Windows 10: Most touchpad settings suddenly missing/moved

I'm experiencing a weird issue with the touchpad settings in Windows 10. My computer is an HP Spectre X360 laptop, 2017 model I believe, and the touchpad is a Synaptics HID TouchPad. Last night, I tried to turn my touchpad off didn't need it, since I have a Bluetooth mouse, and neither the normal on/off switch nor the "enable touchpad while a mouse is connected" checkbox worked - the touchpad refused to turn off. I ignored it for a little while, then shut down my computer for the night. This morning, I turned my computer back on to discover that the vast majority of the touchpad settings in the normal Windows settings menu are completely missing, leaving only a dropdown box for changing the touchpad sensitivity.


Having been unable to find any solutions on Google, I asked a Microsoft agent for help; they directed me to try and download/install the latest version of the appropriate touchpad driver for my machine from the HP website. Turns out the driver I was using was the latest version Synaptics TouchPad Driver Windows 10 v1809/v1903 - the reinstall did nothing, even after another reboot. I also asked my mom, since she works in IT; she informed me that the Mouse Properties dialog box will have touchpad driver settings on some computers, but it doesn't on mine. I searched Synaptics in the Windows Search box at the bottom left, following advice from another Google search for what to do, and the first hit was a dialog box called Synaptics Pointing Device, which seems to have all of the missing settings, albeit in a very different interface. I'm not sure if that existed before last night or not, since I never had a reason to go looking for it.


So the touchpad settings seem to have suddenly migrated, without my doing anything or asking them to. I'm still somewhat annoyed, since I just had to waste two hours of an otherwise busy day on this and the Synaptics Pointing Device dialog won't let me pin it to the Start menu, which was where I had the touchpad settings menu pinned for easy access I like to be able to switch back and forth quickly between mouse/disabled touchpad for gaming and no mouse/enabled touchpad for bringing my laptop to class. I can pin this dialog to the taskbar for an effective workaround, but it's easier to misclick things on the taskbar so I prefer to keep as few things there as possible.


Any idea how this could have happened, and/or how to put the touchpad settings back where they belong?

:)

 

Touchpad settings missing

Hi,

We'd like to ask a few questions, in order for us to better assist you with your touchpad issue.

• Which version and OS build number of Windows 10 is currently installed?
  
  To determine the version and OS build number, type winver on the search bar of Start menu.
• Just to verify, have you tried updating touchpad driver on the device manufacturer?

In the meantime, we suggest that you refer to this article: Fix touchpad problems Windows 10
and follow the instructions provided to troubleshoot touchpad probems.

Looking forward to your response.

 

TouchPad lagging and not moving

Hi Abdalla,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community. I understand the frustration when things don’t work out the way it should.

Method 1: I suggest you to try installing drivers in compatibility mode. Compatibility mode runs the program using settings from a previous version of Windows. Follow these steps to install the drivers in compatibility mode and check if
that helps.

• Download the touchpad pad drivers from the manufacturer’s website.
• Right-click on the driver setup file and click on ‘Properties’.
• Click on the ‘Compatibility’ tab and check the box ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for’ and select Windows 8/8.1 operating system from the drop down menu and proceed with the installation. Once this is done, restart the computer and check if the
  issue persists.

Method 2: I suggest you to perform DISM scan and check if the issue is resolved. I suggest you to try the following steps:

• Open command prompt by pressing Windows key + X and selecting “Command prompt admin”.
• In command prompt, type the following commands and press Enter after each command:

• • DISM.exe/Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
  • DISM.exe/Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

• Close the command prompt and restart the PC and check if it works.

Hope it helps. Get back to us with the updated status and we will be happy to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

I want to disable touchpad on Dell laptop


Hello everyone,
My laptop's touchpad works and I don't want it to, because I prefer a mouse. It's a Dell Inspiron 11 3000 series on windows 10 OS.

What I have tried that hasn't worked:

• start<settings<devices<mouse & touchpad<additional mouse options. This opens a window called Mouse Options which has 5 tabs up top, none of which involve the touchpad. The Hardware tab shows 2 devices: the mouse itself, and the USB. No touchpad there.
• windows key+x<mobility center. No touchpad to be found.
• various function keys. No options for touchpad on/off.
• device manager<mice and other pointing devices. Again, only the mouse and usb show up. It appears the touchpad is working without a driver, which is a little spooky.

Any other suggestions? I could try downloading a third party driver, but that seems like a step in the wrong direction.
Thanks