force Windows XP to load PS/2 keyboard drivers?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev (More info?)

Hi everybody,

does anyone know a way to force Win XP to load the PS/2 keyboard driver
at bootup?

As far as I know, XP always tries to auto-detect a keyboard at the PS/2
port. If none is found, the corresponding drivers - i8042prt.sys and
kbdclass.sys - will not be loaded.

And this is exactly my problem: At work I have several server computers
connected to a KVM switch. XP does not recognize the keyboard behind the
swith and therefore does not load the driver. As a result the keyboard
cannot be used. (The PS/2 mouse driver is being loaded, though.)

The problem is not the KVM switch, though, but Windows XP, which the
following phenomenons have proven: The PS/2 keyboard behind the switch
is working fine in the Bios, under Linux or starting a DOS session (all
on the same computer mentioned above). Even Windows 2000 gets along fine
with my KVM-configuration. Only Win XP does not load the keyboard driver.

Theoretically, the keyboard behind the switch *would* work under Win XP,
though (if the driver *was* loaded). I know that, because if I connect
the keyboard directly to the pc (without KVM switch) during POST, then
unplug it at the XP login screen and replace it with the switch,
everything is working fine. XP auto-detects the keyboard at bootup and
loads the driver, which I can then use with the keyboard behind the
switch without any problems.

This is really annoying: Everything could be working fine, but the
driver is not being loaded, just because Win XP "thinks" that there is
no keyboard present.

This takes be back to my initial question: Can I circumvent the
auto-detection of the PS/2 keyboard somehow and indstead *force* Windows
XP to load the corresponding keyboard driver, no matter what? (In the
past, with less automatized Windows versions, that had always been
possible.) This would solve my problem for sure.

I am grateful for any help.

Best regards
Thorsten Eckardt