Are you searching for how to disable a touchscreen in Windows 10? Then you’ve come to the right place.
Desktops, laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1 devices (a unique combination of a laptop and tablet) do have touchscreens, and Windows 10 is designed to work well with them.
If you are using a tablet, the touchscreen is the only input unit. But on desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1 devices, where you also have a keyboard and mouse, it simply serves as the secondary input. And you can choose to disable it for a number of personal reasons.
Why Disable Your Touch Screen (TS)?
TS-enabled devices make it possible to accomplish tasks more quickly, since tapping on the screen is much faster than having to drag the cursor around.
Although a touch screen creates a fresh experience, allowing you some variety from the standard keyboard and mouse input, certain situations may arise where you would want to temporarily disable it:
- Off the top of my head, it could be that you frequently have to deal with unintentional entries. Perhaps you are a work-at-home mom and your kids keep reaching for your PC screen and closing the page you are on, changing the position of the cursor on your Word document, or opening unwanted programs.
- Another good reason is that the TS may be malfunctioning and making random inputs, even when you are not trying to use it.
- Also, when the TS is enabled, Windows 10 widens the spacing between the icons in your system tray (taskbar notification area) so as to make them easier to press. This way, you won’t mistakenly touch and open a program you don’t want to.
However, users who have a lot of items in their system tray may find the look unappealing and would thus prefer to disable the touch screen, especially if they don’t use it often enough.
- Finally, it could simply be that you don’t fancy touching your PC screen and leaving smudges on it. Some of us like having our devices looking neat at all times. Or maybe you usually work with photo editing applications and just can’t afford to make a mistake in your design because of some blotch on the screen that could impede your view.
Whatever the reason may be, if you are not comfortable with managing the touchscreen on your device, it is easy to get it deactivated.
How to Turn a Touch Screen Off
If you are running Windows 10, the procedure for disabling the TS is the same regardless of the type of device you are using (be it a laptop, desktop, tablet, or 2-in-1).
But you must know that Windows 1o does not provide an option that enables you to easily disable touch input. Neither is there third-party software available for that. So you’ll have to do it manually through Device Manager.
Note: Device Manager is where Windows lists all the devices on your computer and allows you to manage them. You can access it via Control Panel, the Run dialog, the WinX menu, Cortana, or the search bar in the Start menu.
How to manually disable a touch screen:
Warning: Before we begin, you need to make sure you have an alternative input method. If you are using a laptop, desktop, or 2-in-1, see that the keyboard and mouse are functional.
Do not attempt to disable the TS on a tablet that doesn’t have a USB-connected keyboard or mouse. If you do, you will no longer be able to operate your device and will have to perform a hard reset.
Now, the procedure presented below can be applied on Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.
Let’s get right to it:
- Go to Device Manager. Simply type ‘Device Manager’ in the taskbar search box and then select the option when it appears in the results.
There are also other ways to open Device Manager:
Via Control Panel:
- Type ‘Control Panel’ in the Start menu search bar and select the option when it appears.
- Go to Hardware and Sound. To find it, make sure ‘Category’ is selected under the ‘View by:’ dropdown in the top-right corner of the screen.
- In the window that opens, select Device Manager under Devices and Printers.
Via the WinX menu:
- Press the Windows logo key + X combination on your keyboard.
- Click on Device Manager from the list.
Via the Run dialog:
- Press the Windows logo key + R combination on your keyboard.
- Type ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the text field and click Ok or press Enter on your keyboard.
- Once the Device Manager window opens, locate ‘Human Interface Devices’ and expand it by double-clicking it or clicking the arrow beside it.
- Now, select ‘HID-compliant touch screen’ and then click the Action tab at the top of the screen. Alternatively, simply right-click on HID-compliant touch screen.
- Select ‘Disable device’ from the context menu.
- Click ‘Yes’ to confirm the action when presented with a warning that says, ‘Disabling this device will cause it to stop functioning. Do you really want to disable it?’
Once you complete these steps, touch input will no longer be active. You can verify this by tapping your PC screen.
If you would like to re-enable it, follow the same procedure above but instead select ‘Enable device’ when you get to Step 4.
Pro Tip: If your touchscreen no longer works even after you’ve enabled it, you’ll have to update the drivers. We recommend you use Auslogics Driver Updater for this. The tool will recognise your system specs and then download the latest driver version that is recommended by your PC manufacturer.
If you are running Windows 7, the procedure for disabling the touch screen is quite different. You’ll have to go through Control Panel and access the Pen and Touch menu.
Follow these easy steps:
- Go to the Start menu and type ‘Control Panel’ in the search bar. Select the option when it appears in the search results.
- Click Pen and touch and then go to the Touch tab.
- Unmark the checkbox for ‘Use your finger as an input device.’
You can now verify that the touch screen is no longer active.
We hope you’ve found this guide helpful.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the section below.
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