Windows 10: Computer does not recognize mouse hold

This problem has been plaguing me for a few months, and my numerous searches around the internet have failed to yield any solution. After much investigation and a little help from a friend, we've determined that my computer does not recognize when I am holding the right mouse button down.

When I hold the button, the computer doesn't recognize that it was pressed in the first place. But when I release the button, it registers a single click. I.e. the computer only knows the button has been used after the button has been released. While this is fine for regular right-clicking actions, it comes with the caveat that the computer will never recognize that I'm holding the button down.

Some other details: The left mouse button works fine in all capacities. I've also determined that it is not the mouse itself causing the problem, as I've tried three so far – old ones and new ones – and all give the same result.

The problem is also very specific to the right button commands. If I reverse the 'left' and 'right' buttons in the system, the right button will suddenly work fine as the 'left' button in all functions, but the problem will now appear on the left button.

I've learned that the right button command is always ended with a 'context menu' being triggered. I don't know if that's normal or not, but I ran into a number of forums claiming the cause might be an external (to Microsoft) context menu trigger. But I disabled all non-Microsoft context menus and this didn't solve the problem.

I have more or less exhausted my personal knowledge, research capacity and patience. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this kind of problem?

:)

 

Windows 10 does not recognize USB mouse

I have a gaming mouse that I use basically for everything. It's a Ninja mouse. Last night I updated from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. When I plug my mouse in. I get the message that my PC does not recognize the USB device.
The last USB device connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does recognize it. Anyone know what to do?

 

Bluetooth mouse not...

So these suggestion are not very helpful because the computer no longer recognized my mouse, which it did prior to the update to Windows 10. I have spent lots of time with the mouse in discover-able model waiting for the computer to find the mouse and
it never does. So what should I do now?

 

What action are you trying to perform when click and holding the right button?

 

A great many. I might try to open up a right-click menu from my browser. Maybe I'll in a game like Kerbal Space Program and try to move the camera, or in Minecraft and try to consume food. I may type in something in Cortana and try accessing the right-click menu from the results (Like the Device Manager). If it involves holding the right mouse button, the problem almost always occurs.

 

Welcome to TenForums @PaulAsaran

What you describe sounds like normal right button function.

Mostly the right button is used to get context menus - and yes, they do appear after you release the right button. In fact, this 'after release' behaviour can be seen for the left button too where its function is to bring up a menu. Test by clicking on Start. The left button brings up the normal Start menu after it is released, whereas the right button brings up the Win+X menu - again, after release. These are the same menus that appear if you press and release the WinKey, or press the WinKey and X key together.

There is one way to test for sure that your PC knows you are holding down the right button, that's 'click-and-drag'. Create a new text document on your Desktop for this test (that's a right-click and use the context menu). Now click and hold the left button on this icon and drag it around the desktop, on releasing the left button the icon will stay where you moved it to. Now try the same using the right button. You should be able to move the icon around as before (so you'll see the PC knows you're holding down the button) but when you release it you'll get a context menu offering 'Copy here', 'Move here' and 'Create a shortcut'.

I'm not sure what you expect the right button to do, but nothing you have described seems unusual.

 

Yes, I have tried such tests before. And no, it doesn't work that way for me. As far as the computer is concerned, I never used the right-button on the icon; it only knows that my mouse is not currently above any icon and registered my 'release' as the click, thus giving me the basic 'view', 'sort by', and 'refresh' menu. The options your suggesting don't exist, because the computer didn't register me 'selecting' the icon in the first place before dragging.

The same test is valid for all the other functions I've mentioned. If the right mouse button was working like it was supposed to, I'd be able to use any basic right-button-hold function in any game I play, but I can't in any of them, because the computer doesn't know I'm holding the button down.

 

Not all results in Cortana will have a right-click context menu, there isn't one for 'Device Manager' (it being a part of the Control Panel). There is one for any result labelled 'Desktop App' though. The Control Panel itself is one such result in Cortana with a context menu. Its right-click menu is 'Open file location', 'Pin to Start' and 'Pin to taskbar'. Others, like Notepad will add 'Run as administrator' to that list. Some results, like the web results, just don't have a context menu.

 

Ah, that's the one I must have been thinking of. If I try to right-click on it, the menu pops up and goes away in the blink of an eye, giving me no time to read what the menu says, much less select an option. In keeping with the above issues, it doesn't react to me holding the button down until I've released it (although that may be normal given what you've already said).

 

Have you tried the right-click and drag test for a file on your desktop yet? That should reassure you that the PC does indeed recognise when you are holding down the right button. I think the rest is down to you expecting something other than what the right button is intended to do.

 

Apparently my prior response didn't make it clear. Let me try that again.

Yes, I have tried your desktop test. No, it did not work like you said it would. There is no option to 'Copy here', 'Move here' or 'Create a shortcut', because the computer did not recognize I pressed the right button down while the pointer was over the icon before dragging it across the screen. nor does a selection box appear as I drag the mouse. When I release, then it acknowledges I'm doing something, but only as a single click and the 'View', 'Sort By' and 'Refresh' options.

The left mouse button does everything it is expected to.

 

OK, that is definitely NOT correct behaviour.

Sometimes a driver such as the mouse driver can get itself confused and misbehave. The first thing to try is a cold start. With fast startup enabled even shutting down the PC and starting up again may not reinitialize everything properly. To do a full start up from cold, select 'Restart' on the Start menu's power button. Then test to see if the right-button behaves properly.

 

Alright, color me confused. I just tried that not thirty minutes before creating this thread, right after uninstalling my USB input devices as a means of re-installing them, and it didn't work.

But this time?

It worked.

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful, but I'm scratching my head trying to figure out the difference between then and now.

 

Now that is odd. At least we now know your mouse and its driver can work correctly. Before trying anything else, I suggest just leave it alone and see if the problem recurs. If it doesn't, all well and good.

If it does, then try the restart again. If that only fixes it for a little while, only then would I start looking at making changes. The first thing I'd look at is checking for an updated driver for your mouse using Device Manager.

 

Will do, and thanks a lot. I've gone ahead and marked this as solved. If the problem comes back and I can't get it fixed as you've described above, then I'll just start a new one.