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How To Disable Touchpad When External Mouse Is Connected

Windows can be configured to automatically disable the touchpad when connected to an external mouse to avoid unnecessary touchpad activation.

On laptops, it is common for many users to plugin external mice for ease of use and accessibility. This is especially true for playing games, office work, video/audio editing, etc. When using an external mouse, you might want to disable the touchpad to eliminate unintended touchpad activation. To make that happen, most laptops have dedicated shortcuts or buttons to disable the touchpad.

However, if needed, you can configure Windows to automatically disable the touchpad when an external mouse is connected. This eliminates the need to manually disable the touchpad every time you connect an external mouse.

It is pretty easy to do. So, without ado, let me show you how to do it.

Related: How to change mouse pointer color and size on Windows 10

Disable Touchpad When External Mouse Is Connected

There are multiple ways you can go about it. I will show all three ways you can automatically disable the touchpad when an external mouse is connected. Pick the method of your choice and follow the steps. You should be good.

Jump to:

1. Disable Touchpad on External Mouse via Settings App

Note: If your laptop doesn’t support a precision touchpad, then this method won’t work. Follow the other two methods.

The settings app has proper options to configure Windows 10 to disable the touchpad if an external mouse is plugged in. All you have to do is select a single checkbox, and Windows 10 will turn off the touchpad on an external mouse connection.

  1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
  2. Go to “Devices -> Touchpad” page.
  3. On the right panel, uncheck the option “Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected“.
    Disable touchpad 01

That is it. The changes are saved instantly. From now on, whenever you connect an external mouse, Windows automatically disables the touchpad. Of course, when you disconnect the external mouse, the touchpad will be enabled automatically.

2. Disable Touchpad on External Mouse via Control Panel

You can also configure Windows to automatically turn off the touchpad when you connect an external mouse to your computer via the good old mouse settings in the Control Panel. This is method works on Windows 10, 8, and 7.

  1. Open the start menu.
  2. Search for “Control Panel” and open it.
  3. Find and select “Mouse” option.
  4. Find ELAN or Device Settings tab.
  5. Now, find “Disable when external USB pointing device plugin” or “Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached” and select the checkbox.
    Disable touchpad 02
  6. Click on the “Ok” button to save changes.

Note: This option is only visible if the mouse driver supports it. If you cannot see the option, your touchpad doesn’t support the feature. You can update the touchpad driver and try again.

That is it. From now on, whenever you plug in an external mouse, the touchpad will be disabled automatically.

3. Make Registry Edit to Disable Touchpad When You Plug-in External Mouse

You can also make registry edits to automatically disable the touchpad when you plug in an external mouse. Though it is easy to do, I recommend you back up the registry before making any changes.

  1. Press Win + R to open Run dialog box.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. Go to the following location.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTPEnh
  4. On the right panel, select “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value“.
  5. Name the value as “DisableIntPDFeature“.
  6. Double-click on the newly created value.
  7. Type 33 in the value data field.
  8. Click on the “Ok” button to save changes.

That is all. Restart your system, and you are good to go.

If you like this article, you will also like to learn how to enable sandbox on Windows 10. Sandbox is pretty helpful to test software and new settings.

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