Initially, I picked up a Logitech Harmony 550 remote, hoping I could make it work with the laptop’s built-in IrDA transceiver, but to no avail — the IrDA unit apparently cannot communicate on the Consumer IR spectrum that a standard remote control uses. Not one to be easily defeated, I picked up a cheap, generic Windows Media Center remote control and receiver. I plugged the receiver in and, to my dismay, Windows was unable to locate a driver for the device.

After months of sporadic attempts and research, I finally found the solution. Under Windows XP, the receiver will show up under “Other devices” in the Device Manager as an “eHome Infrared Transceiver”, sporting an exclamation mark badge over a question mark — missing drivers. Windows Update turns up nothing, and a patch for Windows XP MCE that is suggested by many seems to not help anything either.

Make it work!

To install the drivers for the device, follow these steps:

• Right-click on the device entry and select Properties.
• Click on the “Reinstall Driver…” button. Opt to not check Windows Update; you’ve probably already tried with no luck.
• Get esoteric with the “Install from a list or specific location” option.
• Get more esoteric with the “I will choose the driver to install” option.
• Under the “hardware type” box, choose the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” option.
• On the next page, a correctly-labeled driver should appear as the only option in the box. Continue.
• Skip affirmatively past any prompts you receive.
• After the driver is installed, wait a bit while it churns through the resultant child devices that will appear.

You should now be good to go! I just discovered this earlier this evening and was very excited, so I figured I’d make a post about it to save others the pain and heartache that I experienced.

Additional Note: In order for the correct driver to appear, you may need to install this update. It is for XP MCE 2005 but should also install cleanly on XP.

Second additional note (December 2009): It’s worth mentioning that the remote and receiver work perfectly out of the box on Windows 7 (as I assume they would also on Vista, though I never tried).