A touchpad that suddenly does nothing is usually switched off rather than broken. The usual culprits are a touchpad hotkey pressed by accident, a Windows setting that turns the pad off when a mouse is connected, or a driver problem in the chain that connects the pad to Windows.
Two checks tell you where to look. Plug in a USB mouse: if it works, Windows itself is fine and the issue is specific to the touchpad. Then, once you’ve ruled out the hotkey and settings below, restart into your laptop maker’s pre-boot diagnostics. If the pointer moves there but not in Windows, the pad is healthy and the fix is a driver or setting. Many BIOS setup screens are keyboard-only and never show a pointer, so a missing pointer there doesn’t prove a fault.
Without a mouse you can still get around: the Windows key, Tab, arrow keys and Enter move through menus, and Shift + F10 acts as a right-click.
Try these first
- Press the top-row key with a touchpad icon (F6 or F9 on many ASUS models), alone or with Fn.
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad and make sure Touchpad is On.
- Unplug any mouse or USB receiver, or turn on Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected.
- Choose Restart, not Shut down, so the touchpad driver loads from scratch.
- On HP laptops, double-tap the upper-left corner of the touchpad; on some models that turns it back on.
- On ASUS, open MyASUS > Device Settings and check the touchpad isn’t locked.
Work out whether it’s switched off, misconfigured or failing
Match what you see before changing anything.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pointer won’t move at all; no mouse attached | Hotkey or Windows setting turned it off | Touchpad key, then the Touchpad setting |
| Touchpad and keyboard both dead on a fold-back 2-in-1 | It thinks it’s in tablet, tent or stand mode, which switches both off | Open it to laptop position and restart; if both stay off, have the mode sensor checked |
| Stops working whenever a mouse or dock is connected | Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected is off | Turn that setting on |
| Moves in BIOS or diagnostics, dead in Windows | Driver, recent update or vendor utility | Driver section below |
| Pointer moves, but taps don’t click | Tap settings turned off | Turn on taps in Touchpad settings |
| Two-finger scroll and gestures disappeared | Precision touchpad driver replaced by a basic one | Reinstall the manufacturer’s touchpad and chipset drivers |
| Touchpad missing from Settings and Device Manager | I2C controller driver missing, or disabled in BIOS | Driver section, then BIOS |
| Cursor jumps or clicks by itself | Palm contact, sensitivity, dirt, or a swollen battery | Sensitivity settings; check the pad sits flat |
| Fails the maker’s pre-boot touchpad test, or won’t move in a BIOS screen that normally shows a pointer | Touchpad, its cable or the board | Hardware section |
The brand table below shows how to test outside Windows on most brands. ASUS’s own guidance states the rule plainly: if the touchpad works in BIOS but not in Windows, update the BIOS and drivers; if it doesn’t work in BIOS either, it’s likely hardware.
A BIOS update needs the charger connected and must run to the end; cut short, it can stop the laptop from booting. Firmware updates can also trigger a BitLocker recovery prompt, so suspend BitLocker first and have the key ready; our BitLocker recovery key guide shows how to do both.
Touchpad hotkeys and settings by brand
Every brand puts the touchpad switch somewhere different, and some add their own lock on top of Windows. Keys vary by model, so look for the touchpad icon on your top row.
| Brand | Touchpad on/off | Brand-specific check |
|---|---|---|
| ASUS | Usually F6 or F9, depending on the model, pressed alone or with Fn depending on your hotkey setting. Look for a “Touchpad is enabled” message. | MyASUS > Device Settings > Input Device Settings: set Touchpad to Unlock. For BIOS setup, with the laptop off, press and hold F2, then press the power button. If the hotkey does nothing, reinstall the ASUS System Control Interface driver (ATK Package on older models). |
| Dell | Depends on model: Fn + F3, F6 on its own, or a dedicated key to the right of F12. | Some models have a Dell Touchpad tab in Mouse Properties (main.cpl) with its own settings. Pre-boot test: press F12 at startup for the One Time Boot Menu, then choose Diagnostics. |
| Lenovo / ThinkPad | Many consumer models have a top-row key with a touchpad icon; if yours has none, use Windows Touchpad settings. | If the Touchpad options are greyed out, install your model’s latest touchpad driver through Lenovo Vantage, Lenovo System Update or Lenovo support. If a ThinkPad’s TrackPoint works and the pad doesn’t, Windows is accepting pointer input, so focus on the pad’s setting, driver or connection. Many ThinkPads can also turn the pad off in BIOS: press F1 at startup and check under Config. |
| HP | No single standard key; check the top row for a touchpad icon. On some HP touchpads, double-tapping the upper-left corner turns the pad off or back on, so try that first. | Next, try a hard reset: shut down, unplug the charger, hold Power for about 15 seconds, then start up. To test the pad outside Windows, press Esc repeatedly at power-on, then F2, to open HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI, and run Component Tests > Mouse/Touchpad. |
| Microsoft Surface | No hotkey; use Windows Touchpad settings. | On a Pro or Go, the touchpad is part of the Type Cover. Open UEFI: shut the Surface down, then press and hold Volume Up, press and release Power, and keep holding Volume Up until the UEFI screen appears. If keys and touchpad both work there but not in Windows, it’s software. If the cover isn’t connecting at all, use the Type Cover checks in our laptop keyboard troubleshooting guide. |
If a mouse works but none of the touchpad toggles change anything, move on to Windows settings and then drivers.
Check the Windows 11 touchpad settings
Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad. On Windows 10, it’s Settings > Devices > Touchpad.
- Touchpad: make sure the switch at the top is On.
- Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected: turn this on if the pad dies whenever you dock or plug in a wireless mouse receiver.
- Taps: expand it and turn on single-finger tap and the right-click options if the pointer moves but taps do nothing.
- Reset: the reset button on this page restores touchpad settings and gestures to defaults.
If the Touchpad page has no gesture options, or doesn’t appear at all, Windows isn’t seeing a precision touchpad. Microsoft notes that some gestures only work with precision touchpads, and on Windows 10 this page says “Your PC has a precision touchpad” when one is detected. A missing precision touchpad points to the driver steps below.
Some laptops also have a manufacturer utility with its own on/off switch. Select More touchpad settings to open Mouse Properties and check for a vendor tab. A pad disabled there stays off even when Windows says it’s on.
Fix the I2C HID and precision touchpad drivers
On most modern laptops, the touchpad isn’t a USB device. It connects over a bus called I2C, and Windows needs three things working in a chain: the I2C controller driver, the I2C HID Device driver, and the touchpad driver itself. If the first link is missing, often after a clean Windows install or a chipset update, the touchpad disappears completely even though nothing is broken.
Check the chain in Device Manager
- Plug in a USB mouse if you have one. Right-click Start (or press Windows key + X) and open Device Manager.
- Select View > Show hidden devices.
- Expand Human Interface Devices and look for I2C HID Device and a touchpad entry such as HID-compliant touch pad or a brand-named precision touchpad.
- On Intel laptops, expand System devices and look for Intel(R) Serial IO I2C Host Controller. AMD laptops use their own controller driver.
- Check Other devices for anything with a yellow warning icon. An unknown device there is often the missing controller.
Reinstall in the right order
If any of those entries shows a small down-arrow icon, it’s disabled: right-click it and choose Enable device, then test the pad.
Before uninstalling anything, download your model’s chipset or Serial IO driver and touchpad driver from the maker’s support page, in case Windows doesn’t reinstall them. Dell’s fix is to uninstall the HID-compliant touch pad under Human Interface Devices and restart so Windows reinstalls it. ASUS goes further, one device at a time with a restart after each: every Intel(R) Serial IO I2C Host Controller, then the ASUS Precision Touchpad (check Attempt to remove the driver for this device, called Delete the driver software for this device on Windows 10, for both), then Microsoft Input Configuration Device. AMD-based models don’t have the Intel controller.
If Windows doesn’t bring the touchpad back on its own, install the drivers you downloaded for your exact model. ASUS lists the Intel I2C driver under Chipset and the touchpad driver under Pointing Device; other brands use similar categories. Install the chipset or Serial IO driver first, because the touchpad driver has nothing to attach to without it.
If the pad stopped after a specific update, open the touchpad entry’s Properties > Driver tab and use Roll Back Driver if it’s available.
Rather have a technician sort it out?
If your touchpad is switched off, misconfigured or missing its driver, a technician can connect remotely with your permission, use their own pointer and work through the fix while you watch. A GoProIT technician can connect remotely, with your permission, and fix it while you watch. $59 per fix, Mon–Fri 8am–8pm ET.
Jumping cursor, ghost clicks and palm problems
A touchpad that works but misbehaves usually needs tuning, not a driver.
- Clicks while you type: in Touchpad settings, open Taps and lower Touchpad sensitivity. On Dell models with the Dell Touchpad utility, open
main.cpl, go to the Dell Touchpad tab, select Sensitivity, turn on Touch Guard and move its slider to the right. - Pointer too fast or jumpy: adjust the Cursor speed slider on the Touchpad settings page.
- Erratic only on the charger or dock: try it on battery. If it’s fine there, the charger or dock is likely adding electrical noise; swap it before blaming the touchpad.
- Dirt and moisture: clean the surface with a slightly damp microfiber cloth and dry it. Wet fingers register as random touches.
One safety check: if the touchpad has started clicking on its own, feels stiff, or sits higher than the palm rest, look along the laptop’s seams for bulging. A swelling battery pushes up on the touchpad from below. Stop using and charging the laptop, don’t press on it, and get it serviced.
In an office: docks, mice and remote help
In offices, docks are a common trigger. If Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected is turned off, Windows switches the pad off while the laptop is docked with an external mouse. That’s normal; it only becomes a problem when the laptop goes to a meeting room and the pad doesn’t come back. A quick undock and redock, or turning that setting on, usually settles it.
Wireless mice add their own issues. If a Bluetooth mouse is unreliable and you’re relying on the touchpad as a backup, see our Bluetooth troubleshooting guide. For receivers and wired mice that Windows won’t detect, see USB device not recognized.
When the same model loses touchpads after an update, the touchpad or I2C driver is the usual suspect. If your laptops get drivers through an Intune driver update policy, go to Devices > Windows updates > Driver updates in the Intune admin center, open the policy and pause that driver. That stops it reaching more machines but doesn’t undo it where it’s already installed, so use Roll Back Driver on those. If several laptops are affected, our IT help desk can work through each one as a remote ticket.
You can still get remote help without a working pointer: the keyboard, or a borrowed USB mouse, is enough to start a remote support session. Once you approve it, the technician moves the pointer for you, and you can end the session at any time.
When it’s hardware
Plan a repair rather than more software changes when:
- The touchpad fails your maker’s pre-boot diagnostics (or won’t move in a BIOS screen that does show a pointer), and it’s missing from Device Manager even with hidden devices shown and the manufacturer’s drivers installed.
- The physical click is stuck or the pad is raised, especially with the battery warning signs above.
- Liquid got into the palm rest. Touchpads sit directly over the battery on many laptops, so disconnect the charger, switch the laptop off and don’t power it on again until it has been checked.
- It stopped after the laptop was opened for a battery, keyboard or SSD replacement. The touchpad’s ribbon cable is easy to leave unseated.
- A Surface Type Cover’s touchpad also fails in UEFI while its keys work there. The touchpad is part of the cover, so a replacement cover usually fixes it; test with another cover if you have one. If it works in UEFI but not in Windows, it’s a software problem instead.
If the pad moves outside Windows, the fault is in software, and tracing it through the driver chain is a typical $59 remote fix. If it’s hardware, a USB or Bluetooth mouse keeps you working until the repair.
Common questions
Why did my touchpad suddenly stop working?
Most often it was switched off: a touchpad hotkey pressed by accident, a mouse or dock that triggered the setting to turn the pad off, or a manufacturer utility that disabled it. After that comes a driver problem, typically after a Windows or chipset update. Test whether the pointer moves in your maker’s pre-boot diagnostics; if it does, the pad itself is fine.
How do I turn my touchpad back on without a mouse?
Press the Windows key, type touchpad, and press Enter to open Touchpad settings. Press Tab until the Touchpad switch is highlighted, then press the Spacebar to turn it on. If that doesn’t work, try the touchpad hotkey on your top row, alone or with Fn. Shift + F10 works as a right-click while you navigate.
Why does my touchpad stop working when I plug in a mouse?
Windows can turn the touchpad off automatically whenever an external mouse is connected, including a wireless receiver or a mouse attached to your dock. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad and turn on Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. If your laptop has a manufacturer touchpad utility, check it for a similar option.
What is the I2C HID device driver?
It’s the Windows driver that lets touchpads and some touchscreens talk to the computer over the I2C bus, which most modern laptops use instead of USB for these parts. It depends on the chipset’s I2C controller driver. If either is missing or broken, the touchpad can vanish from Windows entirely even though the hardware works.
Why did two-finger scrolling stop working?
Usually Windows has fallen back to a basic pointer driver instead of the precision touchpad driver, often after an update or reinstall. The pointer still moves, but gestures disappear. Reinstall the touchpad and chipset drivers from your laptop maker’s support page, then check Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad for the gesture options.
Why did my keyboard and touchpad both stop working?
On a 2-in-1 that folds back, the laptop may think it’s in tablet, tent or stand mode, which switches both off; open it to the normal position and restart. Otherwise look for a cause they share, such as an update that broke the input drivers, liquid in the palm rest, or a cable left loose after a repair. Plug in a USB keyboard and mouse to keep working, then test both in your maker’s pre-boot diagnostics.