Yes, a Magic Mouse by Apple will work with a Windows PC. There are, of course, a few caveats to this, such as not having all the Apple Magic Mouse’s functionality, but you can get it to work, and there are possible solutions to some of the functionality issues.
My name is Eric, and I have put together and used many different computer systems since the early 1980s. As a software engineer and an electrical engineer, I love to find solutions for problems like getting an Apple mouse to work on a PC.
I have indicated above that an Apple mouse will work with a PC, but if you want to hear more details about this, keep reading. I will discuss connecting a USB mouse versus a Bluetooth Mouse and point you in the right direction to getting some of that missing functionality to work on Windows.
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Mouse Type
If you are trying to connect an Apple mouse to a PC machine running Windows, there’s a good chance that you will be able to get it to work, but you will need to consider the type of Apple mouse when you are trying to connect it.
USB Mouse
If the Apple mouse you are trying to use with a PC is a USB mouse with a cord, getting it to work is relatively simple. You can just plug the mouse into an available USB port. The PC will recognize the device and find an available driver for it.
For a test, I dug up this old Apple USB mouse from the early 2000s. I plugged it into an old Windows 7 Machine. It took about 30 seconds or so for the PC to find the correct driver, but it connected and began working once it found it.
Bluetooth Mouse
If you’re looking to connect a Bluetooth mouse such as a Magic Mouse or Magic Mouse 2, it should work just as a USB mouse did. Connect the Bluetooth mouse to the PC, and it will find a standard driver.
The only difference is with a Bluetooth mouse, you will need to pair it and connect it using the normal method that you would use to pair and connect any Bluetooth device to the PC. Most PC pairing/connection procedures are very straightforward, and you can quickly look them up.
Once you connect a USB or Bluetooth mouse to your PC, you will find that it has the basic mouse functionality, but you may not have all the features typically available when connected to a Mac.
Related Reading: How to Fix Apple Magic Mouse Keeps Disconnecting
Basic Functionality
As mentioned above, when you connect an Apple mouse to your PC, you will have the basic functionalities of a mouse available to you. By that, I mean you will be able to move the mouse pointer around the screen, and you will be able to click and double-click on things.
Other things like right-clicking and scrolling will not work. There are ways to right-click using the mouse and keyboard, and you can scroll using the keyboard, so if you are ok with the basic functionality, you will be good to go.
Full Functionality
If you want to have the full functionality of the mouse just like you would have using it on a Mac, you will need to install software that will allow the other features to work. Since Apple provides Bootcamp and the ability to run Windows on a Mac, they have software available to enable all the features of an Apple Mouse.
While this software is meant to be used with Windows running on a Mac machine, it can also be used on a PC machine running Windows. You can use the steps below to download and install the software.
Note: The instructions below are for a wireless Bluetooth Apple Mouse such as the Magic Mouse, but you can find software for USB types, and they will have a similar procedure.
Step 1: If you have already connected the Bluetooth mouse to your Windows Machine, disconnect it now.
Step 2: Download the latest Apple Bootcamp Support Software.
Step 3: Follow the instructions from the link above to unzip the contents of the download and then navigate to the bootcamp5.1.5769\Bootcamp\Drivers\Apple folder.
Step 4: Find and double-click on a file called AppleWirelessMouseDriver64.exe. This will install a new wireless mouse driver.
Step 5: Go into Bluetooth settings and reconnect the mouse.
Once this is completed, you should have full mouse functionality, and it should work just as it does on any macOS.
FAQs
Below are a few questions that often come up about using an Apple mouse on a PC.
What if the mouse actions still do not feel right on my PC?
Now that you have the mouse working on your PC, it’s possible that it still does not feel right. In this case, you may need to adjust the mouse settings in Windows.
Is there other software available to get my Apple Mouse working?
There are third-party applications you can download to help you get your mouse’s features working and adjust them to your liking. If you do a Google search, you will find them. Some of them will cost money but may be worth the price if you rely on your Apple mouse.
Will the mouse driver for Bootcamp work for a Windows Virtual Machine?
Yes, it will. Just download it as described above and install it, and you should be good to go.
Conclusion
Most all versions of the Apple mouse will work on a PC. In most cases, a driver will be automatically installed when you plug the mouse in, but you may not have full functionality with the basic driver. You can get all functionality by downloading and installing the drivers designed for Bootcamp.
I hope the information above has helped you to get your Apple mouse working on your PC. As usual, let me know if you have any questions or comments. I would love to hear from you.
