# 2 receivers for same wireless mouse **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664 "2012-08-26T01:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/1 "2012-08-26T01:05:21Z")
I have two laptops with which I use wireless mice. Each mouse is tied to only its own USB receiver plug so I have to keep the two mice straight, especiallly when going to other wifi spots. I took the wrong mouse with me to Barnes & Noble’s cafe once and had to use the GD finger pad. Is there a 2-receiver mouse kit available? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/2 "2012-08-26T07:50:23Z")
If it’s a Logitech mouse i’m 99% sure you have the ability to match their mice to another reciever. This is especially true if it’s the newer unifying receiver. You just need to do something with the software. with the unifying receivers you can probably buy multiple ones. But I bet you’d have to re-link up each time you changed recievers. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/3 "2012-08-26T23:07:04Z")
Yes. I have two Logitech M605 mice, having bought the second one to get the receiver, falsely thinking that both receivers would work with one mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/4 "2012-08-27T01:35:56Z")
They will. But each time you move the mouse to another receiver you need to sync it up to that receiver. THink about it. Do you want someone else with their mouse coming into range of your receiver and hi-jacking your wireless? No. You need to sync them. When you install the software there is this program called logitech unifying software. You should be able to get what you need using that. Also, for the record, you can probably buy JUST the unifying receiver from ebay or something. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/5 "2012-08-27T01:50:56Z")
That will allow one receiver to work with multiple mice and/or keyboards. He wants one mouse to work with multiple receivers. I don’t think the Logitech software will do that. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/6 "2012-08-27T01:54:06Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > That will allow one receiver to work with multiple mice and/or keyboards. He wants one mouse to work with multiple receivers. I don’t think the Logitech software will do that. Any unifying compatible device should work with any unifying receiver. Ergo, Device 1 which came with Reciever 1 SHOULD work on Reciever 2 and device 2 SHOULD work on receiver 1 after proper link up. Additionally you should be able to do Device 1 AND device 2 on either receiver 1 or receiver 2. Possibly even both at the same time. S/he should be able to move one device to another receive with relative ease. I suspect it will not be seamless and s/he will need to re-sync to the receiver each time he picks the wrong mouse. It may be possible that the device can send signals to BOTH receivers at once, but I don’t know why Logitech would allow that. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/7 "2012-08-27T02:09:53Z")
I assume the mouse is a transmitter only, not a transceiver. (Unlike WiFi, which is 2-way.) If so, I don’t see why 2 receivers wouldn’t both work on different computers, even at the same time, assuming the reset button was pressed on the mouse to initialize/sync them. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/8 "2012-08-27T03:51:04Z")
Another option is Bluetooth mice. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/9 "2012-08-27T20:24:54Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Another option is Bluetooth mice. Those are bluetooth mice. \ Don’t make me use this… ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/10 "2012-08-27T20:55:55Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Those are bluetooth mice. > > \ > > Don’t make me use this… The [M605 kit](http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Notebook-MK605-Keyboard-Laptop/dp/B002R5AB9G) comes with the [M505 mouse](http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/wireless-mouse-m505). That is not a bluetooth mouse. It’s a traditional non-bluetooth wireless mouse with a USB receiver. I don’t know what the trout is for. The receiver also does not have a “pair” button, AFAICT. Which means, sadly, that each mouse/receiver package might only respond to its corresponding piece. On the other hand, Logitech sells [replacement receivers](http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12369/~/purchasing-a-replacement-usb-receiver-for-my-m505), which implies there is some way of changing the pairing. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/11 "2012-08-27T21:00:37Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > Any unifying compatible device should work with any unifying receiver. Ergo, Device 1 which came with Reciever 1 SHOULD work on Reciever 2 and device 2 SHOULD work on receiver 1 after proper link up. > Additionally you should be able to do Device 1 AND device 2 on either receiver 1 or receiver 2. Possibly even both at the same time. > > S/he should be able to move one device to another receive with relative ease. I suspect it will not be seamless and s/he will need to re-sync to the receiver each time he picks the wrong mouse. It may be possible that the device can send signals to BOTH receivers at once, but I don’t know why Logitech would allow that. It doesn’t seem possible to send signals to two receivers at once. When you link a mouse to a new receiver, it stops being linked to any other receiver. If the OP puts a link on the desktop to the unifying software, it’s a very simple procedure. Start the unifying software, click a button, turn the mouse off and on again, click another button to confirm and you’re good. One thing to watch out for with Logitech is that not all models use the unifying receiver, even if they’ve both been purchased recently. a non-unifying mouse won’t link with a unifying receiver and a unifying mouse won’t link with a non-unifying receiver. (I confirmed this last week; we did a quick exchange at Staples to make sure we had one with the unifying feature.) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/12 "2012-08-27T21:20:14Z")
I’m pretty sure the Unifying Receiver is in fact a transceiver. And it’s designed so you can pair a receiver with multiple input devices, but you _cannot_ pair an input device with multiple receivers. Think about it - if you pair two computers with the same mouse, and happen to have both running at the same time nearby, your mouse ends up controlling both computers at the same time. You may be doing logical things on one computer, but also typing random commands or clicking at random places on the other computer at the same time. Who knows what unintended commands you end up giving. Of course I understand the OP’s situation too. The way I solve that problem is by buying different color mice for different computers, so I always know which mouse goes with which computer. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/13 "2012-08-27T22:31:01Z")
Both my mice are blue (in color, not the tooth). I guess I’ll buy a mouse of a different color and color code the receivers to match. No more than one of the laptops is in use at any one time. Thanks all. (Mr.) Ignatz ---
**Author:** ![tj342](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tj342](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tj342)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/14 "2013-02-01T23:36:19Z")
I believe unifying is the same hardware is pretty much the same hardware it takes to do bluetooth but with a proprietary protocol ---
**Author:** ![tj342](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tj342](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tj342)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/15 "2013-02-01T23:48:35Z")
_edit_ I believe unifying is pretty much the same hardware it takes to do bluetooth but with a proprietary protocol ---
**Author:** ![bcullman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bcullman/32/8207_2.png) [@bcullman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bcullman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/16 "2013-02-02T15:49:38Z")
Bluetooth mice can do what you are asking, but the Logitech ones are not designed to do that. From a similar question asked in their help forums: [http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Keyboards-and-Keyboard-Mice/Sync-with-multiple-Unifying-receivers/td-p/440445](http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Keyboards-and-Keyboard-Mice/Sync-with-multiple-Unifying-receivers/td-p/440445) However, they do have a free download called the multi-connect utility that allow a user to pair up to 6 devices to one unifying receiver. While it is not the intended use case, you could download this software on to each of the computers you have, and then re-sync your mouse with that software every time ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-receivers-for-same-wireless-mouse/632664/17 "2013-02-02T16:40:09Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > Both my mice are blue (in color, not the tooth). I guess I’ll buy a mouse of a different color and color code the receivers to match. > > No more than one of the laptops is in use at any one time. > > Thanks all. > > (Mr.) Ignatz nail polish makes a durable color coding. put a dot or two on each.