If the mousepad on your laptop suddenly stops responding properly or even not working altogether, don’t panic. Check out the 4 fixes below and it’ll spring to life in no time…
Try these fixes
The screenshots below are from Windows 10, but the fixes also work in Windows 8 and 7.
Just work your way down the list until the problem is resolved.
- Enable touchpad in settings
- Run Hardwares and Devices Troubleshooter
- Update your touchpad driver
- Repair system files
Fix 1: Enable touchpad in settings
You laptop-mouse-pad-not-working issue sometimes happens only because you’ve disabled it unknowingly. To turn it back on:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key
, then copy & paste main.cpl into the box and click OK.
- Click the Device Settings tab > your device > Enable > Apply > OK.
Step 2) might differ slightly depending on the build of your Windows Operating System. The bottom line is: enable your touchpad. - Hopefully this turns your touchpad back on and it works again. If the problem persists, try Fix 2
Fix 2: Run Hardwares and Devices Troubleshooter
As the name suggests, Hardwares and Devices Troubleshooter is meant to help us detect errors so that we can fix them. To do so:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type troubleshoot. Then click on Troubleshoot.
- In the right pane, locate and click on Hardware and Devices, then click Run the troubleshooter.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to troubleshoot the errors the troubleshooter identifies.
- Tap/scroll on your touchpad and see if it responds.
Still no luck? Try Fix 3…
Fix 3: Update your touchpad driver
An outdated/corrupted/wrong/missing touchpad driver may well be another reason responsible for your not working touchpad. So you should update your touchpad driver to get your touchpad up and running again.
If you don’t have the time, patience or computer skills to update your touchpad driver manually, you can do it automatically with Driver Easy.
Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong driver, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.
You can update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version it takes just 2 clicks:
- Download and install Driver Easy.
- Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
- You can upgrade to the Pro version and click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of ALL the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system.
You can also click Update to do it for free if you like, but it’s partly manual. - Check and see if your laptop touchpad behaves again.
Fix 4: Repair system files
Missing, corrupt, or damaged system files may cause the laptop touchpad not working issue. To eliminate this issue as a possible cause, you can try running System File Checker to repair possible system file issues.
System File Checker (SFC) is a handy feature in Windows that helps scan your system files and repair missing or corrupted system files(including those related to BSOD). To run the SFC scan:
1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type cmd. Then right-click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
2) Click Yes when prompted to confirm.
3) In the command prompt window, type sfc /scannow and press Enter.
It’ll take some time for the SFC to replace the corrupted system files with new ones if it detects any, so please be patient.
4) Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
5) Check your computer to see if the problem has been fixed.
That’s it- 4 easy fixes for your Laptop-mousepad-not-working problem. Hope this helps and feel free to comment below if you have any further questions.
