Windows 10: Synaptics touchpad windows 10 wont disable

It could be a small possibility that the key combinations need a Quick Launch or similar utility to work. Have a look at the utilities section of manufacturer's support site

 

The key to turn it off on my ASUS Laptop doesn't work either. I think it's because that was originally handled by an ASUS factory installed utility? ATK or the Smart Gestures utility maybe? I think it's the only special function key that doesn't work. on my laptop. I haven't done anything to sort out why it doesn't work. I use it.

 

I have seen in it HP and Dell notebooks. The Wi-Fi or something else (such as the touch pad on/off button) doesn't work until you install the relevant utility to enable it. Just install any utility you suspect could be responsible. You never know...

 

In the early builds and in Windows 8 Airplane mode wouldn't work on mine. There was an ASUS utility that fixed it. Now, everything except the track pad off button works with the stock drivers.

 

That's what I'm talking about. If it doesn't work as expected with the stock drivers, try updating them to the latest official drivers from manufacturer's site. Automatic driver installation is convenient but not ideal.

 

Not an option for me, no Windows 10 drivers listed for my laptop on ASUS site. It shipped with Windows 8.0. Next to no Windows 8.1 drivers too. I can live with the button not working though. It's either that or take your chance with a driver for another similar model. Trying to figure out the exact make model trackpad installed can be a pain too. Anyway, I just posted to see if the OP figures it out, and to chime in that I'm in the same situation.

 

As already said, if Windows 10 drivers are not available, try Windows 8/8.1 drivers. Next try Windows 7 drivers. Then Vista drivers and in worst case try Windows XP drivers (for Windows 10 32-bit only).

 

That's an option. I'm just not going down that road over this one issue. The earlier drivers for my touchpad do not have gesture support. That means no scroll function for me. My touchpad does not have a dedicated scroll bar. So that means installing the smart gesture utility. It more hassle that its worth doing it that way, for me anyway. If an easier solution is found though, I'll likely try it.

 

This was a freaking great outcome!

You were on the right track, spapakons. I tried reinstalling the original Windows 7 drivers and the USB mouse began tracking. However, the Synaptics touch pad would not disable. I tried editing the registry files in the prescribed manner which has worked in the past. However, this time, editing either the "Local" or "Machine" software registries for the touchpad did not disable the touchpad. My USB mouse is a microsoft wireless Intelli-mouse. In WIndows 7, when the wired transceiver sensed the signal stregth from the mouse was significantly diminishing, you would receive an on screen warning to check the batteries. I never received that warning in Windows 10 and after I had loaded the old WIndows 7 driver the mouse was recognized and worked and then abruptly stopped. I turned the mouse over and, sure enough, the tracking laser was completely out.

As I installed the new batteries, I began to wonder if this may have been the source of the problem all along (though the transceiver should have been recognized I would think even if the mouse batteries were dead). So I deleted the Windows 7 driver and installed the manufacturer's updated Windows 10 driver. It changed nothing except that the USB mouse was again not recognized. Instaed of "uninstalling" the Windows 10 driver and manually reinstalling the original Windows 7 driver, I used the "roll back" feature and clicked the "restart" button once it appeared in the Device Manager. As my notebook restarted it wouldn't let me choose the OS in the first screen and automatically started to open the Windows 10 OS after the 30 second timer expired and that was the end. It repeatedly froze at the Date/Time screen and I was unable to reach or log into the Windows log-in screen.

Spent all day yesterday trying to get the software to repair the "disk errors" and that completely failed as usual. Thought the software had created a restore point, yet when I tried to run a "restore" once again (since this happened to me several times a few months ago) it responded by saying there were "no restore points" found. I finally had to bite the bullet this morning and start from scratch reloading my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

I received a notice while waiting for updates to be found and downloaded that Microsoft will end the free period for upgrading to Windows 10 on July 29. I'm not sure I care anymore. The one lesson I can say that I learned from this experience is that I will go back to my original treatment of Microsoft Updates and never again allow my settings to be automatically updated & installed. This has cost me dearly in lost and unreplacable files as I had limited space left on my hard drive when this unexpectedly happened. I was in the process of copying and transferring files from the earlier crashes when Windows 10 was unintentionally installed.

Hopefully, lessons learned will not be forgotten. Thanks for your assistance, spapakons. I will retrieve what files I can that have not been lost and then wipe the drives clean and repartition the entire thing strictly for use with WIndows 7. If and when I can purchase and build a new computer that uses a touch screen and can take advantage of the newer OS, I will purchase my own copy then. Perhaps, Apple will finally win me over after all these years with PC's.

Again, you have my thanks, spapakons.

 

I downloaded and installed the ATK package from here, http://www.asus.com/support/Download/3/569/0/3/45/ and I can now disable my trackpad via the f9 key.

 

Yes, as I suggested, some notebooks need to install a utility before you can toggle the touchpad (also the Wi-Fi and other functions) on/off. I have seen it in Windows 7 too, not only 10.

 

And I mentioned the ATK utility shortly after that. In Windows 8 and 8.1 I would have to install it manually. In Windows 10 a version of it is installed automatically. That was why I never bothered to install it manually in Windows 10. Looks like its not the correct version or and older version? I was trying to sort out another issue and took a chance on the ATK utility I found via a search in Google. It could have easily brock something else. If it did I haven't noticed it yet.

Pressing the physical eject button on my optical drives tray locks up Windows 10. I have to force a shutdown with the power button. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Laptop still locks up if I press the eject button but now f9 shuts off my track pad.

 

I have disabled Synaptics touchpad, but also touchpad's buttons (not sure if you want that) like this:

Solved How to Disable Laptop Keyboard? - Windows 10 Forums

 

Go to manufacturer's support site and see for a utility called Quick Launcher or similar. This is the one controlling all the extra keys. Install that and you should be OK

 

To spapakons & alphanumeric:

Many thanks to you both for your suggestions. I greatly appreciate the help you have offered. It will probably be a few weeks before I can backup what's left to save on my hard drives as I sort through them to determine what is junk and what is relevant to me and to copy all of it onto a travel drive. Once completed, I will repartition the drives and save one area for my Windows 7 Ultimate OS & one for use with a Windows 10 OS. At that time I will refer back to both of your replies and work from there.

You may hear back from me then, but until such time, know that your assistance was & is greatly appreciated.