Earlier this year, I talked about configuring the macOS to automatically disable the trackpad when a mouse is connected to the MacBook. This feature comes in handy for those users who always use a mouse and don’t want to use the built-in trackpad after connecting the mouse.
In Windows operating system, a graphical option to automatically turn off the touchpad when a mouse is connected can be found under Mouse Properties in Control Panel. In addition to that, if you’re running Windows 10, you can now configure it to automatically turn off the touchpad when a mouse is connected to your netbook or notebook right from the Settings app.
If you’re using a notebook or netbook equipped with ELAN or Synaptics touchpad, an option labeled Disable internal pointing device when a mouse is connected should appear under Mouse Properties.
The following are the steps you need to follow in order to automatically disable touchpad when a mouse is connected in Windows 10, 8/8.1 and Windows 7.
Disable touchpad when a mouse is connected in Windows
Method 1 of 4
For Windows 10
Step 1: Open Settings, click Devices icon, and then click Mouse & touchpad.
Step 2: Under the Touchpad section, turn off the option labeled Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. Please note that the option might not appear in non-precision touchpads. Refer to our how to enable the precision touchpad on any Windows 10 laptop guide for more information.
Method 2 of 4
(This method should work fine on Windows 10, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1)
Step 1: Open the Control Panel by navigating to the Start menu and then clicking Control Panel.
Step 2: Change the default View to Small icons. Look for the entry named Mouse and click on the same to open Mouse Properties.
Step 3: Switch to the ELAN or Device Settings tab and look for an option titled Disable when external USB pointing device plug in or Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached. Check the same option and then click the Apply button. That’s it!
If the above option isn’t present and you’re laptop is using Synaptics touchpad, you can try out the given below instructions to see the above-mentioned option.
Method 3 of 4
NOTE: We recommend you create a backup of Registry before changing default entries.
Step 1: Open Registry Editor. To do so, open Run command by simultaneously pressing Windows + R keys, type Regedit.exe in the field followed by the Enter key.
Click on the Yes button when you see the UAC prompt.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTPEnh
Step 3: On the right side, create a new DWORD value and rename it as DisableIntPDFeature. Finally, change its value to 33 (make sure that Hexdecimal is selected under Base section).
Step 4: Close the Registry Editor and reboot your PC to see Disable internal pointing device when an external USB pointing device is connected option. Good luck!
Method 4 of 4
Disable touchpad when a mouse is connected in Windows 8.1
Step 1: Open PC settings. To do so, move the mouse cursor to the upper or lower right corner of the screen to see the Charms bar, click Settings and then click Change PC settings option.
Step 2: On the left-pane of PC settings, click PC and devices, and then click Mouse and touchpad.
Step 3: Here, on the right-side, look for the option titled Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected and turn off the same to automatically turn off the touchpad when you connect a mouse to your Windows 8.1 notebook or netbook. That’s it!
Our how to disable the touchpad while typing in Windows 10 guide might also interest you.
Timothy Takemoto says
I am stupid! I thought that Windows was broken or that I had to change the registry to turn off or on my mouse and keyboard when I am using an external mouse/keyboard but in fact my Panasonic CF-RZ4 laptop has a physical button under the centre of the touchpad (between the two ‘mouse’ buttons) that turns off the internal touchpad and keyboard for when using the laptop in tablet mode (i.e. when bending the screen backwards on itself). It is a really useful button. I did not realise it was there.
Timothy Takemoto says
Alas in settings Touchpad there is no “Disable internal pointing device when an external USB pointing device is connected” Option (neither in the touchpad nor mouse, nor keyboard which is having the same problem)
There is no Synaptics under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE nor HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE
This is a great shame because I think this is the setting that I am looking for. Both my keyboard and pointer have been set to external only even when there are no external devices connected. In order to recapture control I would like to turn this setting off but I can’t even see it!
Windows !
DOHUN LEE says
Finally, I figured out how to disable ELAN Touch pad mouse on hp laptop.
You should disable ‘I2C HID Device’ under Human Interface Devices in the Device Manager.
That is it! Disabling ‘HID-compliant mouse’ under Mice and other pointing devices wont work.
Actually, by doing so, you will disable the USB connected mouse not the ELAN Touch pad mouse.
Good luck!!
Mr.Tue says
Thank you very much!
I replaced the upgraded os-install (from W8.1 to W10) with a freshly installed W10 Pro and couldn’t figure out how to get this feature to work.
Finally method #3 did the trick.
Great.
Abdul Samad says
why i dont see this option in my windows 10
Will Richardson says
In all the help comments from both HP and Microsoft the most necessary first step was never mentioned. “UNPLUG THE MOUSE!” Using my mouse, I tried disabling the Synaptics touchpad with my new HP laptop but couldn’t find the “disable when USB pointing device connected” box. Finally it hit me that maybe I should try doing it with the mouse disconnected using only the touchpad. It worked!
Jareck says
If you have a synaptics touchpad and are attempting to do this fix via the registry, ensure that you have a ‘1’ value in the default of SynTPEnh. I attempted to use the registry fix without success until added a 1 value to the default.
Kjfg says
Excellent! Method 1 do the trick! Thanks!
Gord says
Modifying the registry should be a LAST RESORT and never suggested for basic troubleshooting. Moreover, these days (especially for notebooks), disabling the touchpad is often handled by non-Windows third-party apps. For example, I couldn’t find this option in Windows 10 but Asus’ Smart Gesture touchpad control app allows you to do it very easily.
Try looking in your taskbar/system tray for a touchpad icon; chances are you can get right to it from something like that as opposed to fiddling with Windows or (shudder) messing with the registry, which most people shouldn’t even think of doing!
Richard says
Thank you. Instructions on editing the registry worked without a hitch. Appreciate the tech tips a lot.
Cheers.
Richard
Liazard says
Absolutely amazing that MS would screw up such a basic function and then, years later, still not have resolved the problem. None of these (haven’t messed with registry) worked on my Asus laptop. I swear I spend 25% of my online time re-opening my browser because my thumb accidentally touched the touchpad while typing.
Emily says
Bless you… Method 3 worked. I know it sounds like “first world problems” to get so annoyed at having to use the F3 key on every restart to re-disable the touchpad, but MAN, IT WAS ANNOYING. I’m just blissfully running my hands over the touchpad area now and reveling in the total lack of response.
Erroll says
The trouble I was having was that my cursor was jumping all over the place while I was typing, so I wanted to disable the touchpad and buttons completely since I always use an external wireless mouse with my laptops.
The issue was that the specific touchpad driver (Synaptics) was not installed on my laptop, so I didn’t have access to the option that says “disable internal pointer when external pointer is connected…”. I would assume I just had a “generic” touchpad driver installed that didn’t offer any customization options.
SO I NEEDED TO INSTALL THE DRIVER IN ORDER TO HAVE THE OPTION TO TURN THE TOUCHPAD OFF!!
I have an HP DV7-4077cl laptop. Here are the steps if you have an HP laptop:
1. Visit the HP website.
2. Find the drivers page for your model.
3. Download the driver for the touchpad (sp52352.exe in my case)
4. Install the driver
5. Restart the computer
6. Open the touchpad options box by clicking on the hidden icons bar at the lower right of the screen.
7. Go into the Device Settings and check the box labeled “disable internal pointing device when external is
connected” then click “apply” and “ok”…
Now every time you start the laptop, if your external mouse is connected, the touchpad and buttons are disabled and you can type all day long without a single cursor skip!
Alan Tang says
I followed Method 3 of 4 and it completely wiped and removed my driver to the touchpad. It didnt help at all but made more issues. I dont know what to do anymore
Jeremy m says
I figured it out, never thought to put the icons in control panel in small icon mode, it helped me a lot thanks a ton I’v searched the internet an hour and this is the only thing that helped.
John says
at last, I found someone that has helped me in a effective and simple way. many many thanks
Robert Buxbaum says
Method #3 worked and the instructions were clear. As stated in a prior reply — all I had to do was change the value 22 to 33 and reboot. Perfect.
My many thanks.
Happy Touchpad Disabler says
Thank you SOOOO much for this post! I have been so frustrated that when I upgraded my Toshiba satellite computer to Windows 10 that it no longer allowed me to use FN+F5 to turn off the Synaptics touchpad. Method 3 worked like a charm for me, the registry entry you told us to create already existed for me, so just had to change the current value of 22 to 33 and rebooted. There is now an option to disable to touchpad when a usb pointing device is plugged in! Can’t thank you enough!!!!
Samantha Leckie-Munt says
Re my earlier comment, I am trying desperately to turn the touch pad back on, so it will work while the freaking mouse is connected. There’s no slide tabs in windows 10, no settings in the mouse configuration to enable the touchpad while the mouse is plugged in, even did a registry edit and NOTHING works. Breaking my balls is what WIndows 10 is doing with all these stupid little annoyances, glitches and non user friendly settings.
Samantha Leckie-Munt says
None of these worked in Windows 10. Very frustrating indeed.
judy says
Windows 10
go to start-scroll down to settings-Windows settings box opens up, Click on devices-Scroll down to Mouse and touchpad-there’s a setting you have to turn off on the “leave touchpad on while mouse is connected” slide to off. Tada!!! it took me a while to figure it out but it worked for me.
Lisa says
I agree with some of the comments. It was SO easy to disable the touchpad in Windows 7 and previous versions. But now with Windows 10 its nearly impossible for a novice computer user like myself to disable the touchpad when I connect a wireless mouse. Its VERY annoying when Im playing a game or doing something else online and my arm or hand accidentally touches the touchpad and it totally screws with what Im doing. Thanks for nothing Microsoft! Why cant you just leave well enough alone!!!
GREG PETERS says
THIS WAS SO EASY TO DO IN WIN7, THERE WAS A SIMPLE BOX TO CHECK OFF IN THE MOUSE/TRACKPAD AREA.
NOW ITS GONE. YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO SCREW AROUND WITH REGISTRIES TO DO SOMETHING SO SIMPLE.
THANKS MICROSOFT
Ramiro says
Method #2 worked fine for me right away under Windows 10. Thanks!
Joe says
Whoops, I take that back. #3 worked perfectly, with a couple caveats:
– My driver had placed a similar DisableIntPDFunction value in HKEY_CURRENT_USER and this one was overriding the one I had changed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. So be sure to check both places. Creating or modifying one in HKEY_CURRENT_USER *should* override whatever value is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. (And yes you have to reboot before the change will take effect.)
– Merely connecting a USB mouse isn’t enough to activate it. You have to actually *move* the mouse before the touchpad will be disabled. But then it seems to stay fully disabled until you disconnect the mouse.
– This key does not add an option to either Windows 10’s Settings app or the mouse control panel page. It just shuts off the touchpad and grays out all the options in the Synaptics custom tab in the mouse control panel page, any time a USB mouse is in use. A checkbox would be nice, or some indication of what’s going on, but hey it works.
Joe says
Useless.
I have Windows 10.
1. Setting is mysteriously not present.
2. My touchpad is Synaptics, not ELAN.
3. Value was already there. Set its value from hex 22 to 33 and rebooted. No effect.
Sam says
TIM JOHNS is the man!!!
Dell, are you all stupid or what, to make it so difficult to find this necessary button?
And thanks to Tim Johns for finding it, don’t know how you did it, mate!
TonyvdS says
Thank you for this fantastic solution. It worked first time for me when I created a new D-WORD with value 33 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTPEnh. I have an ACER Aspire V5-122P. I can only sympathize with those for whom it has not worked. I know the feeling. This fix has just made my mini laptop worth every cent I paid for it.
Imke says
I have the Lenovo Y50, I am a Graphic Designer and I don’t know how many times I’ve interrupted myself by accidentally brushing against the touchpad! Thanks so much for the fix (: Works like a charm once I also implemented the solution Jeff added. Thanking you very kindly
Michael says
I would like to thank commentator Jeff for his comment, which proved to work perfectly! I tried the web page instructions first. It didn’t work. Then I read the comments and tried Jeff’s. It worked great! Jeff said:
“I found the DWORD value on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\… not HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. I use Windows 10. Thanks.”
Follow the directions from the web page for the regedit, except goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE and change the value to 33. I did NOT delete the key added per this web page’s instructions. So I don’t know if it helps or not. Since it’s working, I’m just going to leave it.
shirley says
great advice – i have been suffering since upgrading to win 10 and tried to install synaptic but didn’t work – your advice was perfect!! thanx!!!!
Anon says
Literally none of the settings described in this article were available on my recently-updated version of Windows 8.1. What a load of garbage.
Jeff says
I found the DWORD value on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\… not HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. I use Windows 10. Thanks.
Alla says
I have the same issue on a HP notebook. I can check that “disable when external’ box until my fingers melt, and every time I start the computer, the touchpad is re-enabled. I loathe the touchpad; it makes life miserable. Editing the registry does nothing. Trying to “run as admin” does nothing. Any other ideas?
siri says
this option is not availble in the system
Ben says
Thank you! I’m sure I could’ve hunted through my computer to find this info, but the quick search that led me to your article was much quicker.
NF says
Hey, I am on a Macbook Air (early 2015) running windows 8 on bootcamp. How exactly do I ””Switch to the ELAN or Device Settings tab””?. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers
admin says
@Rani
Please try to reinstall the Synaptics driver.
Rani Johansen says
Hey! Neither of these options worked for me, sadly. I’m running on a win10 Lenovo y50.
When I tried the first one, I got optimistic. There was indeed a checkbox, but it was grayed out.
http://imgur.com/tfZEtpJ
The second one also doesn’t work, since after HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\, there is no Synaptics folder.
http://imgur.com/prrD4mW
ichabod says
same here
hp 8540w
newest synaptic driver, tired, v15 and V16, zippo.
win 10 , newest build and SP.
same as DAVID above,
we know its a synapics problem.
after all there settings page is device of this feature.
im an old hand with regedit,
code 33 in both places.
i must disable it in, DM
then hope it dont re-enable its self.
max pain. for 1 silly bit.
admin says
Time, thanks of the input. Will surely help other Dell PC users seeking for help.
Tim Johns says
On the first method, an extra step(s) may be needed if using a Dell Inspiron. Once in the mouse settings (from control panel), click the ‘dell touchpad’ tab. It will show a big image of the touchpad with a link under it, ‘touchpad settings’. Click that and it will open the graphical Dell Touchpad dialog. Here’s the part I had trouble finding. On the top of that, there is an image of the touchpad and an image of a mouse beside it. There doesn’t seem to be any indication that they are clickable, but if you click the image of the mouse, you’ll then see the option to disable the touchpad when a USB mouse is connected.
Jim Southard says
I can confirm that the registry edit DOES work on a Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro running Windows 10, but ONLY when applied to HKCU (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and NOT to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as shown on this web page. The instructions should instead read:
If the above option isn’t present and you’re laptop is using Synaptics touchpad, you can try out the given below instructions to see the above mentioned option.
NOTE: We recommend you create a backup of Registry before changing default entries.
Step 1: Open Registry Editor. To do so, open Run command by simultaneously pressing Windows + R keys, type Regedit.exe in the field followed by enter key.
Click on the Yes button when you see the UAC prompt.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTPEnh
Step 3: On the right-side, create a new DWORD value and rename it as DisableIntPDFeature. Finally, change its value to 33 (make sure that Hexadecimal is selected under Base section). If there is ALREADY a DWORD named DisableIntPDFeature, then CHANGE the value to Hexadecimal 33.
Step 4: Close the Registry Editor and reboot your PC to see Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is connected option.
Raul says
Hi. I checked the “Disable Touchpad when mouse is plugged in” and works fine until shutdown or restart. It goes back unchecked. Any thoughs?
admin says
@ Frostie
Thanks for sharing the valuable information. This will help others as well.
Frostie says
Editing the registry didn’t work at first for both my Win8.1 and Win10 laptops. Had it working by adding the DWORD to HKLU instead of HKLM. Cheers!
David Miller says
I have a Yoga 2 Pro (Win 10) and could not find how to disable the touch pad when an external mouse is attached. Nothing found in Control panel – most discussions not helpful.
The option is built in – F6 toggles the touch pad on and off.
Tony says
Like Chuck said I too have checked the box to disable internal pointing device but upon boot up it is no longer checked. Grrrh.
alex fang says
on the f1-9 range of buttons you will find one that looks like a disable touchpad button, and it does exactly what it looks like, if it doesnt work try Fn+F#
Gavin says
There is no option to disable it it just says primary buttons and how many pages scroll
Harold Patton says
The Lord gave me a simple and cheap way to disable my ASUS Laptop touch pad. I used a couple of cardboards on the bottom of a couple of scratch pads. Cut them to overlap the touch pad and used scotch tape to hold them in place. Problem solved. Before you cut and past the 2 pieces, hold them in place with one hand and use the other hand to see if it works. If the pointer still moves, add more pieces until it does work. God Bless You.
Chuck says
I have that option and can check it. However, upon reboot the option is no longer checked. I have to recheck it every time. Any suggestions? I am now in Windows 10.
jennabbd says
Thank goodness, I figured this out! I’m running Win 8.1 on my HP Spectre. Go to “settings” per step 1 in this article, but instead of going to PC &.. options, click on control panel on the bottom. Then go into Hardware & Sounds. Under devices & printers, click on mouse option. Clickpad settings tab, CHECK the box that says, “disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached.” That did it! I just switched up from a Windows 7 a few days ago, and having track pad in my way when I type was really getting to me.
david says
I have Lenovo y50-70, but I tried to edit the Registry but there is no key like “Synaptic” on the registry entries described above. I reinstalled Lenovo Touchpad driver, the problem is still there.
Bob H says
I too tried the regedit method on my Lenovo Y50. It doesn’t work. I have an ASUS G75V with a Synaptics touch pad and Asus has a similar utility as the Lenovo one but it has a Mouse Detection tab that has a checkbox that says “Disable Touchpad when mouse is plugged in”. Works like a charm. Lenovo needs a similar feature, Note that the Asus has a similar button as F6 (they use F9) to turn the touchpad on/off. I wish these computer manufacturers would just use something provided by Synaptics that was standard. Why do they have roll their own?
Jeff says
David,
Another Lenovo customer here also hunting for the elusive checkbox. Did you find any resolution for this? I’ve checked all places recommended and the checkbox simply doesn’t exist in any of them.
Wanda says
I have a Lenovo Y50 laptop and the registry edit worked like a charm! Thank you so much!
Stefan says
I think this is not just about Windows (I’m on 7 Pro, btw), but also about how the hardware is implemented. I remember using this feature on a laptop I had previously that worked just right: if it detected an external pointing device at start-up, trackpad was disabled. Also it was working on repeated plug/unplug of the external mouse. That, of course, being previously set in Control Panel.
With my current laptop, though, I can’t find the option to automate this process anywhere. It ain’t that it doesn’t work or that is greyed out. It simply doesn’t exist. The trackpad does have a dedicated hardware button to disable it (as in not one of the F-keys), unlike the older laptop, so I wonder if this is why there’s no software automation implemented.
A last solution would be to find a 3rd-party utility that does just that. If you don’t mind a little script or program running permanently in the background, I guess it’s the only solution when nothing else works natively. There must be some freeware for this speciffic purpose out there. This is Windows, afterall.
david says
I am responding to the post at: intowindows.com/how-to-turn-off-touchpad-when-mouse-is-connected-in-windows-78-1/
I can not tell you how frustrated and desperate I am. I have a new Lenovo flex 2 laptop and all I want to do is disable the touchpad in a way that it will stay disabled until I reenable it (as opposed to F6 which incredibly annoyingly reverts to enabled whenever the laptop awakens from sleep or is restarted). That is my minimum need; in a “dreamworld” I’d love for it to automatically disable whenever a mouse is connected since that’s the exact time when I would be manually disabling the touch pad anyway. But I gave up even hoping for that. So again, JUST want to disable the touchpad.
Although I am not technical, after 5 hours with various different bowels of Lenovo support (who have so far proved totally useless), I have learned how to try every method that people seem to know of (i.e. in Control Panel, Device Manager, etc.) — including the method described on the above referenced web page. ALWAYS the result is that either a “check the box” that people think is supposed to be there IS NOT THERE, or, I am able to get a disable button but IT IS GREYED OUT WITH NO OPTION TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
Finally, although I know nothing about registries and regedit, I tried the exact suggestion on the webpage for modifying that regedit key, and then rebooting. IT DID NOTHING. please, please, please, is there anything further i can try??? Thanks.