Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between
My ramblings on the stuff that holds it all together
Using an Apple Remote Control to drive PowerPoint in a Windows VM using Fusion
Posted by on March 1, 2011
I recently purchased a remote control for my MacBook Pro so that I could use it to control presentations without having to be at the keyboard, rather than opt for anything flashy I just assumed I could use the normal Apple Infra-red Remote Control, install the Bootcamp drivers to my Win7 VM and use it with PowerPoint, ah how wrong I was!
Even with the Bootcamp drivers installed Powerpoint does not recognize the IR remote as a “clicker” so after some head-scratching and a bit of Google-Fu I came up with the following solution;
Insert your OS X installation CD into your Windows VM (not the Mac, the DVD seems to be dual-format and has some partitions that only show up in a Windows host) you can do this via the virtual machine CD/DVD menu in Fusion as shown below
Install the BootCamp Drivers from the DVD (will require a reboot)
When it’s finished, run Apple Update to get the latest version (you’ll probably have an older version unless you have a brand-new Mac, reboot required)
Map the Apple IR receiver to your VM (screenshot shows it already connected here)
You will get some driver being installed mumbo-jumbo in Windows
Download and install the latest build of EventGhost
Download and extract the configuration file I have created here
Run EventGhost
Choose File/Open and locate the configuration file you downloaded.
I would also suggest setting it to run at logon via the file/Options menu
If you get an error about loading the HID plugin, then you may need to add it manually, right-click on HID: Apple Computers Inc IR Receiver and choose configure (you may have to remove/add it again as the file I exported may have device-specific IDs that don’t match yours exactly)
Now when you are in presenter mode in PowerPoint the left button will back-up one slide, the right and centre buttons will advance to the next slide.
the up/down buttons still map to the Mac volume control.
This is a pretty basic configuration, but it works reliably – it doesn’t seem to recognize the Menu button on my remote so I assume this is a limitation of the generic HID driver.
Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between 
Many thanks for posting this. I’m trying to get my power point presentation working using my apple remote. My Mac pro is partitioned to be running Mac OS and Windows 7 and thought that I wouldn’t need to follow the first steps of installing the drivers as I already did. I tried to download the configuration file but the link just opens an xml file. I’d really appreciate it if you upload it again. Thanks 🙂
Marwa, the .xml file is the configuration file you use with EventGhost, right-click save-as and download it.
Would it not be easier to just use Microsoft Powerpoint for MAC? Then use the remote control that way?
Yes, that would obviously work too (assuming one had the correct licenses etc.) 🙂
I do find some ppt’s that don’t render correctly on the Mac version of Powerpoint – borders/page edges seem to be a particular problem
True. The Mac version of MS Office is far from being 100% compatible with the Windows version. The first time you run into a serious bug with the Mac variant, you’ll understand why people revert back to the Win version (via some emulation like CrossOver or a virtual machine).
@Simon: thanks for the hint on EventGhost and the XML file you made. 🙂
F**** genius! Thanks a lot! You saved my final thesis presentation!