How to operate the mouse if no VMWare-Tools can be installed?

[ErikDe]

Hello,

I am currently dealing with a scenario where I need to boot a VM in a so-called Windows-PE (Preinstallation) environment, to perform some tasks. Unfortunately, on this Win7-based WinPE, installation of VMWare-Tools is not possible. The setup starts, but then does nothing. I assume some important core-components that other Windows versions do have is missing here.

My main problem is, that I can operate the keyboard normally, but my mouse is not porperly working. It is jumping baiscally from one edge of the (virtual) screen to the other when moved, so no real mouse interaction is possible. I am using the VMWare Remote Vonsole 11.1.0, which seems to be the latest verison. In the Web Console, no mouse input is available at all.

My question is simple: why is VMWare failing to handle basic mouse interaction even if no VMWare tools are installed. Even if I could install them, they wouldn't survive the required reboot, because this WinPE-version is completely booting from a read-only ISO image to a ramdisk, and is running from there.

Is it that hard to implement basic mouse features without VMWare Tools? Is there any trick or workaround to use?

[continuum]

Why dont you add the vmware-mouse driver when you build the Win7 PE ?

[ErikDe]

I actually added all the VM Drivers when building the WIM-File, but how can I see if the driver is actually being used? I assume it doesn't get used, and when I try installing the INF-file usining drvload (for vmmouse.inf and vmusbmouse.inf), this succeeds, but the behaviour does not change.

Actually I am following this KB article:

VMware Knowledge Base

And the drivers do get added, but how can I see if they actually work? They are present in C:\windows\system32\drivers i the PE system. My WinPE is a bit older, based on WinPE 3.1.

Any more ideas? Thanks a lot!