accessibilitybluetoothkeyboardmouse
I have an iMac running OS 10.4.2. It used to have a wired mouse, but it doesn't work any more. I have a Magic Mouse (the kind that takes AA batteries) that was paired with another Mac before. I'd like to pair it with this one.
I can use CMD+space to open system preferences and see that the mouse is discovered. However I can't figure out how to access the pair button with the keyboard.
I've tried CTRL+F7 to change the way tabs move focus. That still doesn't let me focus the pair button.
The trouble is with the devices, the Apple mouse and the keyboard in your case. They don't pair with more than one BlueTooth host at a time. You need a BlueTooth host that's "central" to both Macs if you want to use them.
You can find KVM switches that have BlueTooth host receivers in them. For example, the Zonet KVM3322W (dead link) worked over USB and provided BlueTooth receiver capabilities. I cannot attest to how well that would work. Presumably you'd pair the keyboard and mouse with the BlueTooth receiver in the KVM instead of in either Mac and then using the keyboard shortcuts, switch between control of the Macs who are connected to the KVM via USB. How the Macs would respond to the BlueTooth receiver in the KVM coming and going as you switched between them is unclear to me. Could be they handle it just fine.
The other option is to seek out BlueTooth accessories that allow themselves to be paired with more than one host. And then switch between those hosts from hardware keys on them. For example, this keyboard+trackpad combo from IOGear supports switching between 6 BlueTooth hosts. So you'd pair it with both Macs and the use the keyboard switches to decide which one you were talking to at any point in time. That, to me, seems like the more reliable approach. Of course: now you're stuck using IOGear's keyboard instead of the Apple peripherals.
You can do so in System Preferences. Open the Bluetooth panel, select your Magic Mouse and click the cog wheel at the bottom to select "Rename" from the context menu.
This option will only be available if the mouse is not plugged in.
Best Answer
Found a solution.
Normally, by the time you get to step 2, OS X will automatically attempt to locate your mouse. In this case, the computer was already paired with some other mouse (which I can't find) so it didn't do that.