Windows detects USB GPS as Serial Ballpoint - please suggest permanent modification to prevent any serial mouse detection

Anonymous
2010-02-23T15:33:38+00:00

Using Win7 ultimate on a variety of machines, when I plug in a 'USB' GPS the system does two things: it installs the support for the USB-Serial device, and then it (using 'serenum' apparently) begins mistaking the GPS for a serial mouse, and 'detects' and installs the microsoft serial ballpoint.  I have editted /windows/inf/msmouse.inf, adding a line after line 28 (guessing at the syntax, copying from the alpha excludes)

ExcludeFromSelect.NTx86 = *PNP0F0C,*PNP0F08,*PNP0F09*PNP0F01,*PNP0F0A,*PNP0F1E

This does *NOT* do the trick.  The GPS is consistently being enumerated by the system as a "serial ballpoint mouse".

This has been reported by numerous people in numerous forums on numerous configurations over multiple windows versions.

When is Microsoft going to fix this?  This is not a GPS issue.  This is not a serial device issue.  This is not a USB issue.  This is, pure and simple, a Microsoft issue.

Removing the 'upperdrivers' entry for serenum might do the trick, but the registry keys are not writeable now in Win7.  Sweet.  Thanks, Microsoft.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-11-18T18:10:45+00:00

    Mark & all,

    This is a general problem with Windows - we have the same problem as this, but the devices are weigh scales that transmit data over serial ports.

    I must emphasize to Microsoft that this is NOT a device specific problem - the O/S will detect incoming serial data on system startup, and will "decide" that there is a mouse on that port.  All that is needed is a systematic, well-documented method to prevent that from happening.

    Mark - please contact me if you have any questions about this.  This is an issue I & the company I work for have a lot of experience with!

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-11-18T18:04:38+00:00

    This does not always work- in fact it frequently does not work in my (extensive) experience with it!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-12T15:03:47+00:00

    Nope.  I tried it on a Win7 laptop and even when I managed to disable the serial ballpoint mouse, it still has the COM port hijacked and other s/w can't access it.  I only seem to have the problem when the GPS is connected via a serial to USB adapter.  Laptops with built in COM ports don't seem to have this problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-08-25T01:50:53+00:00

    That worked for me in Vista, but I have not yet tried in Win7, but I have verified that the "show hidden devices" is there in devmgr.

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  5. Anonymous
    2011-08-25T01:48:33+00:00

    I may have a solution. Like others, I've struggled with this problem for years. I really had a tough time with Vista, but I found a solution. When you disconnect the serial device, Windows appears to uninstall the driver, but it actually just hides it. In Device Manager, you can "view/show hidden devices" and then you will see the previously installed but currently inactive serial ballpoint mouse, then you can right click it and "disable" it like back in XP.

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