3 computers, two monitors sharing 1 keyboard & 1 mouse?

[J.Smith]

Hi. I wonder if anyone could advise please?

I have 3 computers.

1 laptop running Reaper, 1 PC running VEpro for orchestral sounds, 1 PC running VEpro for choirs.

They are all running windows 11 home and are connected via my home network.

The system all works really well, I'm blown away by the quality and ease of use of VSLs instruments and software.

The only problem is that I have to have 2 keyboards and two mice, which is becoming increasingly annoying, time consuming and uncomfortable.

My main keyboard and mouse go into my laptop and I view that through a seperate monitor.

The 2 pcs are connected to a hdmi switch that shares a 2nd monitor, my second keyboard and mouse plug into the switch.

The switch switches which PC is displayed on the shared 2nd monitor and it also shares the 2nd keyboard and mouse.

Could anyone advise how I can control the whole system with only one keyboard and mouse please?

I've looked at KVM switches with this facility but I can't find specific use information in my case and I lack the knowledge to make an informed choice from a technical standpoint.

I'm open to all fix suggestions, especially those favouring reliability and relative affordability.

Many thanks.

[Bill]

Remote Desktop is the way to go, but you have to upgrade one of the PC to Win11 Pro

[J.Smith]

@Bill said:

Remote Desktop is the way to go, but you have to upgrade one of the PC to Win11 Pro

Hi Bill and many thanks!

I'm now looking into that.

[VTohier Composer]

Hi @260709,

I am personally happy with https://symless.com/synergy

Hope I helped 😊

[J.Smith]

Thanks both.

I've just installed Windows 11 Pro on all 3 machines for the princley sum of £9. Doing so has also allowed me to upgrade the ram by more than if I was running 11 home so that's a big help when that time comes and there are other useful advantages.

Unfortunately Windows 11Pro doesn't appear to allow remote access to both of my pc "server" machines at once but I'm exploring workarounds.

I will also check out the Symless software.

Any advice on the multiple remote sessions issue would be very much appreciated.

[Bill]

I RDP to two PC quite often, so should be possible. You can connect to each individually?

[Ben]

Microsoft Power Toys has a module called "Mouse without Borders" that allows you to share mouse and keyboard between multiple devices simply by moving the curser over the border of your screen: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/install

Great toolkit with many useful gadgets, besides this feature, and it's free (open source).

[J.Smith]

@Bill said:

I RDP to two PC quite often, so should be possible. You can connect to each individually?

Hi Bill.

It's all working as I wanted now, thank you for your advice.

I am very much out of my element on the subject of networks and remote access.

I got it all working with access to both "server" machines by also downloading Microsoft Remote Desktop, which provides a nice little tab with shortcuts to both servers and it allows me to have both open.

I can only use the laptops external monitor for this but that is because my laptop has only one HDMI out. I'm going to see this as a power saving measure and will get a double sized external sized monitor to give me more screen space.

Many thanks again.

[Bill]

Good to hear!