Windows Server 2008 (R2) is awesome. Almost everything about it is better than it’s predecessor. One issue I’ve run into as a VMware Engineer is that even with VMware tools installed and up to date, the mouse still moves around like a server without VMTools. This experience can test your patience if you’re doing enough of it. It’s shaky, jerky and because you actually have VMTools installed, your mouse if flying off the window with each drag. Especially if you’re working remotely on a server half way across the world with 300ms latency!
Well fortunately there is a way to improve this experience. Although I haven’t scripted a solution yet, here is how to do via the Windows GUI:
- . Open the Device Manager and expand your Display adapters. Right click and select Properties
- The second tab labeled Driver allows you to update your driver for the video adapter by selecting the Update Driver… button seen below
- Now select the driver shown in the image below. It is copied to that location upon installation of VMware tools, so they must be present. For best results ensure you are using the latest version of VMTools.
- Finally, Windows will find and update the video adapters driver with the WDDM version as seen below. You will need to restart your server as is noted in the dialog box
7 Responses to “Improve VMware Console Mouse Experience with Windows Server 2008”
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Cheers, works fine.
Thank you soooo much!!! This was driving me crazy. Worked on my 2008 R2 Standard 64 bit server running on vCenter 4.0.x
hey there and thanks to your information ? I have certainly had this issue before and you’re article cleared it up. Sometimes VMware doesn’t work perfectly out of the box and needs advanced customization. I’ve come to your site a few times now and each time I leave with something new. Cheers for all your hard work…Keep it up!
Sweet!
Can’t wait to try this
One year later, still good info. Thanks!
This works on almost all my vm windows servers but 2 (out of 16 total). One is a 32-bit 2003 sp2 server and the other is a brand new (built yesterday) 2008R2 sp1 server. I’ve updated the video driver as shown above and still have the jerky mouse on both these servers. RDC mouse movement is fine though. Any ideas?
Fantastic, worked a treat (that was a seriously annoying bug!!). Thank you!