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I am trying to disable the Touchpad as I use an external mouse, but I am having no luck. Here is what I have tried:

Start > Settings > Device > Touchpad

  • There is no option to disable when external mouse is connected; the only option is sensitivity
  • Opening "Additional Settings" and then the "Touchpad" tab which only has a button to open Alps Touchpad settings which has no setting to disable the touchpad

Control Panel > Device Manager > Mice and other pointing devices

  • there is no context option to disable the Lenovo pointing device
  • opening Properties > Drivers but "Disable Device" is grayed out
  • uninstaled the device drivers and deleted the driver, but after restart Windows added it back

Using "Task Manager" I have killed all Alps software

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    I am not sure about Lenovo, but my HP laptop touchpad can only be disabled by physically disconnecting the wires; just why that is so I do not know but it cannot be disabled in any other way as far as I know. If you can actually disable it by removing the driver (your post is not clear on this) then you may need to search the registry and also delete the backup buried somewhere under $windows. Feb 16, 2020 at 16:34
  • Is there a Synaptics tab in mouse properties, mine had the setting you are asking about, maybe install the latest touchpad driver.
    – Moab
    Feb 16, 2020 at 16:48
  • @PeterSmith I uninstalled the driver, and Windows 10 gives the option to also delete it, I chose that option, but did not modify the registry.
    – steveo225
    Feb 16, 2020 at 17:21
  • @Moab Not a Synaptics device. I did try installed those drivers in hopes they were compatible as I remember using them successfully this way with a previous laptop. They won't install claiming no Synamptics device was found
    – steveo225
    Feb 16, 2020 at 17:22
  • Also, I do know disabling the touchpad is possible as a previous version of the driver or software allowed for this. A recent Windows 10 update / Lenovo driver update seems to have disabled this feature
    – steveo225
    Feb 16, 2020 at 17:23

2 Answers 2

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Sorry, but your best bet is to take your laptop apart and physically disconnect the thing. If you don't want to do it, you can ask Geek Squad at Best Buy, or pay a nephew who likes to does that sort of thing. But it's simple and guaranteed to work (and undoable later -- I once uninstalled a camera driver and never did get it to ever work again, but if I had just disconnected the thing...).

One more advantage to physically unplugging the thing -- a Windows Update can't "enable it again on your behalf." And while you have your laptop apart, you can disconnect the built-in camera and built-in microphone that governments, or identity thieves, can use to steal your passwords and spy on you in general.

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Since the touchpad works by either resistive or capacitive sensing, you only have to block that. A rigid metal plate should work. Tin foil would still allow you to affect the capacitance by bringing the foil closer to the touch pad. A rigid plastic sheet with a tin-foil or aluminized (metallized) layer should also do it. I'm a software developer, but also currently learning power electronics, and it is interesting to me that there are multiple solutions to your problem. HTH.

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