Disabling or Enabling the Touchpad on a Dell Laptop | Dell US

NOTE: Dell does not recommend disabling the touchpad unless you have installed an external USB, wireless USB, or Bluetooth mouse, or your computer has a touch screen.

NOTE: When the setting Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected is cleared (in Windows 11 it is located in the drop-down menu when you select the down arrow next to the Touchpad On/Off toggle), inserting the dongle for a wireless mouse with disable the touchpad even if the mouse is turned off.

NOTE: There are settings that prevent the cursor from jumping around while typing. If that is your issue, see the Dell Knowledge Base article

There are settings that prevent the cursor from jumping around while typing. If that is your issue, see the Dell Knowledge Base article Cursor Moves Around Erratically While Typing on the Notebook Keyboard

1. Press and hold the Windows () key, and then press the q key.
2. In the Search box, type Touchpad.
3. Select Touchpad settings (System settings).
4. Look for a Touchpad On/Off toggle.
   • When there is a Touchpad On/Off toggle option:
     1. Select the Touchpad On/Off toggle to turn the touchpad on or off.

      

   • When there is NOT a Touchpad On/Off toggle option:
     1. Select More touchpad settings or Additional settings.
     2. Select the Dell Touchpad tab (Figure 1.).
        
        Figure 1: Dell Touchpad Tab
        NOTE: When the Dell Touchpad tab is not shown, it means one of two things:
        • Most likely your computer has a Precision Touchpad. To determine whether this applies to your computer, see Dell Knowledge Base article How to Use the Precision Touchpad Features in Windows.
        • The utility is not installed. In that case, see Dell Knowledge Base article How to Download and Install Dell Drivers for more information about downloading drivers. The Dell Touchpad Driver and Utility are listed under Mouse, Keyboard & Input Devices.
          • When there are no touchpad drivers that are listed, then no Dell drivers are available for the touchpad.
          • Depending on the manufacturer and drivers for your touchpad, you may or may not have an option to disable or enable the touchpad.
     3. Select the image of the touchpad.
        NOTE: When touching or clicking the image of the touchpad and you are not taken to the next screen it probably means that your computer has a Precision Touchpad, see Dell Knowledge Base article

        When touching or clicking the image of the touchpad and you are not taken to the next screen it probably means that your computer has a Precision Touchpad, see Dell Knowledge Base article How to Use the Precision Touchpad Features in Windows

     4. Select the Touchpad On/Off toggle to turn the touchpad on or off.
     5. Select Save.

NOTE: After following the preceding steps and the touchpad still does not work correctly, see the

After following the preceding steps and the touchpad still does not work correctly, see the Touchpad Diagnostics section below.