Windows 11 Touchpad Not Working but a Mouse Does? Try This

If your laptop’s touchpad stops responding while an external mouse works, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad. Make sure the touchpad is on, then expand its main setting and check Leave the touchpad on when a mouse is connected, if available. Also check your laptop’s touchpad shortcut before changing drivers.

A wireless mouse receiver left in a USB port can matter even when the mouse itself is switched off. If the touchpad returns when you remove that receiver, you have a useful lead: check the setting that disables it when a mouse is attached.

Check what still responds

Use the working mouse to open Settings and switch between a couple of apps. Then try the touchpad on the desktop: move one finger, tap once, and try a physical click if your model supports one.

Those small tests separate three problems:

• Nothing responds on the touchpad: Check its on/off controls and external-mouse setting.
• The pointer moves, but taps or scrolling fail: Go to the gesture checks below.
• The Touchpad page is missing: Check the laptop’s own controls, then follow the driver section.

Save your work and use Start > Power > Restart once before deeper troubleshooting. After signing back in, repeat the same test. If the external mouse and keyboard also stop responding, the problem is broader than this touchpad-specific guide.

Keep the touchpad enabled with a mouse attached

With the mouse connected, open the Touchpad settings page and turn the main switch on. Expand that row if needed, then select Leave the touchpad on when a mouse is connected. Test the touchpad without unplugging the mouse.

If you cannot find the option, briefly disconnect the mouse to compare. For a wireless mouse that uses a USB receiver, remove the receiver too. HP’s external-mouse guidance specifically notes that the receiver must be removed for the computer to recognize the disconnection in this setup.

If the touchpad now works, reconnect the mouse and review the setting again. Some laptops expose equivalent controls through their touchpad software. Look for the installed manufacturer’s touchpad control rather than downloading an unrelated settings utility.

Need to reach the switch without a mouse? Press the Windows key, type touchpad settings, and press Enter.

Use Tab to move focus through the controls and Space to change the selected switch. Check the visible focus before pressing Space.

Check the laptop’s touchpad shortcut

Look along the keyboard for a touchpad symbol, sometimes shown with a line through it. Use the shortcut identified in your laptop’s manual. Depending on the model, that may mean pressing the key alone or holding Fn with it.

There is no universal F-key combination. Lenovo’s IdeaPad instructions list several possibilities and explicitly say that the key varies by model. Some keyboards have no touchpad key at all.

If your keyboard lacks the symbol, move on rather than trying every function key.

Some HP touchpads instead support double-tapping the upper-left corner to toggle the touchpad. HP documents that control for supported models; it is not a shortcut for every Windows laptop.

After using the correct control once, move a finger across the pad. If it works, check clicking and scrolling before making another change.

When the pointer moves but taps or scrolling do not

A moving pointer changes the troubleshooting path. Return to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad and inspect the control for the action that fails:

• Open Taps if tapping does not select an item.
• Open Scroll & zoom if two-finger scrolling or pinch zoom stopped working.
• Review Three-finger gestures or Four-finger gestures if a swipe now performs the wrong action.

Test scrolling on a long webpage and in another app. If it works elsewhere, focus on the affected app before replacing a driver that is handling other input correctly.

Microsoft’s gesture guide explains the supported gestures and notes that some require a precision touchpad. A missing advanced gesture does not, on its own, establish that the touchpad has failed.

If the touchpad is still dead or its settings are missing

Now check the driver. Microsoft’s touchpad troubleshooting guidance recommends Windows Update first and identifies two Device Manager categories where a touchpad may appear: Human Interface Devices and Mice and other pointing devices.

Open Settings > Windows Update and check for updates. Then review Advanced options > Optional updates for a relevant driver. Optional driver updates are not installed automatically.

Select a driver that applies to your device, install it, and restart. Microsoft explains the optional-driver process here.

If an update itself fails to install, use our Windows 11 update troubleshooting guide to work from the error message.

If Windows offers no suitable driver, visit the laptop manufacturer’s official support page for your exact model and Windows version. Follow its installation instructions. A missing Touchpad page is a reason to investigate detection and driver support, not proof that the hardware needs replacing.

If the failure began immediately after an update

Right-click Start, open Device Manager, and identify the touchpad. Open its Properties > Driver tab. When Roll Back Driver is available, it can restore the previous driver; administrator permission is required.

Follow the prompts and restart if requested. If rollback is unavailable, use the manufacturer’s supported driver route.

If updating does not help

Microsoft also supports reinstalling the affected device: save your work, keep the external mouse available, choose Uninstall device for the correctly identified touchpad, and restart. Windows will attempt to reinstall its driver. Have the manufacturer’s installer available in case it does not.

Follow Microsoft’s rollback and reinstall instructions. If you cannot tell which entry is the touchpad, stop before uninstalling anything. A list of similarly named HID devices is not a useful basis for guessing.

Know when to ask for a hardware check

If the correct controls and supported driver steps make no difference, contact the laptop manufacturer. Give support the exact model, when the failure began, whether Touchpad settings appear, any Device Manager error, and whether the external mouse works normally.

Mention separately if pointer movement works but the physical click does not. Those results help narrow the next test. Keep using the external mouse while arranging support; a Windows reset is an unnecessarily broad next step for an isolated touchpad problem.