A dysfunctional touchpad can disturb your laptop experience, especially when you don’t carry a USB or Bluetooth mouse. Additionally, you can’t zoom in or out and perform other activities on your laptop if you come across a touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11.
Issues such as a slow cursor, touchpad not responding, and cursors jumping all over the screen can appear on your laptop. The reason behind this touchpad issue can be the incompatibility of the touchpad driver.
Some Windows users have reported that the touchpad started behaving erratically after their Windows devices got a relevant update. Consequently, your PC’s touchpad fails to detect your finger gestures on it.
Let’s see all the possible solutions to the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11.
Clean your PC’s Touchpad
If you regularly use your laptop and its touchpad, then there are chances that the touchpad might have accumulated enough grime and oil from everyday touch. However, there can be a sleek layer of dust and dirt over the touchpad if you keep it untouched and mostly use a mouse.
Before you try any other tricky solution to address the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11, you should consider cleaning the touchpad. Moist a microfiber cloth with a computer-friendly cleaning solution and use it to clean the touchpad and its adjacent surfaces. Now, check if the touchpad has started responding at your command.
Reboot your Laptop
Chances are there that your laptop’s touchpad and keyboard stop functioning without any valid reason. If you come across the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11, you should go for a quick restart, and a restart will immediately fix temporary glitches and bring your laptop back to regular functions.
- Ensure that you save those tasks that you were continuing with.
- Now, press the combination of these three keys altogether: Ctrl, Alt, and Delete.
- The shutdown menu will appear on your laptop, and you need to choose the Restart option. Use the navigation keys to select the option and press Enter.
Your laptop will restart itself and check if the issue has been resolved.
Recover Touchpad Functionalities
If you cannot revive your laptop’s touchpad with these two fundamental solutions, you have to sneak into device settings. Go through the following steps:
- Open the Settings app with presses on Windows and I keys together.
- Navigate to Devices followed by the Mouse & Touchpad option from the left pane.
- Next, select the Additional mouse options, and it will explore the window named Mouse Properties.
- Go to the tab at the most suitable corner, and it can be the Device Name or settings. The name can be Device Settings, brand name including Touchpad, or ELAN.
- Check if the touchpad is enabled or not. There should be an enable button somewhere.
- Click the OK button to confirm your changes.
Additionally, check if there are any Disable or similar options available that might be preventing the touchpad from working. Implement this solution and check if the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11 are still there.
Check Touchpad Settings under BIOS Settings
Windows 11 users have complained that a specific BIOS setting can prohibit the natural workflow of your laptop’s touchpad. This is a bit complicated solution but necessary to accomplish if you are using Windows 11 and still experiencing touchpad problems.
- Press the Windows key, followed by choosing the Settings option.
- Navigate to Update & Security and select Recovery from the right pane.
- Choose Restart Now under the section of Advanced Startup.
- Next, the device will start restarting, and a few options will appear on the blue screen.
- Select Troubleshoot followed by Advanced Options.
- Go with the UEFI Firmware Settings from the next screen.
- You can manifest BIOS settings after Windows takes a restart. Locate Touchpad settings there and check if it’s active.
If it’s disabled, you have to enable it and exit the BIOS settings. Observe if it has eliminated the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11.
Update the Touchpad Driver on your Windows 10/11 Device
If you have updated your Windows 10/11 device recently and suddenly, the touchpad starts acting weird, it’s due to incompatibility. Consequently, you are suffering from the downsides of the touchpad not working on Windows 10/11.
Here’s what you have to do:
- Launch a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and R buttons together. Enter ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the box.
- The Device Manager window will come up and navigate to the option that says, ‘Mice and other pointing devices’.
- Expand the option, and if you can’t see your touchpad, select Action from the menu bar.
- Next, choose the ‘Scan for hardware changes’ option.
- Right-click on the touchpad driver from the shown list. Go with the Update Driver option.
- After that, choose the ‘search automatically for drivers’ option.
Now, implement every step according to the on-screen guideline. If you have issues with the touchpad while clicking or right-clicking any option, attach a USB mouse to your laptop. Additionally, make sure that you have a stable internet connection while updating any driver.
Reset the Touchpad
If nothing has helped in mitigating touchpad not working issues on Windows 11 devices, try this instead. Bring Settings on-screen by the Windows and I keys. Navigate to Bluetooth & Devices and choose Touchpad from the right pane. Hit it to restore default settings regarding the touchpad.
Utilize Windows Registry
Registry Editor can be a saviour to your touchpad issue because it contains numerous hidden features. Let’s see how you can revive your touchpad functionalities:
- Search for regedit using the search icon and press Enter.
- Once you enter the Registry Editor, navigate to the file path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynIP\Install.
- Double-click the entity called DeleteUserSettingsOnUpgrade DWORD.
- If there’s no DWORD, right-click on any empty space. Choose New and go with DWORD(32-bit) value. Double-click on DWORD, and its value should be 0.
- Hit OK and reboot your computer.
Furthermore…
If you are still experiencing the touchpad not working issues on Windows 10/11 try enabling touchpad functions by pressing Function keys or contact Laptop Repair Experts. It might vary from one brand to another. Keep pressing F1 to F12 and check if the touchpad starts working after each tap.