Touchpad gestures in Windows bring a lot of convenience to the table. Whether it’s three-finger swipes to switch between active windows or reveal the desktop, the touchpad can be more useful than a mouse. But sometimes the touchpad on your laptop can react and stop responding. If you yourself have been a victim of a similar problem, this guide is for you.
Whether the touchpad has become unresponsive to gestures or completely dysfunctional, this guide covers solutions to get the touchpad working again. So let’s get started.
1. Restart Your Computer
You can start by restarting your computer. If the touchpad is not working due to one of the background processes or a minor software glitch, restarting your computer should take care of it.
You can use an external mouse or keyboard to restart your computer. To restart your computer using the keyboard, press the Start button, use the arrow key for Power and press Enter. Now select Restart from the menu and press Enter again.
2. Enable Touchpad
You can verify if the touchpad is enabled and working properly on your PC. Many laptop models have a function key to disable the trackpad. Therefore, you need to check if you have accidentally disabled the touchpad. To check this, find it and press the function key.
3. Check Antivirus Program
Antivirus program can affect and change trackpad settings. To be sure, disconnect your computer from the internet and then temporarily disable the antivirus to check if the touchpad is working. If not, restart your computer and enable the antivirus.
4. Run the Hardware Troubleshooter
Windows offers a set of troubleshooters that can diagnose and fix problems on your PC on its own. Fortunately, the hardware offers one for peripherals as well. Here’s how to access it.
Stage 1: Open the start menu, type cmdand use the arrow key to navigate to Run as administrator. Then press Enter.
Step 2: Type the following command in the console and press Enter.
msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
Stage 3: In the Hardware and Devices window that appears, press Next to let it scan for any issues.
If the tool prompts to perform an automatic repair after completing the scan, select Apply this fix to continue. Once done, restart your computer and see if you can access the touchpad now.
5. Repair Touchpad Driver
If the troubleshooter fails to detect any issues with the touchpad, you can address the issues and repair the touchpad app via the Settings menu. Here’s how.
Stage 1: Press Windows key + I to launch the Settings app. Switch to the Apps tab on your left and go to Apps & features.
Step 2: Search for your touchpad app and use the three-dot menu next to it to Toggle.
Stage 3: Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the restore process.
6. Update or Reinstall Driver
Windows updates usually take care of updating your drivers from time to time. However, if you have disabled automatic updates in Windows, these drivers will eventually become outdated. In this case, you can try to update the drivers manually by following the steps below.
Stage 1: Open the start menu, type Device Managerand press Enter.
Step 2: Expand Mice and other pointing devices, right-click on your touchpad and select Update driver.
If the problem persists, the drivers may be corrupted. You can try to remove the drivers by following the steps above and restart your computer to allow Windows to reinstall.
7. Use System Restore
Windows 11 has a useful System Restore feature that periodically makes a backup of the entire system. These types of backups can come in handy when you have problems that cannot be resolved by other means. Read on to learn how to use System Restore in Windows 11 to get back to where the touchpad was working fine.
Stage 1: Open the Start Menu, type create a restore point, and press Enter.
Step 2: Under the System Protection tab, click the System Restore button.
Stage 3: You can go to the recommended restore point or choose the second option and choose a different restore point yourself.
With the touchpad working properly, select a restore point and press Next. Now follow the onscreen instructions to perform a system restore.
Activate the Touchpad
It’s hard to do much when the touchpad on your laptop stops working, especially if you’re not familiar with Windows shortcuts or don’t have a spare wireless mouse. Hopefully, the solutions above were enough to completely fix your touchpad issues in Windows 11.