MWB stuck at yellow (resolving?), is there a way to see error log?

[nisarg-ujjainkar]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.70.1

Installation method

Microsoft Store

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Mouse Without Borders

Steps to reproduce

Try connecting two PSc using mouse without borders.

✔️ Expected Behavior

The devices should connect and the device border should become green to indicate a successful connection.

❌ Actual Behavior

The devices don't connect. The status indicator colour is yellow, which I believe is resolving. It remains stuck in this state forever. Is there a wat to see an error log to see what went wrong?

Here is what I have tried:

1. try running with administrator.
2. Try running without administrator.
3. Try running with service.
4. Without service.
5. I had already added firewall exception before trying to connect.

I am on a university network. Would that be the cause of this issue?

Other Software

No response

[f22raptorroland]

I have the same issue on Home Network. I also set Static Routes and added each other's IPs to the Addressing map.

1. Generated key on Computer
2. Added key/Name on laptop 3: Yellow outline on Laptop Computer won't even show the new device

Note: The device Name always gets Capitalized. So it is cannot be the same as on the computer. Is it an issue?

[f22raptorroland]

I have found a workaround!

The problem IS the capitalization.

1. Thick "Show the original Mouse WIthout Borders UI" (I did this on the Laptop)
2. Restart, open from the taskbar
3. Fix incorrect capital letters to lowercase
4. Profit $$

After the fix, it connected me to the Computer. I even switched back the UI to Power Toys

@nisarg-ujjainkar @mikeclayton

[nisarg-ujjainkar]

I must try it. Thanks.

[Dimkar3000]

I came across this too, this bug makes mwb useless when one of the device uses a lowercase computer name. I switched back to standalone mwb and it works correctly. This seam to be a bug on the wrapping interface, forcing capital device names.

For reference, I use 2 computers on a local network to share keyboard and mouse. One of them has a lowercase name. That computer has been configured from my employer, so I can't change the device name. Sometimes you can get it to work when you open the classic GUI and other times to overrides your changes. with the capital case ones.

[deanis74]

@f22raptorroland Thank you! One of my machines is in title-case and I obviously can't change it. Note that if you also change the name in MachineMatrixString then it will show up properly in the computer display and the context menu, if you're sticking with the old UI. Which I am for now.

[f22raptorroland]

@deanis74 Oh nice to know. I didn't manually edit the MachineMatrixString I only switched over to the old UI to change the name, then switched back to PowerToys. It retains the change.

[davehouser1]

I just started having this issue. I have two computers I connect with MWB. C1HOSTNAME = home PC with admin priv, C2HOSTNAME = work laptop with no admin priv. C1HOSTNAME showed "Resolving...", and C2HOSTNAME showed "Connecting"

• Both hosts uses capital letters for their hostnames. I checked the hostnames in Powertoys MWB settings, and in the older UI for MWB, they were set properly.
• I also checked the %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\MouseWithoutBorders\settings.json, The hostnames were right in there as well.
• I confirmed configurations on both hosts using hostname in CMD, and confirmed the IPs with ipconfig /all | findstr IPv4. Everything was set right.
• Tried rebooting both systems. Did not help.
• Closed other applications that might have interfered. Did not help.

My problem was, for some reason, my C1HOSTNAME host's hosts file was missing (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts). This file is to configure local records, it bypasses DNS records, and is a way to configure DNS resolution without a DNS server. By default its usually empty on Windows hosts. I recreated it like this

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp. 
# 
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. 
# 
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each 
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should 
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. 
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one 
# space. 
# 
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual 
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol. 
# 
# For example: 
# 
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server 
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host 
 
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. 
127.0.0.1       localhost C1HOSTNAME
::1             localhost C1HOSTNAME
192.168.1.123   C2HOSTNAME 

Notice how I added the C1HOSTNAME to the local host addresses, and added C2HOSTNAME with the actual IP address of the C2 computer. After reboot, it worked.

My guess is MWB is using a helper address handler because it requires hostname resolution and most people dont have an internal DNS server they set up for their home. That resolver-helper-system performs resolving for you based on your mapped address in MWB. This system is in place so you don't need to edit the hosts file (You need admin priv to edit the hosts file). I got lucky as it was just on my home pc that had the issue so I can make the changes. I get that this work around is a sledgehammer to the problem, but it worked for me so I thought I would share.