Installing the Apple Magic Mouse on Windows 7
Ok, so here’s a topic that you would think would be easy to do. Yet, thanks to Apple, it isn’t and, in fact, took me about 20 minutes to do something that should have taken me 2. Here’s one part of Apple that I hope changes with the new regime stepping in. As much as I admired Steve Jobs, his ideas about an Apple-centric universe were a bit over-the-top. It really makes no sense to create peripherals and tie them to only a tiny fraction of the overall computer market, especially when they’ve already written drivers for the other half of the market! Here’s hoping for some change.
Installing the Magic Mouse
This part is easy. Just turn on the mouse and add a new bluetooth device. Then, select the device and follow the wizard to complete the pairing. It’s not hard at all. The trouble is, it loads a 2006 generic Microsoft mouse driver. This driver doesn’t support any of the touch gestures. Anyway, once you’ve gotten it paired and working, you’ll quickly notice something is missing. Namely, vertical scrolling. Hmm, it makes this mouse less than ideal. So, how do you get scrolling working? Note, if you need specific instructions on setting up a bluetooth device, leave a comment below and I’ll post step-by-step instructions.
Boot Camp
To get the full (or at least as full as you’re going to get with Windows) gestures working (like vertical scrolling) with the Magic Mouse, you need to install Apple’s drivers from Boot Camp. Oh, don’t bother running over to Apple.com and looking for them, you’ll only find a bunch of updates that don’t contain the driver. Instead, you need to locate a copy of the Snow Leopard (or perhaps even a Lion) DVD. Once inserted into Windows, the Boot Camp partition should pop up. This is exactly what you need.
From here (assuming your DVD mounts on M:), go to M:\Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple\x64 or M:\Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple (for 32 bit). In this folder you will find a file called AppleWirelessMouse64.exe / AppleWirelessMouse.exe. Run this file. It will install drivers. When complete, the gestures will be enabled. However, you may have to go to Control Panel->Mouse and readjust the speed and acceleration as it gets reset after the installation.
Simple, easy, fast.. assuming you have a Snow Leopard install disk. Note, I’ve heard the drivers may not persist past a reboot. If you find this is the case, let me know and I will see if I can find a way to make that happen. :)
Update: If you’re using High Sierra and looking for Bootcamp drivers (2018 latest MacOS, visit this article to learn more about Bootcamp drivers).
Mouse won’t connect?
This is a problem I’ve found with the Magic Mouse even on a Mac. However, this has a simple fix (even if not obvious). Click the mouse several times to wake the mouse up to ask it to reconnect to Windows (or Mac) after turning the mouse on.
Drivers
Note, I’ve found the drivers on the net located here. If you find that this link no longer works, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll see if I can find another location.
Good Luck
Random Thoughts - Randocity! 
Great, it works. Thanks a lot!!
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Thanks so much for this! I can confirm the driver download files you link to work also for Windows 10 — just installed the 64bit version on my Surface Pro 3 and now the scroll function of my Magic Mouse 1 is finally working. This process was much less complicated that instructions I found elsewhere to download Boot Camp and extract drivers from there.
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Thank you for letting us know that this is working on Windows 10! Great news. :)
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Terrific post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this
topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate
a little bit more. Cheers!
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Hi Blake,
In what way would you like me to elaborate on this topic? Is there something specific that’s not clear enough?
Thanks.
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Thank you!!!!!!!
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[…] Credits: Random Thoughts […]
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Do any of you had problems with the mouse on Windows, in terms of accuracy and general behaviour? I mean….in MAC OS X, it works just fine, smooth and everything. But, in Windows on Mac, it works like hell. Its kinda loses connection for 1-2 sec. then it goes again….batteries are fine, and like I said…on the MAC OS it works perfectly…but when I boot to Windows with bootcamp…it works like hell (beside the scroll part and gestures)…
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Hi Robert,
In general, the driver supplied for Windows is not as reliable or as smooth as what’s offered on the Mac. While I never really state that in the article above, it is implied in places. So, in answer to your question, the Windows driver is not as stable as the driver on the Mac. Note that Retina MBP systems are much more vulnerable to this issue than older models. This is partly because Apple updated the hardware of the systems and didn’t really update the corresponding Windows drivers to match. So, while they do work, on a Bootcamp Windows environment, this mouse may not work as well when using the built-in Bluetooth receiver on a Retina MBP.
Instead, I might suggest a bluetooth dongle hooked to Windows using its supplied driver and then pairing the Magic Mouse with that. I can’t guarantee this will give you a better experience, but it might. If you can borrow a friends BT dongle, you might see if it works better than what’s built-in.
Thanks.
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tq tq tq tq
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yw yw yw yw
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thanks a lot for saving my hair! :)
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You’re Welcome! :)
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thanks for the link. just got the scrolling working on a Win 8 now.
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Glad to hear this is working on Windows 8.
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Thanks for the driver link! Now I can scroll!
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What I need to find out is, HOW CAN I TURN OFF GESTURES W/ this mouse.. Its too touch sensitive causing me to scroll and mess up tons of folders.. I have a large media file because I do video and photography and I am always accidentally scrolling up and down and doing other stuff I do not intend to do. I wish they can make it where It uses two fingers to scroll because I can not take this. I just paid $70 something dollars and I do not feel like taking it back for a return, I think I will get my bluetooth sony mouse that I used to use w/ my Vaio Z, I am running the macbook md318 i7 500 GB model macbook pro.
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Hi Kodais,
Unfortunately, if you turn off gestures, you’ll turn off the scrolling also. Basically, you’ll end up with a generic two button mouse which is a complete waste of money at $70. Note, this mouse is actually designed for use on a Mac. That it has Windows drivers is primarily for use with Bootcamp. However, Apple only completed half of the work to provide Windows drivers. What I mean by that is that while the drivers enable the gestures, there is not a control panel application that lets you tweak the settings. However, that doesn’t mean that the settings cannot be tweaked. I have not personally dug into the driver settings, but likely there are settings in the Windows registry that probably let you tweak at least some of the mouse settings. Although, even on a Mac, the Magic Mouse is highly sensitive and the scrolling gets out of control easily. So, even a control panel may not resolve the issue with this version of the Magic Mouse. If you need precise mouse movements and scrolling, then the only way to get this is with a tangible scroll wheel. There is no other way around this.
I would suggest that for your mission critical work that you get a Windows designed mouse that works for your video purposes and leave the Magic Mouse for leisure activities that don’t require that level of precision. Note, if you really are in need of a much more precise mouse, I’d recommend getting either a Logitech or Microsoft mouse. Both offer highly configurable control panel options that let you completely tweak the sensitivity levels of the mouse movements. The Magic Mouse was not designed for use on Windows and does not provide the level of support as mice specifically designed for use in Windows such as Logitech and Microsoft mice.
Note, Microsoft also makes a touch mouse that may work better for your needs and will definitely be more compatible with Windows. So, I’d suggest you might try that mouse instead of the Apple Magic Mouse.
Thanks and good luck.
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As an FYI, you can turn off the scrolling on the mouse by using the Control Panel->Mouse->Wheel Tab->Enable Vertical Scrolling (uncheck this and click apply). This will disable vertical scrolling on the mouse. You can renable by checking the box and clicking apply. There are also sensitivity options in this same control panel settings area. However, they aren’t specific to the Magic Mouse, but to mice in general.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH!! After I installed the drivers linked above, I lost the use of the Mouse completely. I turned the mouse off, removed it from the listed bluetooth devices, then turned it back on, and had the PC rediscover it. Works like a charm now, Windows 7 32 bit SP 1
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