HOWTO: Prevent Mouse Not Detected Dialog Box During a Preinstall

ID: Q218479

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

Some OEMs preinstall Windows 9x without a mouse connected to the computer. During the first boot after the preload process as well as the reboot in end-user mode, the following dialog box, titled Windows Mouse Support, appears:

Windows did not detect a mouse attached to the computer.
You can safely attach a serial mouse now.
To attach a mouse to a PS/2 port, you must first turn the computer off.
This article describes the procedure to be followed to prevent the Windows Mouse Support dialog box from appearing.


MORE INFORMATION

The Windows Mouse Support dialog box also has a Do not show this message in the future check box. If you select this check box, the following entry is made under the [windows] section of the Win.ini file.

[windows]
SkipMouseRedetect=0
The Win.ini file is present under the C:\Windows folder of your target computer. However, when you do a final shutdown of the computer, the Oemreset.exe file clears this entry from the Win.ini file; therefore, during the reboot in end-user mode, the customer still gets the Windows Mouse Support dialog box.
The procedure outlined below can help you with this default behavior of Windows 98, as well as to automate this process in your preinstallation:
  1. Open the Msbatch.inf file in the preinstallation boot floppy (PBF) that you created for editing. Msbatch.inf is present under A:\Pre_img\Factonly\<conf_set name>\ of your PBF.


  2. Under the [OPKProduct] section of your Msbatch.inf file, type the following line:

    win.ini,windows,,"SkipMouseRedetect=0"


  3. Save and close the file.


  4. Open the Oemaudit.inf in your PBF for editing. Oemaudit.inf is present under A:\Pre_img\Factonly\<conf_set name>\ of your PBF.


  5. Under the [OEMRESET] section, set the value of the "BatchReset" parameter to 0. Also, remove the comment (;) in front of the parameter:

    [OEMRESET]
    BatchReset=0


  6. Save and close the file.


  7. Use this PBF for your preinstallation of Windows 98 on the target computer. The Windows Mouse Support dialog box will not appear on subsequent reboots.


This information does not affect your target computer even if there is a mouse attached.

The above mentioned procedure is for Windows 98; however, the location of the mentioned files are different in the case of Windows 95. In Windows 95, the Msbatch.inf file is located in the A:\Pre_img\Windows\Options\Cabs folder of the PBF; the Oemaudit.inf file is located in the A\Pre_img\Windows\Options folder of the PBF.


REFERENCES

The preinstallation documents for Windows 98 are published at the following location on the Web:

https://oem.microsoft.com/general/techsupp/preinstall/win98/sbk.asp

The preinstallation documents for Windows 95 are published at the following location on the Web:

https://oem.microsoft.com/general/techsupp/preinstall/win95/default.asp

Additional query words: preinstallation without mouse checkbox 


Keywords          : kbOPK kbWinOS98 
Version           : WINDOWS:95,95 OSR1,95 OSR2,95 OSR2.1,95 OSR2.5,98,98sp1
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: March 6, 1999