Just like its predecessor, Windows 10, Windows 11 also offers a variety of touchpad gestures so that users can make the most out of the touchpad.
While mid and high-end laptops ship with good touchpads, budget laptops do not come with quality touchpads. Because of poor touchpads and ergonomic reasons, many users prefer an external mouse over a touchpad.
If you have been using an external mouse instead of the built-in touchpad on your Windows 11 laptop, you might want to disable the touchpad.
Luckily, Windows 11 offers multiple ways to disable the touchpad. The following are the six ways to turn off or disable the touchpad in Windows 11.
Method 1 of 6
Disable the touchpad via Settings in Windows 11
Step 1: Open the Settings app through search or Windows + I keyboard shortcut.
Step 2: On the left pane of Settings, click Bluetooth & devices. On the right side, click Touchpad to open the touchpad settings page.
Step 3: On this page, turn off the Touchpad option to turn off the touchpad immediately.
Method 2 of 6
Disable the touchpad only when an external mouse is connected
If you wish to use the external mouse and disable the touchpad, it makes sense to configure Windows 11 to disable the touchpad only when the external mouse is connected. The moment you disconnect the mouse, the touchpad is enabled automatically. Here is how to do that.
Step 1: Open the Settings app. On the left pane, click Bluetooth and devices. Now, on the right side, click Touchpad.
Step 2: On the Touchpad page, click Touchpad to see the hidden Leave touchpad when a mouse is connected. Turn off this option to disable the touchpad only when an external mouse is connected.
Method 3 of 6
Turn off the touchpad using the function key
Very few laptops offer a hotkey or function key to turn the touchpad on or off. If your laptop provides one, you should see a touchpad symbol on one of the function keys.
Please refer to your laptop’s user manual or contact the manufacturer to know the exact hotkey to turn on or off the touchpad on your device.
Method 4 of 6
Disable the touchpad via Device Manager in Windows 11
The touchpad can also be turned on or off via the Device Manager. Here is how to do that.
Step 1:Right-click the Start button (Windows logo) on the taskbar and then click Device Manager to open its window.
Step 2: On the Device Manager window, expand the Mice and other pointing devices tree to see your touchpad’s entry.
Step 3:Right-click on the touchpad entry and then click Disable device option to disable the touchpad.
Method 5 of 6
Disable the touchpad via Registry on a Windows 11 laptop
Step 1: Open the Registry Editor by typing Regedit in the Start/taskbar search and then pressing the Enter key.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following key:
ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPrecisionTouchPadStatus
Step 3: On the right side, double-click the Enabled value and change its Value data from the default 1 to 0. Click the OK button to disable the touchpad.
If the touchpad is still working, reboot your PC once.
Method 6 of 6
Disable the touchpad with third-party tools
There are several third-party tools available to disable the touchpad. While we advise you to use one of the methods given above instead of third-party tools to disable the touchpad, you can use tools such as Touchpad Blocker can be used for the job.
Our how to reset the touchpad in Windows 11 guide might also interest you.
