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21

Is there a way to make a mouse scroll wheel invert its direction? I'd like to scroll upwards and have that action scroll downwards and vice-versa. There is no setting on the Mouse control panel that makes this possible.

Any pointers to a hack or a particular mouse model that has such a setting would be appreciated. I am using Windows 7.

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6 Answers

up vote 39 down vote accepted

First install AutoHotKey. Now create a script that looks like this :

WheelUp::
Send {WheelDown}
Return

WheelDown::
Send {WheelUp}
Return

Save it as a .ahk file and double-click the file to run it. Now you should have inverted the mouse wheel scrolling.

All information from here.

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I'll try this out at work and if it works I'll tag your answer as the right answer. Thanks! – Christian Correa Jul 14 '11 at 23:10
Works great. It's not perfect, every now and then it won't catch the "key" event, but as long as you keep scrolling, the very next event will be caught. The net effect is what I was looking for. So that would have to do for now, until manufacturers make this option configurable in Windows. Thanks! – Christian Correa Jul 15 '11 at 19:07
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There is an option in registry as suggested by Richard. – tig Feb 1 '12 at 15:44
up vote 64 down vote

There is a registry setting named FlipFlopWheel that does this! HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID\????\????\Device Parameters. There might be multiple mouse entries. The default value for FlipFlopWheel should already ready 0. Change into 1 to invert scrolling. Reboot or possibly replug in mouse for changes to take effect.

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See Jay Sheldon's answer to figure out what the ????\???? should be. – Steve Nay Apr 29 '12 at 21:57
2  
In Windows 8 there is also a setting for "FlipFlopHScroll" that flips the horizontal scrolling (especially useful for Win8). – Pete Amundson Aug 2 '12 at 14:25
Does anyone know if adding this key to a PS/2 mouse works as well? – Alo Sep 15 '12 at 0:28
6  
Don't worry about what the ??? should be, just run this in PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID\*\*\Device` Parameters FlipFlopWheel -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { Set-ItemProperty $_.PSPath FlipFlopWheel 1 } – Jaykul Sep 16 '12 at 3:28
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@Jaykul, your comment is the best answer; would be better as an actual answer. ;) – Kirk Woll Feb 7 at 17:20
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up vote 34 down vote

I used the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID\VID_???\????\Device Parameters method and it worked very nicely. To get the VID_??? number you go to the mouse control panel and click the Hardware tab then click properties.

Now in the HID-compliant mouse Properties window click the details tab and select the "Device Instance Path" property. The registry path is in there. I only had to unplug and plug back in my mouse for this to take effect.

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On windows XP, you have to use the device manager to find the hardware id of your mouse. Run DEVMGMT.MSC to launch the device manager. – Alsciende Aug 27 '12 at 9:57
up vote 14 down vote

You can also use the application X-Mouse Button Control to accomplish this. You only need to set the "Wheel Up" button to the "Scroll Window Down" command, and vice-versa. I am using this on Windows XP, but the app should work on 7 or Vista, also. It was very quick to set up, and since it's a GUI application, it was easier to use.

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I installed X-Mouse Button Control on my Windows 7 and scrolling is now reversed. Works perfect. Same direction as my home Mac with OS X Lion. – Magnus Aug 2 '11 at 7:11
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v2.2 has an "invert mouse wheel scrolling" on the "Scrolling & Navigation" tab. – Lars Truijens Nov 14 '11 at 20:26
up vote 3 down vote

I've written a small c# app to change the registry settings for all devices. It enumerates every device and changes the 'FlipFlopWheel' setting to 1 or 0 depending on which button you press.

the full source is available on github, the source code that actually does the flipping the registry setting (<100 lines) is here: https://github.com/jamie-pate/flipflop-windows-wheel/blob/master/Form1.cs

for those just wanting to 'get it done' here is the executable (asks for UAC elevation) https://github.com/jamie-pate/flipflop-windows-wheel/blob/master/bin/Debug/FlipWheel.exe

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People usually like to read a little more about your application before downloading and running a .exe ;) Please extend your answer and write a proper introduction. Please also refrain from simply adding your link to other answers unless you really feel like it improves the answer at hand. – Oliver Salzburg♦ Jul 29 '12 at 18:22
up vote 2 down vote

I have a Microsoft mouse attached to a bootcamped MacBook. It was easy to launch Mouse and Keyboard Center and set [Wheel->Reverse scroll direction]. Irony certainly plays a role here.

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1  
Just for clarity: Mouse and Keyboard Center comes with Microsoft hardware and is unrelated to Macs. – Louis Nov 2 '12 at 6:34
Thank you, Louis! This shall not be overlooked. – Kenneth Laskoski Nov 4 '12 at 3:46
This setting does not seem to be reloaded after reboot in Win8. The setting is shown as on when you go into the dialog. But it needs to be turned off then back on to re-enable. – Metro Jan 15 at 22:34
Yes, I recently upgraded to Windows 8 and noticed that, too. I ended up using @Richard's method. – Kenneth Laskoski Jan 16 at 19:56
Note that @Jaykul's (otherwise convenient) shortcut may not work for everyone. In my case I needed to invert the wheel in native Windows, but sometimes I open the same Windows in VirtualBox, which already takes care of mouse/keyboard input. – Kenneth Laskoski Feb 9 at 6:45

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