Justin A. Parr - Technologist

I had a unique situation occur while troubleshooting an XP machine – I had physical access to the machine, but not the keyboard and mouse.

I was able to use a USB mouse and On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) to navigate the user interface.

Here is how it works:

1. Plug in the USB mouse.  After a couple of seconds, you should be able to move the mouse cursor.
2. Click on “Start” (or whatever passes for Start, for your version of Windows)
   
3. Click on the computer name, to open an explorer window
   
4. Navigate to c:\windows
   
5. In the “windows” folder, navigate to “system32”
   
6. If you can’t find it, go to folder options, select “Show hidden files and folders” and make sure “hide protected system files” is NOT checked.
   
7. In “system32”, find a file called “osk” or “osk.exe”, and double-click to open it.
   
8. The OSK will be displayed:
   

The OSK will remain in the foreground, and allows you to “type” using the mouse.

For example, click the Firefox Address bar, then click-type:

g – o – o – g – l – e – . – c – o – m – ent (enter)

You can manipulate most OS and application functions quickly and easily, even if the system’s keyboard and mouse are locked out for some reason.