Mouse Back Button Does Not Work In AWS Workspace

Question

When using my AWS WorkSpace, my mouse's back button does not work.  The button works fine outside of my AWS WorkSpace.

Left click, right click, middle click, and scrolling do work.  I do not have other mouse buttons, such as forward, so I cannot test those.
I am running AWS WorkSpace v4.0.6.2415, and I updated a few days ago.  The WorkSpace is running Windows Server 2019 Datacenter, Version 1809.  The PC that I'm running AWS WorkSpace from, is running Windows 10 Home, Version 21H2.

I couldn't find an solution online.  Seems like this issue was reported on the AWS Developer Forums:
[https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=151445](https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=151445)
 but I did not find the issue on re:Post.

Does anyone have a solution to this?

Accepted Answer

Thank you for the suggestions.  I was waiting for AWS Support to get back to me, since I've been corresponding with them about this issue as well. Unfortunately, they let me know today that Trackball mice are considered 3D mice by their Service Team, so they're affected by the compatibility issue with 3D mice as mentioned above.  I did not know that my mouse is considered a 3D mouse, because I could not find any information online that confirmed that it was.  Searches online for 3D mice also turned up mice that seemed more complex than mine.  Anyways, they have opened a feature request for this issue to be fixed, but stated that there is no timeline on when that request ticket will be worked.

Until there's an official fix, I'm just working around the issue using [AutoHotkey](https://www.autohotkey.com/).  I installed that software on the PC that the AWS WorkSpaces client is being run from (not in the AWS environment itself). Then I created a script with the following code & ran it:

```autohotkey
#SingleInstance Force
XButton1::
{
    KeyWait, XButton1
    Send !{Left}
}    
```
in case anyone needs the forward button functionality as well, this script should work for that:

```autohotkey
#SingleInstance Force
XButton2::
{
    KeyWait, XButton2
    Send !{Right}
}    
```

Autohotkey is already approved software at my company, and I am more familiar with it.  I do appreciate the suggestions of the other software options though.

Answer

While the standard forward/back mouse buttons do not work, you can map them to a 'Keystroke Assignment' and get them to work. For example, I have a Logitech mouse and OOTB the forward/back buttons do nothing in WorkSpaces. Then I went into Logitech options and mapped the forward/back buttons to the keyboard combination for forward and back navigation - On Windows:

> [ ALT + Left Arrow Key ]  = Back

> [ ALT + Right Arrow Key ]  = Forward

Now my navigation buttons work in WorkSpaces (in browsers and Windows Explorer).
If your mouse does not come with software for remapping, then there are lots of freeware apps to do this like Mouse Manager or X-Mouse Button Control.

NOTE: This hack can also work by remapping trackpad swipes to Keystroke Assignments (e.g. two-finger swipe = ALT+Left Arrow].

Answer

Hello! Can you please provide the mouse make and model you are using? If your mouse is a 3D mouse, they are not supported by WorkSpaces at this time, as mentioned in our documentation https://docs.aws.amazon.com/workspaces/latest/userguide/peripheral_devices.html#devices-input

If you would like a further analysis, please open a support case with us and provide us with the Advanced Logs from the Client. Connect to the Workspace while collecting the logs, click on the button, then close the client, zip the logs folder and attach to the case, following the steps in this link https://docs.aws.amazon.com/workspaces/latest/adminguide/amazon-workspaces-troubleshooting.html#advanced-logging

Mouse Back Button Does Not Work In AWS Workspace

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