It is not possible to disconnect it from the laptop physically, but you can disable it. Let’s take a look at six different ways you can disable the touchpad on your laptop.
1. Disabling the Touchpad in Windows Settings
In Windows, the Settings app is the first place you should go to make any changes in settings. So let’s look at how you can disable the touchpad in Windows settings before we move on to more complex methods of disabling it.
Right-click on the Windows Start button and go to Settings. Then, navigate to Devices and go to Touchpad from the left-sidebar. Turn off the Touchpad toggle to disable the touchpad.
You may only see the touchpad’s sensitivity settings, which means that you can’t disable it in the Settings app.
2. Disabling the Touchpad in the Control Panel
As an alternative, you can disable the touchpad in the Windows Control Panel. If you want to take this route, you have three options:
1. Disabling Touchpad Completely
Navigate to the Mouse category in Windows Control Panel. Head to the touchpad tab in Mouse Properties, which in this case is ELAN. Click on ELAN Touchpad and hit Stop Device. Tapping on Yes in the Disable Device warning popup will disable your touchpad.
Note: Using an external mouse is the only way to get your touchpad working again, so keep it nearby if you don’t want to get stuck after disabling the touchpad.
2. Disabling Touchpad When You Connect an External Device
In the same window, you can check the box for Disable when external USB pointing device plug in, which will disable the touchpad pad as soon as you connect an external pointing device.
RELATED: Auto-Disable the Touchpad When Connecting a Mouse in Windows 10
After you unplug the external device, the touchpad will work again.
3. Disabling Touchpad Clicks While Keeping Its Scroll Functionality
Last but not least, if you want to disable clicks on the touchpad but keep the scrolling on the touchpad and its button working, there is another way out.
Go to Control Panel and this time head over to the Touchpad category. Go to Tapping configuration in One-finger settings. Unchecking the box for Enable will disable the clicks on the touchpad while keeping the rest of its functionality working.
To set your touchpad to your desired settings, you can choose from three options. Suppose these methods haven’t worked for you; move on to other methods of disabling the touchpad in Windows.
3. Disabling the Touchpad in Device Manager
If the above methods don’t work for you, the Device Manager should be your next stop to disable the touchpad. Here is how it works:
Left-click on the Start button and head over to Device Manager. Expand the category for Mice and other pointing devices. Right-click the driver for your touchpad and tap Disable device.
If you find both your external pointing device and touchpad with the same driver name, you may have to disable them one by one to see which one represents your touchpad.
This method is inapplicable in some instances when Windows doesn’t allow disabling the primary touchpad device via its driver.
4. Disabling the Touchpad via ETD Control Centre
ETD Control Centre, known as Elan Trackpad Device Control Centre, is a program that runs in the background of your device, controlling your trackpad activity. Stopping this program will disable your trackpad.
The following instructions will help you disable this program if you have it installed on your device:
Right-click on the taskbar and go to Task Manager. Locate the ETD Control Centre from the list of programs. Tap End Task (or Disable) by left-clicking on it.
Restart your computer once to apply the changes. Once it is disabled, it won’t run at bootup, preventing your touchpad from working. However, if your computer has its own touchpad driver, disabling ETD Control Centre won’t make any difference.
ETD Control Centre is also not available on all laptops, so if you don’t have this program controlling your touchpad activity, this fix won’t apply.
5. Disabling the Touchpad via the Windows Registry
Try modifying the registry if nothing seems to disable the touchpad. However, do this only when you know what you are doing. Even if you are familiar with such modifications, it is good to back up the registry. As a result, if your expertise fails you and you mess up something, you can restore it.
RELATED: How to Right-Click and Middle-Click on Windows Touchpads
Here is what you need to do to disable the touchpad via Registry:
Press Win + R to open the Run command box. Type “Regedit” and hit OK. Allow user control access by tapping Yes. Navigate to the PrecisionTouchPad status folder using the following path. (You can also copy-paste it into the Registry. ) Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad\Status Double-tap on Enabled entry to change Value data. Set Value data to 0 instead of 1.
As a result, the touchpad will not work unless you change the data value back to 1. If you are still unable to disable the touchpad following these steps, consider using third-party apps.
6. Use Third-Party Software
If all else fails, you can use third-party apps. Touchpad Blocker is a great free tool for enabling or disabling the touchpad with a combination of keys. By default, they are set as CTRL + ALT + F9. You can turn the blocker on and off by pressing CTRL + F9 (no ALT).
To use this software, visit Touchpad Blocker’s official website. Download and install the Touchpad Blocker software. Once installed, press CTRL + F9 to activate it. Later, you can access the touchpad blocker either from the taskbar or from the list of hidden icons.
Apart from disabling the touchpad, you can also configure the program to run at startup automatically, make a beep sound when the click is blocked, and block move and wheel events when necessary.
Moreover, it allows you to stop accidental taps and clicks and set time intervals to block clicks. There are so many things you can do with Touchpad Blocker to control touchpad activity.
Deactivate Your Touchpad and Get Back to Work
Some of the fixes may work for you, while others may not. No matter what, the last option will work in every case if none of the other options has worked. Regardless of which version of Windows you are using, Touchpad Blocker is compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7/8 and 10.
If you face problems with the touchpad after reactivating it, you should update the driver, unplug any external pointing device, or reset other mouse settings.
