Free Software To Share Keyboard And Mouse Between Multiple Computers

Mouse without Borders

Mouse Without Borders is a free software to share mouse and keyboard between multiple computers. It was developed as a Garage Project by Microsoft, and works perfectly fine. With the help of Mouse Without Borders you can operate up to 4 computers simultaneously.
Before you begin using this keyboard and mouse sharing software, you should know that it must be installed on all of the computers that you want to control. Also, all the computers must be connected to the same local network, be it a wired or a wireless connection.

Once you have installed Mouse Without Borders on a computer, it gives you a security key. This security key needs to be entered in the Mouse Without Borders interface on all other computers which you want to control. After the case sensitive security key is entered, you will be connected right away. Use the mouse on the controlling computer, and slide the cursor toward the edge of your screen to move the mouse and keyboard control to another connected computer. Slide the cursor to another computer's screen to move the control to the third computer if connected. Do the same on the third computer to move control to the fourth computer. Activate the Wrap mouse option to directly transfer control to the main computer.
Another impressive feature of this keyboard and mouse sharing freeware is that it lets you take control of all connected computers from any of the computers.

Apart from controlling other systems from mouse, this software gives you a wide array of communication options between connected computers. This includes: Shared Clipboard, Easy File Transfer, Key Mapping, Screen Capture, etc.

Go to the Other Options tab on the UI to enable/disable: Wrap Mouse, Shared Clipboard, Draw mouse cursor, Hide mouse at screen edge, etc. You can also set keyboard shortcuts in this tab to Switch between computers, Show settings, Custom screen capture, Exit, etc.

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Input Director

Input Director is a free software to share keyboard and mouse between multiple computers. With the help of this Multiple computer controller, you can control up to 8 computers at once. You can also share clipboard among all the computers and share files.

You need to install Input Director on each system and make sure all the computers are connected to same LAN. Set up systems as Master and Slave. Master is the computer with keyboard and mouse attached to it and controls the Slave computers. When you start this keyboard and mouse sharing software, you will need to setup the following parameters on Master and Slave computers:

How to set up Master computer:

When you open this software, it asks if you want to Enable as Master or Enable as Slave. Click on Enable as Master.
Go to the Master Configuration tab. Click on Add to add a slave computer which you want to control.
When you click Add, a new window will pop up where you have to put the Hostname/IP address and the Port of the slave computer. Set a Hotkey for that particular computer if you like.
Click Ok to successfully add the computer as Slave.
The Slave computer begins to appear right above the list off slave computers. You can drag and change the location of the hosts according to physical arrangement.
More options are available in the Master Preferences tab.

How to set up Slave computer:

Click on Enable as Slave.
Go to the Slave Configurations tab. You can select the options to let computers take control. Either allow any computer to take control, or allow computers on a selected subnet to take control, or allow computers that you manually add in the allowed list.
Click on Add to add hostname/IP address of the computers/Master you allow to take control.
Add other preferences such as synchronization and shut down options.
You can add 128/192/256 bit encryption for security.

Once all the Slave systems are connected to the Master, you can view the Slave computers' icons in the Master Configuration tab of the Master. A green check mark tells that the connection is successful. To move the control to the other system, simply swipe the mouse towards the Slave computer's direction at the edge Master's screen. This means if the Master is in between of the Slave computers, then swipe right towards the edge of the master's screen to move the cursor to the slave located at the right side of the master. Swipe left to go to the Slave on the left side of Master. You can view little Ripples around the cursor just after the transition from one computer to another is successful. Minimize the UI to find it in the task bar. The taskbar context menu of this software to control multiple computers with one mouse lets you shut down, slave, enable and disable slave computers.

This freeware is available for free for non-commercial/personal use only. To use it commercially, you will have to be a premium customer.

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ShareMouse

ShareMouse is another good software to share keyboard and mouse between multiple computers. It lets you control two or more computers from one mouse and keyboard; however, the free version only allows two computers to connect. Just like other software, you need to install it on all the computers you want to be connected, also they must be connected to the same network.

Setting up the connection is pretty easy on this software to share mouse and keyboard. There are 5 menu options on the UI of this freeware: Monitor switching, Data exchange, Network, Clients, and Miscellaneous. Click on the Clients menu to view the computers available on the same network with ShareMouse installed; it automatically detects such computers. Click on the Monitor Manager option on the bottom left corner of the UI to view the connected computers and their position.

How this software to control multiple computers with one mouse and keyboard works? Same as the above software. You just have to swipe the mouse's cursor to the edge of the screen towards other computer to take control of it.
Other menu options lets you change various preferences of this software:

Monitor Switching: Change the following parameters like Equalize monitor, Full screen, Quick jump hot keys, etc.
Data Exchange: Allow drag & drop, Clipboard sync, Hot key to paste shared clipboard, etc.
Network: Set password security, update, access TCP/UDP settings, etc.
Clients: Displays connected clients with their IP name.
Miscellaneous: Settings to dim inactive monitor, change scroll speed transition, etc.

The free version is only available for non commercial use. Visit the website to know more about the pricing and premium options.

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Tricks by R@jdeep