Configuring multiple displays with Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems

SMART hardware

SMART Board interactive whiteboards and SMART Board interactive displays

SMART software

SMART Notebook 10.8 and 10.7 collaborative learning software and SMART Product Drivers 10.8 or earlier

Operating systems

Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems

Important

You might need to log in as an administrator to perform these procedures.

About Tablet PC

Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems include Tablet PC pen and ink functionality. When Tablet PC is enabled, you can use gestures and flicks, and draw in non-Aware programs.

Tablet PC is enabled by default. You can determine whether Tablet PC is enabled by confirming that Tablet PC Input Service is started.

Tip

When Tablet PC is enabled and you touch the interactive screen with your finger, the cursor looks like a diamond.

To check if Tablet PC is enabled

Click Start, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.

The Services window appears.
Locate Tablet PC Input Service in the list.

If Tablet PC Input Service's status is started, the service is enabled.

OR

If Tablet PC Input Service's status isn't started, the service isn't enabled.

To enable Tablet PC

Click Start, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.

The Services window appears.
Right-click Tablet PC Input Service, and then select Properties.

The Tablet PC Input Service Properties dialog box appears.
Select Automatic from the Startup type drop-down list.
Click the Service status Start button.
Click OK.

Using Tablet PC with multiple interactive screens

When you connect up to 16 interactive screens to a single computer, then by default, only the first screen connected to the computer is interactive.

If you want, you can configure a different screen to be the interactive screen or use multiple screens as interactive screens with reduced functionality.

Configuring a different screen to be the interactive screen

You can configure a different screen to be the interactive screen.

To configure the screen you want to be the interactive screen

Click Start, type Tablet PC Settings, and then press ENTER.

The Tablet PC Settings dialog box appears.
Select Display > Setup beside Configure your pen and touch displays.
Click Touch input when asked what type of screen you want to identify.
Follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll be asked to orient the interactive displays one at a time.

Note

You may have to touch a display several times before you’re asked to press ENTER to move to the next step.
After you orient the screen you want to be the interactive screen, press ENTER.
Verify that touch recognition is working correctly by checking that the cursor appears on the screen you want to be the interactive screen.

Configuring multiple screens to be interactive

There are two ways to configure multiple screens to be interactive:

Disable Tablet PC Input Service,and then orient all your interactive products using SMART control panel.

OR
Remove SMART Product Drivers from your computer, and then rely on the Windows Tablet PC feature.

Important

Do not remove SMART Virtual Tablet PC because SMART Product Drivers might self-repair.
Do not remove or disable SMART HID Device because touch does not work as expected without this feature.

Note

If you remove SMART Product Drivers, some features are no longer available:

SMART Notebook software functions don't work as expected, for example, pen color, gestures and multi-user functionality.
The pen tray's Keyboard, Orientation and Help buttons don't work.
Pen tray pens don't work.
SMART Board Diagnostics doesn't appear.
You need to use Tablet PC Settings to calibrate the interactive product.

To disable Tablet PC on a computer with SMART Product Drivers 10.8

Click Start, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.

The Services window appears.
Right-click Tablet PC Input Service, and then select Properties.

The Tablet PC Input Service Properties dialog box appears.
Select Manual or Disabled from the Startup type drop-down list.
Click OK.

To disable Tablet PC on a computer with SMART Product Drivers 10.7 or earlier

Click Start, type Device Manager, and then press ENTER.

The Device Manager appears.
Select View > Devices by connection.
Right-click SMART Virtual Tablet PC (one of the SMART Product Drivers), and then select Disable.

Note

If SMART Virtual Tablet PC isn't installed or is disabled, you can use Tablet PC touch and pen features only in SMART Notebook software.

To remove SMART Product Drivers

Select Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features.
Right-click SMART Product Drivers in the list, and then click Uninstall.
Follow the on-screen instructions.

Troubleshooting

This section explains how to resolve issues with multiple interactive screens.

Your touch on one screen registers on another

If the calibration or orientation of an interactive screen proceeds as expected but your touch on one screen registers on another, you can configure a different screen to be interactive. See To configure the screen you want to be interactive on page 2.

Tablet PC pen and ink functionality doesn't respond

Ensure that Tablet PC Input Service is running.

To check if Tablet PC Input Service is running

If you have SMART Product Drivers 10.8, follow the instructions below.

OR

If you have SMART Product Drivers 10.7 or earlier, select Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager > Human Interface Devices.

If SMART Virtual Tablet PC doesn't appear in the list, follow the instructions below to download and install SMART Product Drivers which includes the SMART Virtual Table PC driver.

If you have SMART Product Drivers 10.8, follow the instructions below.
Click Start, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.

The Services window appears.
Right-click Tablet PC Input Service, and then select Properties.

The Tablet PC Input Service Properties dialog box appears.
If the Service status isn't Running, restart the Tablet PC Input Service.

To restart Tablet PC Input Service

Click Start, type services.msc, and then click ENTER.

The Services window appears.
Right-click Tablet PC Input Service, and then select Restart.

To download and install SMART Product Drivers

Go to the SMART Product Drivers download page, click Download, and then click Open.

The installation file downloads.
Double-click the SMART Product Drivers installation file on your desktop, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

SMART Product Drivers, which includes the SMART Virtual Tablet PC driver, installs.

Nothing happens when you touch the interactive screen with your finger

If nothing happens when you touch the interactive screen with your finger, one of the following issues might be occurring:

Tablet PC might not be configured to recognize your finger as an input device.
Tablet PC might be stopped or disabled.
Your operating system might not be activated.

To troubleshoot this issue, try the following:

Configure Tablet PC to recognize your finger as an input device
Start or enable Tablet PC
Activate your operating system

To configure Tablet PC to enable your finger as an input device

Click Start, type Pen and Touch, and then click OK.
Select the Use your finger as an input device check box in the Touch tab.

To start or enable Tablet PC

See To enable Tablet PC.

To activate your operating system

To find out how to activate your Windows operating system, go to the Microsoft support website.

Turning off Tablet PC pen and ink functionality

To find out how to turn off Tablet PC pen and ink functionality, see To disable Tablet PC on a computer with SMART Product Drivers 10.8 or To disable Tablet PC on a computer with SMART Product Drivers 10.7 or earlier.

Turning off flicks and panning

To find out how to turn off flicks and panning, see smarttech.com/kb/147470.

First published

September 15, 2011

SMART Technologies