USB Browser Mouse Error

Filed Under (Misc.) by Kirby Witmer on 06-28-2007

Tagged Under : ,

I wasted all kinds of time the other evening trying to figure out how to get my mouse to work again. All I did was unplug it, and replug it, and it wouldn’t work for nothing. Windows Vista would try to install the device driver, but it would keep coming up with the same error.

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
USB Browser Mouse
An error occurred during the installation of the device.
The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry.
This may be because the INF was written for Windows 95 or later. Contact your
hardware vendor. If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and
check the support section for driver software.

It was driving me almost crazy, until I discovered this quick fix posted by justsomeguy1.

  1. Review your Windows Update History, and find the entry that says “CHIC - Other Hardware - USB Browser Mouse” and make a note of the installation date.
  2. Browser to the C:\Windows\Inf folder and find the two INF files that were installed on the same date.
  3. Delete both of those files.
  4. Go to Device Manager and do a driver update on the unknown device that appears.
  5. Breath a huge sigh of relief, and then go do something else… like… wait in line for the iPhone.

Read More

Comments:

3 Responses to “USB Browser Mouse Error”

  1. filips.net on 12 Jul 2007 at 2:39 pm #

    [...] Thanks to these sources: [Peter Caplan via Microsoft newsgroups] [“USB Browser Mouse Error” by Kirb.com] [...]

  2. Mr. KNo Gravatar on 6 Aug 2007 at 9:35 pm #

    Thank you so much for posting this fix. I was on my second Targus mouse trying to get it installed on my HP Vista computer. Kept getting that stupid “Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software” USB browser mouse. I located the .INF file per your directions, moved it to a backup folder, and presto, the mouse works.

    In my case, the bad .INF contained this:
    “; moufiltr.inf
    ; Installation inf for the Device that needs flitering adapter.
    ; (c) Copyright 1999 Microsoft

  3. AceNo Gravatar on 2 Jan 2008 at 5:35 pm #

    I was trying to install my usb mouse onto my laptop and it wouldn’t work. It kept saying that the installation encountered an error which i couldn’t fix. Then i followed your directions and it worked perfectly. Thanks a million!!!

Leave a Reply - (Comment Policy)