Getting mouse wheel to work with KVM and Ubuntu
Published: November 03, 2008 (about 11 years ago)
Updated: over 4 years ago
I have been busy getting a Ubuntu based Network Attached Storage server up and running as well as finally switching my trusty desktop to Ubuntu running my old Windows XP as a VMWare Server image. All was fine and dandy until I decided to add a KVM to the mix so I could easily switch between the NAS and my workstation without having to have two monitors and keyboards. Turns out the mouse wheel would stop working after a switcharoo. It took me a little while to track down the solution on the Ubuntu forums. There was a lot of back and forth in the comments, but this is the dead-simple solution:
Ensure the psmouse module is loading
Edit and add the following line to /etc/modules:
psmouse
You’ll need to use sudo (i.e. sudo vi /etc/modules).
Set the imps option for the module
As sudo user, edit /etc/modprobe.d/options and append the following:
# Make my mouse work with KVM
options psmouse proto=imps
Reload the mouse module
Once you have the above, issue the following commands:
sudo modprobe -r psmouse
sudo modprobe -a psmouse
Once you do this, you should have a functioning mouse wheel. Test it out before and after switching machines with your KVM hot keys. Thanks to the contributors of the Ubuntu Forums for this.

Michael Lang
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