How to Disable the Touchpad in Windows 11

Want to use a mouse? Disable your Windows 11 laptop’s touchpad with these tricks.

Do you find the touchpad a hindrance when using an external trackpad or mouse? Are you frustrated by your mouse cursor jumping on the screen because your hands rub against the touchpad when typing a document? Are you planning to abandon your touchpad forever and go all keyboard?

No matter why you want to disable the touchpad, Windows allows you to do so quickly. In this article, we’ll show you how to do it in Windows 11.

How to Disable the Touchpad in Windows 11

Follow the below steps to disable the touchpad in Windows 11:

1. On the taskbar, right-click the Windows Start button and select Settings.
2. In the left sidebar, select Bluetooth & devices.
3. Click the Touchpad in the right-hand pane.
4. To turn off the touchpad, turn the toggle next to the Touchpad to the left.

When you disable this toggle, your touchpad will stop working immediately. When you do that, ensure you have an external mouse available so that if you want to enable it again, you can easily do so.

Mistakenly Disabled Touchpad: How to Enable It Without a Mouse

If you disable the touchpad mistakenly and don’t have a mouse available, follow the steps below to enable the touchpad using your keyboard alone:

1. Press the Win key to open the search bar.
2. Search for “Touchpad” in the search bar and press Enter when the Touchpad settings option appears.

3. Press the Tab key continuously until we reach the toggle for disabling the touchpad.
4. To enable the toggle again, press the Space key.

Did you know that you can open your Windows apps and programs with only a keyboard? If you haven’t tried it yet, check out our article on assigning keyboard shortcuts.

Disable Your Touchpad With Caution

In this article, we have shown you how to disable the touchpad in Windows 11. You should only do this if you have a mouse nearby. If you do it by mistake, you can turn it back on using your keyboard.

Reenabling the touchpad after keeping it disabled occasionally doesn’t make it work again. Don’t worry if the same thing happens to you! Fixing it only takes a review of mouse settings and a dig around in Device Manager.