Today we’ll look at how you can enable the touchpad on a laptop in Windows 10. Many users don’t know what to do if the touchpad doesn’t respond to touches and finger presses, but it’s simple:
- there are problems with the device diver, which is not uncommon after updating Windows 10 or the driver in automatic mode;
- The touchpad is simply disabled in the system settings.
Turn on the device
One of the function keys F1-F12 in most cases is also responsible for turning the touchpad on/off. Which button does this can be understood based on the designation of the function buttons (in the screenshot it is F7). To use this function, you must simultaneously hold down the Fn key, located to the left of Space.
Usually, after this, an icon or inscription appears on the screen informing that the touchpad is working (activated). When pressed again, the device will be turned off again.
In most cases, if scrolling on the Windows 10 touchpad does not work or it does not respond to touches, this will be enough to get everything back to normal. In rare cases, the touchpad will need to be adjusted, especially when scrolling issues occur. To do this, call up the settings window touchpad.
1. Open the Control Panel through the search.
2. In the “View” form, select the icon visualization type as “Small icons”.
3. Call the “Mouse” applet.
4. In the mouse properties, go to the “ClicPad” tab, usually located last.
Usually the reason why the touchpad does not work, although it was enabled via keyboard hotkeys, is here.
5. Turn on the device if it is deactivated in the control panel.
6. Uncheck the option responsible for disabling the touchpad when connecting an external USB device for control (usually a mouse).
7. Return the default settings (this may solve the problem when scrolling does not function).
8. Go to additional “Options”.
This will open advanced settings for the touchpad, although everything there is configured in an optimal way for most users. In the window, you can configure gestures for the touchpad in Windows 10, change the speed and other scrolling settings, configure the sensor’s response to clicks, etc.
First, you should reset the settings to standard, and then you can change them to your own. We will not consider how to configure this or that parameter: there are no difficulties in this, and the process for each touchpad manufacturer is slightly different.
Updating device drivers
The second reason why the touchpad may not function or work incorrectly is outdated/incorrect touchpad drivers.
The fact is that with automatic Windows update 10 selects the most suitable (in its opinion) drivers, downloading them from the Microsoft website, while ignoring official resources.
Automatic update
Let's start with more simple option– installing the driver through the Task Manager.
In this case, it will be downloaded from the Microsoft website, although the developer recommends reinstalling the drivers manually by downloading them official versions from the support site.
1. Call the window via context menu Starter, called Win→X.
2. Expand the item “Mice and other pointing devices”.
3. Select the item to update the drivers of the selected equipment.
4. Specify the automatic search type for newer versions software.
5. We wait until the end of the search for the most suitable file.
6. Install it or close the window if the file version is the latest.
Installing the driver from the developer's website
If the previous option did not solve the problem or new driver was not found, it should be downloaded from the laptop support resource.
1. Go to the appropriate site.
2. Find your device.
3. Select a driver for the appropriate bit level installed on the Windows 10 PC.
4. Upload the file.
5. Launch the installer and follow the instructions.
Note: sometimes after this update method Windows drivers 10 can replace it with its own, downloaded from Microsoft servers, and cause problems that you just got rid of. In such a case, you should download the Show or Hide Updates utility and use it to disable automatic search and downloading drivers for the touchpad.
additional information
If the function key, which together with Fn should activate the touchpad, does not work, you should check the availability of specialized software from the laptop/netbook developer.
The touchpad may be disabled in the BIOS/UEFI. Read the instructions for your portable device, look for the option with the word Touchpad located in the peripherals section.
The touchpad (touchpad built into laptops) is a convenient replacement for a classic mouse, and hot gestures make it even more multifunctional than a mouse. Let's figure out how to configure touchpad gestures in Windows 10 and what to do if it stops working.
Setting up the touchpad in Windows 10
Access to the mouse and touchpad settings is carried out by going to “Start - Settings - Devices - Mouse and Touchpad”. If the device has a touchpad, in the tab that opens, in addition to the mouse settings, there will also be a “Touchpad” item, which is responsible for setting up the touchpad. In addition, there is an item “Advanced mouse settings”, which opens a menu of advanced settings.
From the mouse options menu you can access touchpad settings as well as an advanced settings menu
Settings can also be changed in the “Control Panel”: “Start - Control Panel - Mouse”.
The parameters displayed in the window that opens are completely identical to the mouse parameters in the advanced settings menu, so which way to access them is your choice.
This is what the mouse settings menu looks like when opened through the “Control Panel”
Changing Basic Settings
Basic parameters (delay before click, scroll speed, cursor movement, etc.) are configured in the same way for both the mouse and the touchpad. This is done through the mouse properties window already described above in the “Control Panel” (it is also the advanced settings menu in the mouse and touchpad parameters).
- On the “Mouse Buttons” tab, you can change the speed of the cursor, turn on and off “sticky keys” (a condition where one click of the mouse button is equivalent to a long press), and exchange the assignment of the right and left buttons.
On this tab you can change the settings for the right and left mouse buttons or touchpad
- The Pointer Options tab allows you to change the cursor speed and add some visual effects.
Using the Pointer Options tab, you can change the cursor speed
- Using the Indexes tab, you can change appearance cursor.
On the "Pointers" tab you can customize the appearance of the cursor
- The last tab, important for changing touchpad parameters, is called differently depending on the device model: “Tile”, “Touchpad”, “Device Settings”, etc. Its interface is unique for each model, but the purpose is always the same: this The tab is responsible for advanced touchpad settings.
On this tab you can go to advanced touchpad settings
Advanced touchpad settings
Advanced settings include changing gestures, calibrating the touchpad, and additional functions like palm tracking.
For each manufacturer, the set of settings is different, and so is the interface, so general instructions may not exist for all devices.
Therefore, we can only roughly show what the settings will look like. Let's take Lenovo's touchpad as an example.
- You can change the settings by clicking on the touchpad icon in the “Tile” tab. A window will open with options that you can enable, disable, and change.
In the touchpad settings window, you need to click on the image to proceed to changing gestures
- The “One Finger” tab allows you to configure gestures that can be performed using one finger: tapping on the screen, clicking one of the touchpad buttons, and dragging.
In this menu you can configure one-finger gestures
- The Multi-Finger tab gives you access to customize gestures for multiple fingers: for example, scrolling and zooming with two fingers, calling up menus and assistants.
In this tab you can configure gestures that require two or three fingers.
- Settings for the sensitivity of the touchpad, its reaction to a finger leaving the touchpad, and palm tracking are located on the “Advanced” tab.
The Advanced tab controls additional touchpad options
In addition, in each of the tabs there is help that allows you to get help on any gesture.
Video: Gestures in Windows 10
Touchpad doesn't work
The touchpad may not work for several reasons:
- accidentally pressing the touchpad off button on the keyboard;
- incorrect driver update;
- update or reinstalling Windows;
- action of viruses;
- disabling the touchpad in BIOS;
- mechanical failure.
If the touchpad is accidentally turned off via a button on the keyboard (usually one of the Fn keys: most often a combination of Fn with F5, F6, F8 or F9), you can simply turn it on by pressing this button again. It’s not difficult to find: as a rule, it shows a touchpad. The same button (or combination) will allow you to turn off the touchpad if you are not using it.
For example, the keyboard in the photo turns the touchpad on and off using the Fn and F9 buttons
If the reason is an update or reinstallation of Windows, you can return everything to its place by installing the required driver (usually such problems arise when the driver was not installed or was installed incorrectly). In a similar way, you can solve the problem if it arose due to incorrect driver updates.
- Click right click mouse on the “Start” menu and select “Device Manager” in the panel that opens.
To go to the “Device Manager”, right-click on the “Start” menu and select the desired item from the drop-down menu
- Find your touchpad in it: it is located in the “Mice and other pointing devices” tab and contains the words touchpad, smart-pad, pointing device, etc. in its name.
The touchpad is located in the “Mice and other pointing devices” tab
- Right-click on it and open “Properties”.
To enter the properties of the touchpad, right-click on it and select “Properties”
- In the window that opens, in the “Driver” tab, select “Roll Back” if the problem occurred due to an incorrect driver update, or “Update” if the reason was reinstalling or updating Windows.
To roll back or update the driver, click the corresponding button
- If you decide to update the driver, you can ask the system to find it on the Internet or download the driver yourself. Automatic search does not always work as it should, so it is better to download the necessary software from the manufacturer’s official website.
Select automatic search to have the system search for the driver on the Internet, or manual to download the driver yourself
As a result of these actions, the driver will either be rolled back to previous state, or updated to a newer one.
If the driver stops working as a result of the actions of a malicious program, you need to full check computer antivirus. Each antivirus has its own launch process, however general essence does not change: click on the antivirus icon in the tray and in the window that opens, select the “Scan” option (it can also be called “Scan”). The antivirus should detect malware and isolate or remove it.
To check your system for viruses and remove them, find the “Scan” button in the antivirus window.
Another one possible reason- touchpad control is disabled in the BIOS. BIOS is a system of programs that load into Windows and manage system input/output.
Once touchpad support is enabled in the BIOS, the device should work.
If the cause of the touchpad failure is mechanical, nothing can be done: you will have to take the laptop for repair.
Video: what to do if the touchpad does not work
The touchpad is a convenient and compact mouse replacement. An abundance of additional gestures will give you the ability to perform even more actions than using a mouse, and correct setting will provide maximum comfort when working.
Every laptop/netbook user is familiar with an information input device called a touchpad. For some users, this is the most convenient replacement for conventional computer mice, as it opens up many functionality For others, especially gaming enthusiasts, it is a terrible device that is used more often by accident than on purpose. But few people know that laptop developers have long provided for most of the possible nuances when working with the touchpad and provided users with the ability to enable or disable the touchpad if necessary, as well as set their own settings and create personal gestures that will make use as easy as possible of this device. As the title of this article suggests, we will talk about existing features settings for touchpad operation for devices running the Windows 10 operating system.
How to work with touchpad gestures in Windows 10.
Mobile manufacturers personal computers We simplified the procedure for enabling/disabling the touch model as much as possible. Some modern laptops (from HP) have a dedicated button next to the touchpad, which is responsible for activating and deactivating it. Accordingly, all that remains is to click on this button and get the desired result. But this feature is not implemented on all laptops. In most cases, a certain combination of the “Fn” and “F1 – F12” keys is responsible for enabling/disabling. Here everything depends on the manufacturer of the selected device, for example:
- “Asus” – combination “Fn + F9”;
- “Lenovo” – “Fn + F8”;
- “Samsung” – “Fn + F5”;
- “Toshiba” – “Fn + F5”;
- “Acer” – “Fn + F7”;
- “Dell” – “Fn + F5”.
Unfortunately, there are often cases when the key combinations mentioned above simply do not work. In this case, you should pay attention to the BIOS settings, and to do this you will need to do the following:
- When you turn on your computer, also depending on the manufacturer, open the BIOS settings. This could be the “F2”, “Delete”, “TAB” key, etc.;
- on the “Advanced” tab, find the parameter whose name contains “Pointing Device”, and switch it to “Enabled” mode to enable it, and “Disabled” to disable it;
- save the changed configuration by pressing the “F10” key and wait until the computer restarts.
If none of the above helped, it is possible that the correct operation of the touchpad is affected by incorrect drivers for this software. Therefore, you will need to install or reinstall them using any in a convenient way, for example, by downloading from the manufacturer’s website or using specialized software – “DriverPack Solution”.
Settings
Now we should touch on the most interesting issue related to creating your own “hot gestures” and other touchpad settings. To do this, on a computer with an operating system Windows system 10 you will need to do the following:
Asus
For example, for Asus laptops there is a special utility called “Asus Smart Gesture”, a shortcut from which is placed in the tray. It should be noted that this utility completely replaces previously used drivers, so in the “Properties” section on the “ELAN” tab (depending on the manufacturer, the name may be different) the devices will not be displayed, and in this case this is not required. The utility control window consists of three tabs:
As you can see, Asus does not provide many personalization options; these are just basic parameters, similar to mouse settings.
Lenovo
Other manufacturers follow a similar scheme, sometimes with a wider range of customizable parameters. For example, Lenovo also provides a separate utility with which you can configure the following points:
In addition, to obtain more detailed information on using custom parameters, just click on the icon with “?”, which is located in the lower left corner of the window. The information is provided in abundance and with step-by-step illustrations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth noting that, despite the ambivalence of users towards the device discussed in this article, one cannot fail to note its exceptional benefits. With certain skills in using a touchpad, you will notice that a conventional mouse is functionally no worse, and in some cases even more convenient. Therefore, you should not rush to turn it off.
How to enable the touchpad on a laptop in Windows 10 if, after installing the system or updating it, it suddenly crashed and problems appeared with it? We suggest you familiarize yourself with several methods.
Most often, the problem with setting up a touchpad on Windows 10 is due to the lack of software or the presence of “inappropriate” drivers installed by Windows itself. But there are other options.
To eliminate stupid mistakes due to inattention, first look at the keyboard of your laptop. There should be a completely clear designation on the keys designed to turn the touchpad on and off:
Try first pressing one of these keys, or the same one, but in combination with the Fn button. There is a possibility that these measures should be enough to eliminate the problem.
On the most common laptop models - HP, Lenovo and Asus - there are the following combinations to enable the touchpad option:
- for Asus – Fn + F9 or Fn + F7
- for Lenovo – Fn + F8 and Fn + F5
For the HP brand, they came up with a separate key to control this function. And if it’s not there, then press twice (or once, but for a long time) on the touch panel in the corner on the left.
Another option is how you can configure the touchpad to Windows laptop 10: go to - Mouse. Perhaps for some reason it was disabled in the touchpad settings.
How to enable scrolling on touchpad Windows 10?
Missing touchpad drivers is the most common reason why. The first thing you need to try is to install them manually, because sometimes the new software is not suitable (the one that Windows installs itself), and the official “old” ones perfectly fix the problem. Required drivers You will find it on your laptop manufacturer's website in the Support section by selecting to download the driver for your model. If no suitable software is found for Windows 10, download drivers for version 8 or 7. Next, setting up scrolling on the Windows 10 touchpad will not be difficult.
Setting up touchpad gestures in Windows 10
In addition, there is also a set of gesture controls. Important condition ensuring correct operation of gestures is the compatibility of the touchpad with the OS and correct installation programs. We talked about this above.
Most users prefer to disable gestures completely. Disabling is done as shown in the screenshot: 
How to disable the touchpad on a windows 10 laptop?
Indeed, very often the touch panel interferes with a person’s work, so disabling it becomes relevant. Let's see how.
Now let's see how to disable the touchpad on a Windows 10 laptop if there are no manufacturer drivers.
Back in Windows 8, Microsoft developers began working to simplify the management of system elements. Many of them have moved to Windows 10. For example, swipes from the edge of the touch screen or high-precision touchpad, which are responsible for certain functions (calling up the task view window, minimizing the program, and so on). If for some reason you don't like how these gestures work, then this instruction will tell you how to disable them.
Disable precision touchpad gestures in Windows 10
Microsoft has not yet provided an official way to disable gestures, but advanced users have still found a method to do this using the Registry Editor. It is worth noting that this guide disables gestures only for a specific computer user. For others accounts you will have to do the same steps.
Warning: All actions in the instructions must be performed as an administrator.
On Windows 10 Creators Update more added fine settings gestures You can find them in the application Settings - Devices - Touchpad. You may find that personalizing gestures is preferable to disabling them entirely, as it will allow you to customize the touchpad specifically to your needs or habits.
Synaptics touchpads
Devices in the budget and mid-price range usually have built-in cheaper panels from Synaptics(however, this happens even in top-end devices, like ). If this is what you have, then you won't find touchpad settings in the app. Options, and the above solution to disable gestures will not work. To personalize the panel, you need to use the proprietary Synaptics utility:
The interface of these windows is quite different depending on the driver version, touchpad firmware and the panel itself. For example, this is how they look in the HP ProBook 450 G1 and HP Specter x360 G2:
HP Probook 450 G1
HP Specter x360 G2
Detailed instructions on this can usually be found on the device manufacturer's website.
Disable touch screen gestures in Windows 10
Owners of tablets or convertibles running Windows 10 are luckier. Microsoft developers have provided for disabling screen gestures, so the method below should definitely work.
How to disable screen gestures using the Local Group Policy Editor
This method only works on Windows 10 Pro and higher (including Windows 10 S), since lower editions of Windows do not have a Local Group Policy Editor.
Changes will only work for current user. If you want to apply them to everyone accounts computer, change the same parameter along the path Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows components- Borders UI.
How to disable screen gestures using Registry Editor
This method is intended for Windows users 10 Home and Home SL.
Changes will only affect the current user. If you want to apply them to all accounts, work in the category HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, not in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
Now you can disable gestures on touch screens or high-precision touchpads.
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