InputToggle

Switch selected input devices (a mouse, a keyboard) off and on with a global hotkey or from the tray, on Windows 10 and 11.

Why

Some mice report tiny phantom movements while nobody touches them: a worn sensor, a vibrating desk, or a wireless receiver picking up noise. Chrome Remote Desktop treats any local input as "someone is at the desk": it drops remote input for about 2 seconds after every local event, and its Stop sharing bar can take the focus. A remote session becomes unusable.

InputToggle lets you switch that device off while you are away and back on when you return, with one hotkey (default Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M) or from its tray icon. It can also do it automatically while a Chrome Remote Desktop session is connected.

Switching a device off is non-persistent: a restart always brings every device back, so you cannot lock yourself out for good.

Install

1. Download InputToggle-Setup-<version>.exe from the Releases page.

2. Optional: check it against SHA256SUMS.txt from the same release:

   Get-FileHash .\InputToggle-Setup-1.2.2.exe -Algorithm SHA256

3. Run it from the Windows account that will use InputToggle. That account must be an administrator (the normal UAC setup where you approve a prompt with "Yes"). Setup asks for elevation once.

The binaries are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may say "Windows protected your PC". Choose More info > Run anyway if the checksum matches, or build from source (below).

Setup:

• installs to C:\Program Files\InputToggle (the folder is fixed),
• registers the scheduled task \InputToggle\Apply for the account that runs Setup; the task runs the small helper that actually switches devices,
• adds a logon entry so InputToggle starts when that account signs in, and a Start-menu shortcut; optionally a desktop shortcut that switches the selected devices,
• stops a running InputToggle first (which switches its devices back on), so upgrading is safe,
• starts InputToggle at the end, as you (not elevated).

Do not approve the UAC prompt with a different account's password: the task and the logon entry would then belong to that other account, and InputToggle would report "helper not installed" for you.

First run

Nothing is pre-selected. On the first start, InputToggle opens its Settings window once: tick the device(s) to switch and click Save. After that it runs in the tray and never opens a window by itself.

Windows 11 hides new tray icons under the ^ arrow. To keep InputToggle visible: Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Other system tray icons > turn on InputToggle, or drag the icon from the ^ flyout onto the taskbar.

Using it

• Hotkey (default Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M): if any selected device is on, it switches them all off; otherwise it switches them on. While a switch is in progress (1-8 s) further presses are ignored.
• Tray icon: green = on, red = off. The tooltip says what is on or off and whether the hotkey is active.
• Right-click the tray icon for the menu (it also works over Chrome Remote Desktop). The first, grayed line repeats the state for touch clients:
  • Disable / Enable selected devices: does exactly what the label says
  • Re-enable everything InputToggle disabled
  • Settings...
  • Open log folder
  • Exit: with Re-enable on exit on (the default), devices InputToggle switched off are turned back on first.
• Double-click the tray icon (or press Enter on it): opens Settings.
• Starting InputToggle again (Start menu) while it runs opens its Settings.
• Notifications say what happened and why something failed. They never take the focus.

Where the hotkey works

The hotkey is registered with RegisterHotKey, so it works in every app on the desktop, whether you press it at the desk or send it through a remote session. It does not work on the lock screen, the sign-in screen, the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen or a UAC prompt (the secure desktop). While InputToggle runs, no other app receives that key combination.

If a remote session starts at the lock screen and phantom movement keeps interrupting the password, use auto mode: it reacts even while the PC is locked.

Auto mode (off by default)

Auto-disable selected devices while Chrome Remote Desktop is connected switches the selected devices off within about 2 s of a Chrome Remote Desktop session starting (it watches for remoting_desktop.exe) - even when you are sitting at the desk - and back on when the session ends, unless you switched them yourself during the session. A session counts as ended only after about 6 s without the process, so a short glitch does not flip the devices back and forth.

Settings

• Hotkey: tick Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Win and pick a key, or click Record... and press the combination (Esc cancels). At least one of Ctrl / Alt / Win is required unless the key is F13-F24 or Pause. Refused: Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Win+L, Alt+F4 and Ctrl+A/C/V/X/Z/Y/S/F/W/T/N/P/R. A single modifier with a letter, digit or F1-F12 (e.g. Ctrl+M) takes that key away from every other app, so it needs a second Save to confirm. If the combination is taken by another program, InputToggle keeps the old one and says so.
• Devices: groups show the vendor and VID:PID, entries show their class and interface (Mouse - MI_00, Keyboard - MI_01/COL01), and the Status column shows ON / OFF / "2 of 4 OFF" / not connected. Show disconnected reveals devices that are not plugged in; Show virtual/remote reveals remote-session and virtual input devices (hidden by default: switching them off can cut remote access).
• Confirmations (shown in red above Save; click Save again to confirm): any Keyboard-class entry (many mice also expose Keyboard-class collections for their extra buttons), a stronger one when the selection covers every connected keyboard and mouse, and any virtual/remote device.
• If you untick a device that InputToggle switched off, Save turns it back on.
• Options: notifications, sound, re-enable on exit (also tried at sign-out) and at start, auto mode, start with Windows.

If a device stays off

Ways back, most convenient first:

1. Over Chrome Remote Desktop: remote input does not go through the switched-off devices, so connect and choose tray > Re-enable everything InputToggle disabled. On the lock screen, sign in with the remote keyboard first.
2. At the desk with a working mouse: the same menu item (the icon may be under ^).
3. Unplug the device's USB receiver (or cable) for 5 s and plug it back in. Turning a wireless keyboard or mouse off and on does not help: the receiver is what was switched off.
4. Plug in another USB keyboard or mouse: devices you did not select are never switched off.
5. Restart (Start > Restart, or the power button). A restart always brings devices back. Shut down may not when Windows Fast Startup is on, because Fast Startup resumes the previous kernel session much like hibernation does; sleep and hibernation keep devices off too.

On the lock or sign-in screen neither the tray nor the hotkey is available: use 1 (after signing in remotely), 3, 4 or 5.

Command line

InputToggle.exe <option> (in C:\Program Files\InputToggle\app):

• --toggle: toggle once (asks the running instance)
• --enable-all: re-enable everything InputToggle disabled
• --settings: open Settings
• --quit: ask the running instance to exit cleanly (devices back on)
• --status: list the Mouse/Keyboard devices and their state (read-only)
• --selftest: read-only self checks
• --version: print the version

The release exe is a windowed program without a console, so add --out <file> to --status, --selftest or --version to get their output in a file, e.g. & "C:\Program Files\InputToggle\app\InputToggle.exe" --selftest --out "$env:TEMP\it.txt". --out never starts the tray application.

The output of --status and --selftest contains your Windows user name and device instance IDs, and some instance IDs include a device serial number. Remove them before you post the output in a public issue.

Uninstall

Settings > Apps > Installed apps > InputToggle > Uninstall (or Add or remove programs). The uninstaller:

1. asks InputToggle to exit, so it switches its devices back on (while the helper task still exists),
2. re-enables any Mouse/Keyboard device that InputToggle's record (state.json) still lists as switched off,
3. removes the task, the program files, the helper's logs, the logon entry and the shortcuts.

Your settings and log in %LOCALAPPDATA%\InputToggle are kept; delete that folder if you do not need them.

How it works

Part	Runs as	Does
InputToggle.exe (tray app)	you, not elevated	tray icon, hotkey, Settings; reads device state; writes a request file; asks the task to run
InputToggleHelper.exe	elevated, only through the task \InputToggle\Apply	validates the request and enables/disables the named devices

Changing a device's state needs administrator rights; reading it does not. So only a tiny compiled helper (C#, .NET Framework 4.x, a few hundred lines) runs elevated, and only when the on-demand task starts it. The task has no triggers, is registered for the installing account with "run with highest privileges", and runs the helper from C:\Program Files\InputToggle, which only administrators can change. The tray app runs with your normal rights; if it is started elevated (for example from an administrator prompt), it says so and exits. (With UAC switched off, Windows gives every program of an administrator full rights; InputToggle cannot change that.)

A toggle works like this: the tray app writes %LOCALAPPDATA%\InputToggle\request.txt (action, time stamp, device instance ids), records in state.json what it is about to switch off, runs the task, polls the real device state until it changed (or times out), and deletes the request. The helper disables with CM_Disable_DevNode without CM_DISABLE_PERSIST, which is why a restart restores every device.

Security model

What protects you:

• Least privilege. Only the helper is elevated, and only for the duration of one request. It touches nothing but Mouse- and Keyboard-class device nodes, and only non-persistently.
• The request is untrusted input. The request file lives in your profile, so the helper checks it strictly: at most 16 KB; no junction or symbolic link on the way (the opened file must resolve to exactly the expected path); a time stamp no older than 60 s (so an old request is never replayed); action=disable|enable only; at most 32 well-formed instance ids, each of which must be a present Mouse/Keyboard device. Rejected lines are logged by number and length only, never by content. The helper never writes to a location you can write to; its log is C:\Program Files\InputToggle\logs\helper.log.
• Protected install folder. Before registering the task, Setup checks that only Administrators, SYSTEM and TrustedInstaller can change the install folder; otherwise it does not register the task.
• No hidden test doors. The helper's test-only switches work only when it is not elevated and an explicit test environment variable is set.

Residual risks you accept by installing it:

• Any program running as you can switch your input devices. Running the task and writing the request file need no more rights than your own account has, so another program running as you could switch a Mouse or Keyboard device off or on (non-persistently: a restart or replug undoes it). It could also replace the request between InputToggle writing it and the helper reading it. It cannot use the helper for anything else, and a program running as you can already do far more than this.
• Unsigned binaries. Releases are not code-signed. Check the published SHA256SUMS.txt, or build the release yourself from source.
• Administrator account required. Setup and the task need an administrator account; the task belongs to the account that installed it.
• You can lock yourself out at the desk. Switching off the keyboard and mouse you use leaves only the ways listed under If a device stays off. Settings warns before saving such a selection.

To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

Files

Where	What
C:\Program Files\InputToggle\app\	the tray app (InputToggle.exe and its runtime)
C:\Program Files\InputToggle\InputToggleHelper.exe	the elevated helper
C:\Program Files\InputToggle\logs\	helper.log, setup.log
%LOCALAPPDATA%\InputToggle\	settings.json, state.json (what InputToggle switched off), request.txt while a switch runs, inputtoggle.log (rotating 1 MB x3)
Task Scheduler \InputToggle\Apply	runs the helper elevated, on demand
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\InputToggle	the logon entry

Build from source

Requirements (Windows x64): Python 3.11 (64-bit), Inno Setup 6.7 or newer, and the .NET Framework 4.x C# compiler that ships with Windows. Then:

git clone https://github.com/n3rd-bugs/InputToggle.git
cd InputToggle
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build.ps1

build.ps1 creates .venv-build (never using your global site-packages), installs the hash-pinned tools from requirements-build.txt, runs the unit tests, draws the icons, builds the app with PyInstaller, compiles the helper, checks the built exe with its read-only modes, compiles the installer and writes dist\SHA256SUMS.txt. Options: -Python <python.exe>, -Iscc <ISCC.exe>, -Clean, -SkipInstaller, -SkipTests, and -AllowOldInnoSetup (a local test build with an Inno Setup older than 6.7; never publish that installer). Nothing is installed and nothing needs elevation.

Output: dist\InputToggle-Setup-<version>.exe and dist\SHA256SUMS.txt.

Tests:

• tests\test_logic.py: unit tests (no hardware, no tray, no task needed)
• tests\test_frozen.py: runs the built exe with --version and --selftest only
• tests\test_smoke.py: needs a real desktop; skipped unless INPUTTOGGLE_LOCAL_SMOKE=1 (the hotkey injection test also needs INPUTTOGGLE_ALLOW_F24=1). It never enables or disables a device.

Running from source also works: pythonw src\inputtoggle.pyw (Python 3.11; Pillow is optional, for the tray icons). It uses the helper task that the installer registered.

The version lives in src\inputtoggle.pyw (VERSION). GitHub Actions builds every push to main, every pull request and every v* tag; pushing a tag v<version> that matches the version publishes a release with the installer and SHA256SUMS.txt.

License

InputToggle is licensed under the MIT License.

The installer also contains third-party software, each under its own license: the CPython 3.11 runtime and the libraries of its Windows build (libffi, bzip2, XZ Utils, zlib, the Microsoft C runtime), mpdecimal, Tcl/Tk 8.6 and the PyInstaller bootloader. Their license texts are installed as THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt next to the program.