them as diagnostic identifiers for support, not settings.

3Thread Attach

Only relevant in Multiplex and Multi keyboard modes, where MouseMux delivers each user's keystrokes itself.

Disable thread attach: normally this user's keyboard engine attaches to the input queue of the window the user clicked, so it can push this user's private Shift/Ctrl/Alt/Caps state into the app: the app then sees that user's modifiers, not the global ones. Tick this if a particular app hangs or destabilizes when attached. Keys still arrive, but the app reads the global modifier state, so per-user Shift/Ctrl combinations and Caps Lock can misbehave.
Disable thread attach via click: same attach, different trigger. Normally the attach starts when the user clicks a window, and the click briefly waits for it to complete. Tick this if clicking into a slow app causes a visible stall for that user; the attach then happens on the first keystroke instead, and per-user key state is kept.

4Hardware Injection & ALT-GR

Force hardware keyboard: by default keystrokes are posted as window messages to this user's own window, which is what lets every user type into a different app. Tick this to inject through the OS input stack instead: the keys then look like real hardware to games and apps that ignore posted messages, but they can only reach the one foreground window, so per-user routing and modifier isolation are lost. A last resort for apps that ignore normal delivery.
Force ALT-GR via right ALT: Windows wraps AltGr in a hidden left-Ctrl that never reaches MouseMux, so AltGr has to be detected from the keyboard layout, and that detection can fail (for example after switching layouts at runtime). Tick this to always treat right ALT as AltGr; MouseMux then synthesizes the missing Ctrl sequence itself. Use it when AltGr characters (@, €, [, ]) fail to type on non-US layouts.

5Disable Automatic Focus

Before every keystroke MouseMux normally searches for the actual focused control inside the window this user clicked (with several retries), so typing lands in the right edit field. Tick this to skip the search entirely: keys go to the exact window that was clicked. Faster and fully predictable, but in apps where a top-level window hands typing off to a child control, the keys can land nowhere. When enabled, this option overrides the three Focus via options below.

6Focus Via ...

Alternative ways to pick the window that receives this user's keystrokes, replacing the default focus search.
Focus via native method: a more direct focus lookup, asking Windows for the focused window straight away instead of the full search.
Focus via active window: target the clicked application's active top-level window instead of probing for the focused child control. Useful when an app moves focus to a dialog or popup that the automatic search resolves incorrectly.
Focus via caret window: target the window that owns the blinking text caret. Works well in classic editors and forms; many modern apps never create a system caret, in which case the normal search takes over again. If both are ticked, active window wins.

7Disable This Device

Cuts this keyboard off at the start of the processing chain: no typing, no keyboard macros, no forwarding, and hotkeys pressed on this keyboard stop working too. The keyboard stays mapped to the user, the information fields keep updating, and the setting survives a restart. To hand the keyboard to someone else, use Unmap instead. Shortcut: ALT-D.

8Hardware

The same live hardware view as on the Input tab, for this keyboard: what Windows reports right now (identity, connection, driver, status, power) plus the device's power settings. Shortcut: ALT-H.

9Unmap

Releases this keyboard from this user. The next keypress on it re-runs the automatic mapping: the keyboard returns to its remembered owner (when keyboard restore is enabled) or goes to the started user whose mouse moved most recently. Use it to swap keyboards between users or to fix a keyboard that was picked up by the wrong user. The button is greyed while no keyboard is mapped. Shortcut: ALT-U.

User

View usage statistics and change the display name for this user. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1User Name

Type a new name and click Apply to change the display name for this user. The name is shown in the main window user list.

2Event Statistics

Event statistics (sum): total count of Motion, Button, Wheel and Key events since startup.
Event statistics (timing): timestamp of the last event of each type. Useful for checking whether a device is actively sending input.

3Speed Metrics

Event statistics (speed): shows the current motion speed in relative motion events per minute. Higher values mean the mouse is moving faster.

Ballistics

Configure the acceleration curve that translates raw mouse movement to cursor movement. Each user can have their own acceleration feel. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Which Mode?

Native: uses the acceleration curve MouseMux measured from your system at startup. Disable: raw 1:1 input, no acceleration. Emulate: pick a specific Windows version curve. Lets different users each have their own acceleration feel.

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1Mode Selection

Three modes control how raw mouse input is translated to cursor movement:

Native: uses the acceleration curve MouseMux measured from your system at startup. This matches your current Windows pointer settings. Press Calibrate to re-measure the system curve.

Disable: raw hardware input with no acceleration. Your mouse movement maps directly to pixels.

Emulate: select a Windows version and emulate its ballistics. You can also set the speed and choose whether to emulate Enhanced pointer precision. Press Apply to activate.

Shortcuts: ALT-N (Native), ALT-D (Disable), ALT-E (Emulate), ALT-C (Calibrate).

2Emulation Curves

When Emulate is selected, pick an acceleration profile from the list. Captured curves are available for Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7.

3Speed & Precision

Enhanced pointer precision emulates the Windows EPP acceleration behavior.

The Speed slider adjusts overall pointer speed within the selected acceleration curve. Shortcut: ALT-H (enhanced pointer precision).

Acceleration

Fine-tune pointer speed with independent X and Y axis multipliers, applied on top of the acceleration curve from the Ballistics tab. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Axis Multipliers

X-axis / Y-axis pointer speed multiplier: the base acceleration from Ballistics is multiplied by these values, per axis. Drag the sliders from Slow to Fast; the current value is shown in each header (e.g., "now at 1.00"). The axes can be set independently when they are not synchronized.

2Synchronize Axes

Synchronize multiplier axes: when enabled, changing one slider changes both. Disable to set different horizontal and vertical speed multipliers independently. Press Apply to activate. Shortcut: ALT-S.

Coalescing

Reduce event frequency from high-polling mice by merging rapid events into fewer combined events. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Buffering

Enable Coalescing via buffering: collects multiple mouse events into a buffer and delivers them as a single combined event. Drag the slider from Small (fewer events merged) to Large (more events merged). Shortcut: ALT-B.

2Timer

Enable Coalescing via timer: combines events using a time window. All events within the interval are merged into one. Drag the slider from Short (less merging) to Long (more merging). Shortcut: ALT-T.

3Foreground Only

Foreground only: coalesce only when high DPI is received. When unchecked, coalescing is always active regardless of polling rate. Shortcut: ALT-F.

Buttons

Swap mouse buttons for left-handed use and adjust double-click timing. Settings are per-user. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Swap Buttons

Right button is primary swaps the left and right mouse buttons for this user. Press Apply to activate. Shortcut: ALT-R.

2Double Click Speed

Adjust the double-click speed with the slider. Press Apply to activate.

Wheel

Control scroll speed, direction, and horizontal wheel emulation. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Wheel Speed

Adjust the wheel speed with the slider from Slow to Fast. The current value is shown in lines per notch (e.g., 1.00). Press Apply to activate.

2Direction & Horizontal

Invert wheel: reverses the scroll direction.

Emulate horizontal wheel: converts vertical scrolling to horizontal. Options: Never, Always, While left/right/middle/X1 mouse button is down. Press Apply to activate. Shortcut: ALT-I (invert wheel).

Theme

Change the cursor appearance. Assign different colors and sizes to each user so everyone can tell their cursor apart. The Hide cursor checkbox makes this user's cursor invisible while input keeps working; it is also the place to unhide a cursor that was hidden automatically by forwarding. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Cursor Theme

The left side shows a Theme preview of all cursor states (normal, link, busy, text, move, resize, etc.). Select a theme from the list on the right; themes are organized by color and size (S, M, XL). There is also a Blank theme for a completely invisible cursor. Note that some themes are low resolution and scaling them up may give a pixelated result. Press Apply to activate.

2Cursor Size

Scale the cursor size with the Cursor size slider.

3Mirror

Mirror the cursor on the X-axis (horizontal) or Y-axis (vertical). Useful for tabletop or mirrored screens. Shortcuts: ALT-X / ALT-Y.

4Hide Cursor

Makes this user's cursor invisible while their input keeps working. This is also where you unhide a cursor that was hidden automatically by forwarding on the Output tab. Shortcut: ALT-H.

Overlay

Add visual identifiers to cursors. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Three Layers

Tag: a colored shape (simplest identification). Text: a name label (shows who is who). Icon: an application icon. All three can be enabled at the same time.

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1Cursor Tag

Draws a colored shape near the cursor. Enable the checkbox to activate.

Shape: choose the shape (Box, Circle, etc.).
Size: Small, Medium, Large.
Position: where the tag appears relative to the cursor (Corner, etc.).
Offset X/Y: fine-tune placement in pixels.
Alpha: transparency (0 = invisible, 100 = opaque).

Shortcut: ALT-C (enable).

2Cursor Text

Displays a text label attached to the cursor. Enable the checkbox to activate.

Font: choose the typeface.
Color: text color.
Text: the label to display (defaults to the user's name).
Bold, Italic, TrueType: font style options.
Position: where the label appears (Right, Left, Top, Bottom, etc.).
Offset X/Y: fine-tune placement in pixels.
Size: font size.
Alpha: transparency.

Shortcut: ALT-U (enable).

3Cursor Badge

Shows an icon near the cursor. Enable the checkbox to activate. Pick an icon from the grid; it shows application icons and common symbols.

Position: where the badge appears (Badge, Corner, etc.).
Offset X/Y: fine-tune placement in pixels.
Size: icon size.
Alpha: transparency.

Shortcut: ALT-B (enable).

Magnifier

Add a magnified view that follows the cursor. Useful for detail work or accessibility. Each user can have their own independent magnifier. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Magnifier Mode

Choose how the magnified view is displayed.
Off: disabled.
Lens: a floating magnification window follows the cursor.
Docked: magnified view is pinned to a screen edge.
Fullscreen: the entire display is magnified around the cursor position.

2Zoom Level

Sets the magnification factor. Drag the slider to increase or decrease the zoom.

3Window Size

Adjusts the Horizontal and Vertical size of the magnifier window (applies to Lens and Docked modes). Show border draws a visible border around the magnifier window (ALT-B); Auto update content (ALT-U) keeps the magnified view refreshing continuously.

4Update Rate

Controls how often the magnified view refreshes. Move the slider toward Fast for smoother updates (higher CPU usage) or Slow for lower resource use.

Lock

Restrict this cursor to a specific monitor or window. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Two Lock Types

Monitor lock: cursor stays on the selected display. Note that your mouse may move to a different monitor than where the dialog is, so you may need another mouse to undo the lock. Window lock: cursor is confined to a specific application window.

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1Monitor Selection

Lists all connected monitors. Select one to lock this user's cursor to that display. Press Apply to activate. Note that the cursor may move to a different monitor than where the dialog is, so you may need another mouse to undo the lock.

2Display Information

Shows details about the selected monitor: Flags (primary, attached, etc.), Screen size (full pixel bounds) and Work area (usable area minus taskbar).

Limit to work area: restricts the cursor to the work area instead of the full screen.
Show: briefly highlights the physical display so you can identify which monitor is which.

Shortcuts: ALT-L (limit to work area), ALT-S (show).

3Coordinates

Shows the exact pixel boundaries of the lock region: Left, Top, Right, Bottom. These update automatically when you select a monitor. You can also type custom values to lock the cursor to an arbitrary rectangle.

4Window Lock

Lock the cursor to a specific application window instead of a monitor region. Click Pick, then move your cursor over the target window and press Ctrl to select it. The window title appears next to the Pick button. Shortcut: ALT-K (pick).

Draw

Draw or annotate directly on the screen. Each user has their own canvas, so everyone can draw at the same time in their own color without getting in each other's way. Clearing only removes your drawing, unless you enable Clear for all users. This makes it great for classrooms, brainstorming and live markup where several people annotate together. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Shortcuts

ALT-D: toggle draw mode. ALT-E: eraser. ALT-C: clear. ALT-O: color picker.

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1Drawing Actions

Brush activator: choose what triggers the brush (e.g., Right mouse button, Middle button, etc.).
Clear shortcut: pick a key to clear the canvas (e.g., F6).
Clear for all users: when checked, pressing Clear erases drawings from all users, not just your own.

Shortcuts: ALT-B (brush activator), ALT-S (clear shortcut).

2Brush Properties

Brush size: drag the slider from Small to Large.
Brush alpha: drag from Opaque to Transparent to control how see-through the strokes are.
Eraser: switch to eraser mode to remove parts of your drawing.
Color: open the color picker to change the brush color.

3Controls

Draw mode: enables drawing on the screen.
Clear: clears the drawing.
Save: saves a screenshot to the MouseMux data folder in Documents.

Shortcuts: ALT-D (draw mode), ALT-E (eraser), ALT-C (clear), ALT-O (color), ALT-V (save).

Macros

Record and replay mouse and keyboard actions, generate movement patterns, or jiggle the mouse to prevent screen sleep. The neat multi-user trick: record a sequence once with one user, then save it and load it onto other users or devices to play it back: so a single recording can drive several cursors at the same time. Handy for demos, repetitive testing, automation and setups where many pointers need to do the same thing. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

Shortcuts

ALT-R: start recording. ALT-P: play. ESC: stop (when "Stop on ESC" is enabled).

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1Recording

Record starts capturing all mouse movement, clicks and keystrokes. Play replays them. Stop halts recording or playback. Load/Save persist macros to files. Reset clears the current recording.

Interaction with MouseMux windows is filtered out. Recording works in switched and multiplex mode. Keep window on top keeps this dialog visible. Shortcuts: ALT-R (record), ALT-P (play), ALT-S (stop), ALT-L (load), ALT-V (save), ALT-T (reset).

2Playback Settings

Playback speed: speed up or slow down playback with the slider. Repeat playback loops the macro until you hit Stop. Stop on ESC: press Escape to abort. Start delay adds seconds before playback begins.

3Pattern Generator

Generate geometric movement patterns instead of manual recording.

Pattern: shape to trace (Circle, Square, etc.).
Time: seconds per cycle.
Size: pattern radius in pixels.
Points: number of steps per cycle (higher = smoother).
Click: optionally inject a click at each point (None, Left, Right, etc.).

4Jiggle

Adds small random pointer movements to prevent the screen from sleeping or locking.

Replicator

Clone this user's actions to a virtual cursor. The clone mirrors movement, clicks, scrolling and/or keystrokes with adjustable offset and delay. A replicated user can replicate itself again, creating chains. Hover over the numbered spots in the image for details on each element.

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1Event Replication

Choose which events are cloned to the virtual user:
Pointer motion: duplicates movement (enabled by default).
Pointer buttons: duplicates clicks.
Pointer wheel: duplicates scrolling.
Keyboard: duplicates keystrokes.

X offset / Y offset: positions the replicated cursor relative to the original in pixels. Use negative values to place it to the left or above. This is how you space out the clones.

A replicated user can replicate itself again, creating chains of cloned cursors.

Shortcuts: ALT-M (motion), ALT-B (buttons), ALT-W (wheel), ALT-K (keyboard).

2Button Blocks & Delay

Pointer button blocks: prevent specific button clicks from being replicated. Check Left, Right, Middle, X1 or X2 to block that button on the clone while still replicating other events.

Pointer button click delay: adds a delay between the original click and the replicated click. Drag the slider from Short (near-instant) to Long (noticeable gap). Useful when the target application needs time between successive clicks.

Shortcuts: ALT-L / ALT-R / ALT-D / ALT-1 / ALT-2 toggle the blocks.

3Speed & Controls

Step speed: controls how fast events are replayed to the clone. Drag from Fast (real-time mirroring) to Slow (delayed, smoothed replication).

Start: creates a new virtual user and begins replication. The clone appears in the main window's user list with its own color.
Stop: ends replication and removes the virtual user.

Shortcuts: ALT-S (start), ALT-T (stop).

Settings

The Settings dialog handles license activation, user configuration persistence, and startup behavior. Hover over the numbered spots in the image to learn about each section.

License & Editions

MouseMux comes in four editions: Free, Core, Advanced and Ultra. Which feature belongs to which edition is listed in the feature comparison; sections in this manual name their edition where it matters.

The Free edition is the full product for trying MouseMux out: it supports two users (two mice, two keyboards) and runs in sessions of 45 minutes. When a session ends, simply restart MouseMux and continue; there is no limit on the number of sessions.

Registering: after a purchase your license key arrives by email. Press Register, enter the key, and the License box shows your edition. The license stays on the PC even when you uninstall MouseMux. Manage opens your online license page with your purchase and payment details.

Saving Your Setup

Load and Save user settings are deliberately separate: you can load a known-good configuration every time without saving changes, creating a "reset on restart" workflow.

Where everything lives: all configuration is stored in Documents\MouseMux V3 as readable JSON files: per-user settings (device mappings, colors, macros, preferences) plus program data. Your license is not stored there; it stays on the machine even when you uninstall.

Backup: copy the Documents\MouseMux V3 folder somewhere safe; that is the complete backup. To restore, close MouseMux, copy the folder back and start again. A Factory Reset wipes this folder along with the installed apps, so make the copy first if you ever want the setup back.

Advanced

The Advanced button at the bottom opens the full Advanced Settings tree with every configuration option MouseMux offers.

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1License

Register: enter the license key you received by email after purchase. The dialog also shows your current edition (Free, Core, Advanced, Ultra).
Manage: opens your online license page with your purchase and payment details.

Jump to License & Editions ↓

2User Settings

Load user settings: loads the configuration for each user when the program starts.

Save user settings: saves the configuration for each user before the program exits.

By separating load and save, you can load a specific configuration each time without overwriting it.

3Startup

Start with Windows: starts MouseMux when Windows starts.

Start minimized: starts with the main window hidden.

Use system tray: adds a tray icon. When hiding, MouseMux goes to the system tray instead of the taskbar.

The Advanced button opens the full Advanced Settings tree.

Settings Reference

Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings tree gives access to every configuration option in MouseMux. Hover over the numbered spots in the image to explore each category.

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1Settings Tree

Every configuration option in MouseMux, organized in groups: Startup, Users, Performance, Features (with Hotkeys, Input, Output and Remote desktop), Cursor, SDK, Maintenance and more. Click a group to expand it.

Every entry is explained in the reference below.

Jump to the full reference ↓

2Description

Shows an explanation of the selected group or setting, so you can read what an option does before changing it.

3Done

Closes the dialog. Changes take effect as you make them; there is no separate apply step here.

The tree also contains an Expert group with advanced troubleshooting tools, including the Diagnostic Guard. These are meant to be used together with MouseMux support; leave them off unless support asks you to enable them.

Service Configuration

MouseMux's low-level input hooks run in a small background component. Service Configuration (under Maintenance) tunes how they behave; the defaults are right for almost everyone.

• Block (external) injection: ignores pointer input that other programs inject.
• Block touch events: ignores touch input at the system level.
• High priority threading: runs input processing at a higher thread priority.
• Pass modifier keys: passes Shift and Ctrl through to Windows even while MouseMux is routing keyboards itself.

Advanced Settings Reference

Apps

MouseMux Apps are full, standalone applications (a paint program, a web browser, a streaming console) that we bundle and customize to work with MouseMux. They are real apps in their own right, not something running "inside" MouseMux. What MouseMux adds is orchestration: it is the conductor of user input, directing each person's mouse and keyboard to the right app and the right window at the right moment. That is what makes rich, flexible scenarios possible: a whole stack of real apps running at once, each shared in whatever way fits the task.

Apps fall into a few patterns: from full collaboration, to complete isolation, to configuration that shapes how MouseMux itself behaves.

Multi-user apps

The richest scenario is collaboration: several people act inside the same app at the same time, with no taking turns; everyone clicks, drags and types together. No passing the mouse around, no "your turn / my turn", no one person driving while the rest just watch. The friction of crowding around a single screen simply disappears, and the work moves at the speed of the whole group. It feels like everyone finally has their own hands on the same thing.

Some examples are:

Whiteboard

A shared whiteboard where everyone draws, adds shapes, text and sticky notes together in real time, each with their own color-coded cursor. Great for teaching, planning sessions and remote workshops where the whole room needs to contribute at once instead of one person scribing for everybody.

OBS Control Console

Run a live OBS Studio production as a team. Manage scenes, sources, audio and recording from one shared console, and assign roles like Director and Operator so each person owns their part of the broadcast. Ideal for live streams, events and studio setups where one operator simply is not enough.

Med Lightbox

A multi-user medical lightbox. Several clinicians view, annotate and measure the same DICOM scans (X-ray, CT, MRI) side by side, each with their own mouse. Built for radiology reviews, tumor boards and teaching, where doctors need to point, draw and measure on one scan together rather than taking turns.

SoundBoard

Make music together on Moog-inspired synthesizers, drum machines and keyboards. Each person plays and shapes the sound directly while live visuals react in real time. Perfect for jam sessions, music classes and hands-on interactive installations.

Multi-seat browsers

The opposite scenario is isolation: an app, or even a single window, is locked to one user and stays completely private to them.

Chrome and Firefox are the real, native browsers, customized by the MouseMux team to work as a seat. Each browser is isolated from normal Windows input: it does not listen to the desktop at all. Instead it listens only to the one MouseMux user you lock to it. You can take it a step further and block that user's input from reaching the rest of the OS, so that user can only ever interact with their browser and nothing else; private and very safe, ideal for kiosks and locked-down stations.

It also lets remote users work in their own browser running on your PC. Because the browser belongs to a single user and runs from your machine, a remote person can reach a site that is locked to your IP address or location: while you and others carry on using the same computer in your own browsers, completely independently.

Run several at once and the desktop becomes multi-seat: two or more people each drive their own isolated browser side by side, with their own windows, tabs, logins and cursor, and neither able to disturb the other.

Configuration

A third kind are configuration apps: tools that shape how MouseMux behaves and how input flows, rather than something you collaborate in. The centerpiece is the Input Mapper: a visual, drag-and-drop node editor for MouseMux input.

Route mouse and keyboard signals through 90+ nodes: math, filters, gates, macros, audio feedback, screen analysis, network bridges and live visualizers. Record and play back input, create virtual users, build multi-step automations, speak custom protocols, and even bridge input over the internet with TCP and UDP.

It also speaks the Barrier protocol, so it works directly with software KVMs. A software KVM lets one keyboard and mouse control several computers over the network: you glide your cursor off the edge of one machine's screen straight onto the next, as if they were extra monitors, with no extra hardware. MouseMux interoperates with the popular ones: Barrier, Synergy, Input Leap and Deskflow.

If you can picture a flow, you can wire it together visually; it is a totally flexible tool for building almost anything you want on top of MouseMux input.

App Launcher

Press Apps in the main window to open the App Launcher: quick access to the applications installed on this machine that have been tested and customized for multi-cursor use. Select an app and press Run to launch it, or Info to read what it does. The top entry opens the App Library where you can browse and download more apps.

App Info

Press Info to see the app's logo, version, full description, publisher and website. From here, press Manage to maintain the app.

Manage

The Manage dialog shows the technical details of an installed app: base package, version and release date, author, link, type, requirements (Needs) and tags.

Update: update the app to the latest version. Remove: uninstall the app from the launcher. Hide: keep the app installed but hide it from the list. Press Done when finished.

App Library

The App Library is where you browse and download new apps. Open it from the top entry in the App Launcher, or switch to the Apps tab in the Start Center. Downloaded apps appear in the App Launcher, ready to run.

How it works

The sidebar on the left has the Home and Apps views plus a category list: All Apps, Screen-sharing, Painting, Creative, Streaming, Medical, Education, Business and Developer. Pick a category to filter the grid.

Every app is shown as a card with its icon and a short description. Hover or select a card and the info pane at the bottom fills with the details: version, full description, author, release date, tags and an animated screenshot preview. Press Install on a card to download the app; once installed it appears in the App Launcher.

Keyboard shortcuts

Zoom & theme

At the bottom of the sidebar you find the display controls:

• Theme: switch the entire library between Light and Dark.
• - / +: zoom the whole window in 10% steps; the current scale is shown between the buttons (e.g. 75%).
• You can also simply resize the window: the interface scales along with it and briefly shows the new percentage while you drag.
• Don't show again: skip opening the Start Center on future launches.

The zoom level and theme are remembered between sessions.

The App Library does not need a GPU: on machines without working graphics acceleration (virtual machines, remote desktop sessions, old or blocked drivers), it automatically falls back to software rendering and keeps working.

The App Launcher can be disabled in Advanced Settings under Features.

Capture Device

The capture device is a special virtual input that catches mouse and keyboard events injected into Windows by software or certain hardware, and turns them into their own independent MouseMux user with their own cursor. You enable it whenever input is reaching Windows without coming from a normal, plugged-in pointer.

To enable it: open Advanced Settings, go to Input > Capture and switch on the capture device. A new red capture user appears in the main window device list, ready to be configured like any other user.

You need the capture device for these common cases:

• Remote desktop users connecting through TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Chrome Remote Desktop (see Remote Desktop)
• Auto-clickers and macro programs that inject mouse or keyboard events

Laptop touchpads no longer need the capture device: high-precision touchpads now have their own dedicated touchpad device, available in every edition.

Auto-clickers & Macro Programs

Programs that inject mouse/keyboard events (auto-clickers, macro recorders) are captured by the capture device and routed to the red user. Follow the same steps as Remote Desktop below.

Remote Desktop

MouseMux gives remote users their own independent cursor on your screen, so a local and a remote user can work side by side instead of fighting over a single pointer.

RustDesk works natively. With the built-in RustDesk integration, a remote user connects and instantly gets their own MouseMux cursor on your desktop; no capture device needed. Install RustDesk from the App Library and connect as usual. The bundled RustDesk also supports remote printing: remote users can print documents from your machine straight to their own local printer.

TeamViewer, AnyDesk and Chrome Remote Desktop work through the capture device, which catches the injected remote input and turns it into its own MouseMux user:

1. Enable the capture device in Advanced Settings under Input > Capture.
2. Go to the red user's Input tab and uncheck Disable this device. Do the same in the Keyboard tab.
3. If you get double clicks, open Service Configuration (Advanced Settings > Maintenance) and enable Block (external) injection.
4. For independent typing, enable the capture keyboard in the red user's Keyboard tab and check Multi keyboard in the main window.

Multiple Monitors & DPI

All monitors together form one large desktop, and every cursor moves freely across all of them; there is nothing to configure. MouseMux is per-monitor DPI aware, so monitors with different scale percentages (say 100% next to 150%) are handled automatically too.

For the special cases:

• Confining a user to one monitor, a custom region or a single window: use the Lock tab.
• Tablets and touchscreens that cannot reach a monitor left of, or above, the primary one: enable Force screen offset on the Output tab.
• If the MouseMux windows render oddly on a mixed-DPI setup: enable Disable dynamic DPI in Advanced Settings under Features > Output. It switches to fixed scaling, which can look slightly blurry on high-DPI displays but maximizes compatibility.

Laptop Trackpads & Touchpads

Most laptop trackpads are "high precision" touchpads: instead of reporting as a normal mouse, they inject their movement directly into the Windows input subsystem. When MouseMux is active that injected input is not tied to a physical device, so the touchpad can appear to stop working.

MouseMux has a dedicated touchpad device for exactly this, and it is available in every edition, including Free. It shows up as its own row in the main window device list, ready to catch your touchpad's input and give it its own independent cursor.

To enable it: open the touchpad device's Input tab (double-click its row in the main window) and uncheck Disable this device. The change takes effect immediately, no restart needed, and your touchpad works as normal again, as a fully independent user you can configure like any other pointer.

Two related options live in Advanced Settings under Features > Touchpad:

• Touchpad on startup: automatically activate the touchpad device every time MouseMux starts.
• Touchpad device: remove the touchpad device entirely if you never use it.

Troubleshooting

Most problems have a one-click fix somewhere in this manual. Find your symptom below and follow the link.

Still stuck? Mail [email protected] with your MouseMux version (shown in the info box under Settings), your Windows version and a short description of your setup. We read everything.