Mouse Without Borders can't login to another PC

[1-Mike]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.74.1

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Mouse Without Borders

Steps to reproduce

I have used the standalone MWB from Microsoft Garage by Truong Do for a few years and I use it to remotely log into another laptop and fully control it from my desktop PC. I have both MWB instances running in service mode and I do not need to touch the laptop at all except initially to press the power button in the morning. This is especially useful because the keyboard on the laptop is faulty.

I cannot use the MWB that is included with PowerToys to do the same thing. I have told both instances to run as admin and in service mode but I cannot remotely log into the laptop. MWB on my desktop does not connect to MWB on the laptop until the laptop has already logged in. It appears that perhaps the MWB service does not start until after the user has logged in, unlike the standalone MWB installation.

So, even though I am running PowerToys for other features, I have to disable MWB in PowerToys so that I can run the standalone version. Please fix the service to be accessible from startup of the system so that I can remotely log into my laptop.

Regards, Mike.

✔️ Expected Behavior

As described above, I wish to be able to log into a remote laptop from initial startup of the system.

❌ Actual Behavior

At the bootup log in screen on the remote laptop, there is no MWB connection from my desktop to my laptop, meaning that I cannot remotely log in.

Other Software

No response

[richard4339]

Out of curiosity, is it actually running in service mode? I just swapped from the dedicated app to the PowerToys version on two machines and have the same issue with both, and looking through my services, I don't see one for MWB. #29979 requests the service name in the documentation likely for the same reason, suspicion the service never gets installed, this would certainly help in troubleshooting this.

[1-Mike]

Hi @richard4339, yes both the legacy and PowerToys versions are in service mode. The legacy service name is "Mouse without Borders Service" and is at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Garage\Mouse without Borders\MouseWithoutBordersSvc.exe" on my laptop, set to start Automatic. I just checked it and it wasn't running. Starting it makes it run for a few seconds, then it stops itself. I terminated the MWB GUI application and obviously my remote control of the laptop stopped. Then I started the service and I got remote control back, but also the MWB GUI application started up again, then the service stopped itself again. So I believe that the service allows remote control while the GUI application is unable to run (i.e. at the logon screen) and then as soon as it is able, it starts the GUI application and then terminates itself. At least, that is my guess and how it appears to be.

The PowerToys service is called "PowerToys.MWB.Service" and is at "C:\Program Files\PowerToys/PowerToys.MouseWithoutBordersService.exe" on my laptop. Actually, you can see that there is a slash of the wrong type in the path there. Perhaps that is the problem? The service is currently set to Manual (probably because it is disabled in PowerToys) but if I stop the legacy MWB GUI, the PowerToys MWB service appears to run, but then immediately stops. I am then unable to get remote control back even with the legacy MWB GUI running. My main PC is moaning about the security keys not matching any more, so it seems that manually starting the PowerToys service has opened a socket to the PowerToys MWB application instance. I restarted the laptop and now I have remote control back. I hope some of this helps. Cheers.

[m42i]

Not sure this is still an issue. It works for me. I'm running PowerToys v0.88.0 and MWB as a service on a desktop and laptop.

I can even login as a different user on the laptop.

Only caveat is that as soon as I log out, it stops working. (No green text in the upper left corner). After a reboot the service apperently gets started and I can see the green text and control the laptop via MWB.

Locking the screen is also working as expected.

[1-Mike]

I just tried it again. I uninstalled the legacy MWB and then re-enabled PowerToys.MWB. I restarted my laptop and I could not connect to it remotely. So I logged in locally and checked PowerToys.MWB.Service and it was set to Manual start. So the problem appears to be that the service is not set to Automatic when it gets enabled. The configuration app should check that it is set to Automatic start on each installation or upgrade.

With regards to the logging out stopping the connection, I believe that this is because, on logging in, the service is automatically stopped when the user application starts. This was the same as the legacy application. I believe that the user application should restart the service when it closes, unless the PC is shutting down.

[data-enabler]

So the problem appears to be that the service is not set to Automatic when it gets enabled.

Was having the same issue, and changing the service startup from Manual to Automatic fixed it for me as well