Windows 8 RTM and Wacom Tablets - Even More Flawed Than Before
Saturday, August 18, 2012 at 11:59PM PLEASE READ: The Windows and Wacom Tablet Nightmare is Over
- [UPDATE on 2013/06/23] The latest Wacom drivers seem to fix the problem! Investigating now. Will post on it soon.
- [UPDATE on 2013/05/26] Clarified and simplified the section on using older drivers
- [UPDATE on 2013/01/24] Added link to petition and Microsoft communities site
- [UPDATE on 2012/12/20] Added a note about the use of older drivers.
- [UPDATE on 2012/12/27] Added link to a video that shows how affects the “click-drag” operation when using a pen.
- [UPDATE on 2012/12/20] There may be way to at least disable dynamic feedback. Consult this post: http://viziblr.com/news/2012/12/21/a-possible-workaround-for-pen-dynamic-feedback-effects-and-w.html
- [UPDATE on 2012/12/16] Added section on those with Touch displays.
- [UPDATE on 2012/10/27] Added a correction based on reader comments.
- [UPDATE on 2012/08/24] I have updated this post a bit – my initial take was too forgiving.
Some minor things got better. Some major things are worse. The things that we fundamentally hated have now become impossible to fix.
A Quick Summary
- Windows XP: things worked great
- Windows Vista: The default behavior was undesirable but could be corrected by an average user.
- Windows 7: The default continues to be undesirable, and correcting part of the behavior *Dynamic Feedback” was difficult.
- Windows 8 (RTM): The default state is reasonable. If you enjoyed the original XP behavior you will be OK with the default behavior in Windows 8 – with the exception of some odd bugs.
GOOD NEWS: The TABLET PC INPUT PANEL no longer appears by default
Windows Vista and Windows 7 would respond to the presence of the Wacom tablet with the Tablet Input Panel.
In Windows 8 RTM, this no longer appears by default.
GOOD NEWS: Flicks no longer interferes
In Windows 7 we would see the Flicks icon in the notification area and the Flicks would be enabled by default. We had to disable both the icon and the flicks behavior in the control Panel.
In Windows 8 RTM , the flicks icon lo longer appears in the notification area.
Note that the Control Panel indicates that flick recognition is enabled, however it doesn't actually recognize any flicks. To be safe, I recommend you disable the flicks via Control Panel > Pen and Touch > Flicks. Uncheck Use flicks to perform common actions quickly and easily.
BAD NEWS: PRESS-AND-HOLD STILL OCCURS AND CANNOT BE DISABLED
Remember that press-and-hold ring that would appear in Vista and Windows 7? In Windows 7, Press-and-hold is enabled by default but could be disabled completely for all applications In Windows 8, Press-and-hold is enabled by default and CANNOT BE DISABLED. Now, you can try to disable it of course: Go to Control Panel > Pen and Touch > Pen Options > Press and Hold. Click Settings. then uncheck Enable press and hold for right-clicking. However un-checking the value seems to have no effect at all or at least an inconsistent effect. I want to be clear that I regard this as an incorrect, and illogical behavior and thus a clear bug in Windows 8 RTM. To be fair, some pen-based apps (ArtRage for example) are able to disable the feature inside themselves. The Dynamic Pen Feedback in Windows 8 RTM behaves somewhat similarly to Press-and-Hold Previously in Windows 7 we could correct this using some special registry keys and disable it entirely for all applications. Again, the fact that it can't be disabled completely is something I regard as a bug in Windows 8. And again some pen-based apps do manage to disable it internally. There seem to be some occasional odd issues when using doing things like selecting items in comboboxes or dropdown-lists. Sometimes clicks and drags simply “disappear”. I often have to use the mouse or the keyboard to complete the action. Again, this is a very basic bug that I hope gets addressed soon. Here's a video that demonstrates the problems with dragging objects. There is some strange combination of Windows 8, Wacom, and certain applications (Chrome seems be the one I see this in a lot), where suddenly the Windows 8 on-screen keyboard appears for no apparent reason. I have no idea what is causing this or why Chrome seems prone to it. NOTICE: The “Tablet PC Input Service” has been renamed to "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" Back in Windows Vista and Windows 7, some people would disable the “Tablet PC Input Service” to restore santity to their use of their tablet. I never recommended this procedure, but some people found it effective. Disabling this service in Windows Vista and Windows 7 was done by starting “services.msc” (The Services admin tool) and then finding “Tablet PC Input Service” and then setting its Startup Type to disabled. In Windows 8, the service has been renamed. Thus “Tablet PC Input Service” is not longer listed in the Services admin tool. See the screenshot below: (NOTE: TabletServiceWacom is a different service and needs to be enabled to use your pen) Fortunately it is there, but renamed to Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service. In my experience, disabling this service on Windows 8 does not affect the dynamic feedback ripples or the press-and-hold behavior. BAD NEWS: Tablet PC Components can not be uninstalled Another technique people used to solve their problems was to uninstall the “Tablet PC Components” feature. In Windows 7 they would go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and then uncheck the item called Tablet PC Input Components. In Windows 8, this is no longer possible because there is no item called Tablet PC Input Components listed there. See the screenshot below. I am switching to Windows 8 despite some of the issues I have described. The default behaviors seem OK for my uses of pen-based apps. The remaining bugs and strange behaviors I hope will be addressed with a future update. HAVE A TOUCH DISPLAY: There may be hope Here's an interesting comparison. Below are screenshots of the Pen and Touch control panel. Both are from Windows 8 RTM. On the left is my desktop on the right is my Acer Aspire S7: a laptop with a built in touch-sensitive display. Pen and Touch Control panel on Windows 8 with non-touch-sensitive display Notice that at the bottom there is a group of options called Pen Buttons. Pen and Touch Control panel on Windows 8 with touch-sensitive display (Acer Aspire S7) Look at this: Pen Buttons no longer appears. Instead we see Touch Feedback. The good news is that Windows will now correctly disable Press-and-hold and the option called Show visual feedback when touching the screen will disable the dynamic feedback ripple effect. Checking the Show visual feedback when touching the screen may have some negative consequences when you are actually using touch the screen instead of using your pen – I didn't use it long enough to see anything though. Now that we know that Windows can somehow completely disable the hated pen effects, I believe this gives us a reason to believe a solution when using a tablet without a touch-sensitive display is technically possible. NOTE: See the vertical space between Touch Feedback and Show visual feedback when touching the screen? This hints at the existence of another setting that might exist but is not being shown for some reason. Some people has have reported success in disabling these effects with older Wacom drivers (version “ 6.1.6-7” to be specific). Personally I have not found that using older drivers works with my Intuos 5 and Windows 8 – in fact the drivers so not seem to work at all. Q & A You say you took these screenshots with Windows 8. Why are the corners of the windows rounded? This is a consequence of my screenshot tool: HyperSnap. It tries to accurately capture the rounded corners of Windows 7, not realizing that it should not continue trimming the corners in Windows 8. How can encourage Wacom and Microsoft to fix this problem. 
BAD NEWS: Dynamic Feedback Cannot Be Disabled
BAD NEWS: UI Components Sometimes Fail to Work with the Pen completely
BAD NEWS: The On-Screen Keyboard appears randomly
MY DECISION: I am still moving to Windows 8
Can Older Drivers Solve the Problem?
Reader Comments (64)
Driver 5.2.4-6(RC) for Windows 7, Vista & XP (32 & 64 bit versions) work quite ok with my Bamboo on Windows 8
@saveenr
Thanks for the added info. Yeah, I had already disabled dynamic pen feedback but first had to add a dummy touch driver (https://github.com/ecologylab/EcoTUIODriver/downloads) to enable the touch tab (in Pen and Touch) and then disable the "Show visual feedback when touching the screen"... Though the killer for me is the drag delay. It keeps me going back to my mouse when working with apps that aren't touch aware (coding is horrible with it).
Also, are you able to link to the petition at the top of your "Windows 8 RTM and Wacom Tablets - Even More Flawed Than Before" post so that it gets more exposure, and hopefully enough signatures for Microsoft or Wacom to do something about it.
Has anyone managed to make Intuos5 work right? I changed the windows registry but still not perfect.
@Denys - as far as I can tell nobody has been able to get a fix for all the problems.
This is the petition if it hasn't already been posted here. Please sign it!:
http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/wacom-and-microsoft-fix-the-wacom-driver-issues-and-windows-8-pen-subsystem?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_before_sign
@Jabba52 - thanks for reminding me about the link. I've added that link to the body of the blog post in the Q & A section at the bottom.
Tou com o mesmo problema de atraso ao clicar e arrastar e duplo clique utilizando Windows 8 Pro + Wacom Bamboo Create, baixei o último driver fornecido ontem 23-01-2013 e mesmo assim o problema continua.
As most of you with an Intuos 5 tablet I've resolved most of my issues with it via patches and fixes (which I really shouldn't have to do) except for the drag delay. Wacom is blaming Microsoft and Microsoft is blaming Wacom but nobody seems to be coming up with a fix. I'm really disappointed in both companies that this hasn't been resolved as of yet! Anyway, I was searching for information on the MSDN site and came across this link concerning Guidelines for cross-slide. I believe this is the issue that we are having with the drag delay which occurs for touch and pen events.
Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465299.aspx.
I'm pretty sure this is problem and if this is the case this falls back on Microsoft for a fix. It would seem the have enabled this by default for the windows environment when the pen mode is being used. Anyway just thought I'd share.
Hey there. I made a program that fixes the drag delay problem for me. You can download it here. I posted it on the Wacom forums here.
@Helion - Thanks for sharing!
For those who are will try Helion's tool I'm interested to hear how it worked for you.
A new driver has been released! It's still not perfect but drag delay can be fixed for most things by change the pen tip in the tablet properties from "Click" to "Modifier, Left Click." I'm going to put out a Youtube video about it later today if I have time. My youtube channel name is markhyo or search for Mark Warren.
Helion's tool fully working on windows 8 pro with my Intuos4 wireless and the last wacom's driver (6.35w3)!
Thanks mate ;)
Just a friendly message, but a couple days back (on the 14th) Wacom updated their drivers to 635w3 (installer name). I have just installed it and noticed that the dynamix feedback rings have completely disappeared! I am however not completely sure if it's just the driver or a combination of it and registry fixes that I've tried, but it's good news nonetheless!
The downside to this so far is that Unity3D still doesn't get the key presses in the GUI, except for the scene window (and then it only responds to drag actions, no single click event works) and that 3D Studio Max still has some issues coupled with my Cintiq 12WX (rightclick works, but unable to select anything and won't disappear untill right mouse button has been clicked again) and that camera orientation (rotate around an object) still does not work.
Like I said, it's an improvement!
@Mark & @Geoffrey - thanks for the notice about the new driver. I will give it a try tomorrow.
@Mark & @Geoffrey - I tried the latest driver at of Feb 19, 2013 (635w3) on my desktop. I still get the same problems as I originally had.
If I use the registry keys here: http://viziblr.com/news/2012/12/21/a-possible-workaround-for-pen-dynamic-feedback-effects-and-w.html - then the dynamic feedback goes away (same as with the older drivers). My FixMyPen tool has no effect.
The click-drag delay to me seems completely unaffected with this newer driver.
The new driver still has issues with drag delay and other issues but many of them can be corrected by changing the pen click type. I made youtube video about. You can find it here: http://youtu.be/TKH-pIpsX98
@Mark - thanks for the clarification! (And great video by the way.) Changing the click type is certainly going to help people in some scenarios. As you point out in the video this is still not the ideal permanent fix we're looking for.
Under Windows8, the quickest, best and final sollution (for me) was to install the wacom win7 (!) driver 6.1.6-7 on my WINDOWS8 machine. i too am able to enter the ctrl.pnl. section and straighten the left options. no splashes, no push&hold, no lag - everything is fine.
@JanQ - many thanks, you are my savior! This is the best solution for me, works like a charm ;)
@JanQ and @UltimHate - I tried The 6.1.6-7 driver on my machine with a Intuos 5 and it didn't work at all. Not only did it not disable the dynamic feedback it also didn't even make the pen work correcty as a pointing device - it was almost as if the driver was not installed.