Yes, you can turn your touchscreen on and off in Windows 10! Here’s how it’s done and how to set up a shortcut for convenience.
If you have a touch-enabled device for Windows 10, you might be wondering how you can enable and disable the touchscreen on your system. While it’s not immediately obvious, it is possible to toggle this feature within the Device Manager.
Plus, you can even toggle your touchscreen by creating a handy shortcut, which will let you enable and disable it within seconds.
Windows 10 doesn’t have a convenient method to turn your touchscreen on and off—you won’t find anything in Settings, for example. Windows 10 is constantly changing and evolving, so hopefully, this option will become available in the future.
Though uncommon, your system manufacturer (like Dell, HP, or Acer) may have included its own software to help you manage the touchscreen. Please refer to the guide that came with your system or contact the manufacturer to see if this is possible.
For most people, you will need to use Device Manager to disable and enable your touchscreen:
Want to turn the touchscreen back on? Simply repeat the above process, but select Enable device instead. You may need to restart your system for the change to take effect.
Related: Essential Touch Gestures in Windows 10
If you constantly need to enable and disable your touchscreen, it’s a bit of a hassle to keep going into Device Manager. To combat this, you can create a shortcut that will automate the process. It’s a bit complicated, so ensure to follow the instructions carefully.
First, you need to download software called Windows Device Console, or Devcon for short. Normally this comes bundled with Visual Studio Express, but that download is far too bloated for our purposes.
Handily, joequery.me has separated the software into a standalone download. The site is also where this process came from, so many thanks to them.
Before you create the automated shortcut, you need to find out the ID of your touchscreen.
HIDVID_####&PID_####&COL##
Leave this window open for now. We’ll come back to it in a moment.
Now you’re going to create a simple batch file to automate a system process. In this case, the process is toggling the touch screen.
Open Notepad and paste in the following:
set "touchscreenid=ID_HERE"
devcon status "%touchscreenid%" | findstr "running"
if %errorlevel% == 0 (
devcon disable "%touchscreenid%"
) else (
devcon enable "%touchscreenid%"
)
Now, it’s time to turn this automated batch process into a handy shortcut.
You can also set up a keyboard shortcut that will run the batch file. Within the Properties window, click the Shortcut key file field and enter a key combination that isn’t already in use. Maybe something like CTRL + ALT + T.
And it’s done! Place this shortcut wherever you like, perhaps on your desktop or on your Taskbar (you can drag a shortcut directly onto the Taskbar to pin it there). Then, simply open the shortcut, the batch file will run, and it’ll enable or disable your touchscreen automatically.
Related: How to Clean Up Your Windows Desktop Once and For All
If you use Continuum, the feature that allows you to switch between desktop and tablet modes on Windows 10, then you might have wanted to disable your touchscreen when in desktop mode. Or perhaps your system comes with touch abilities that you just don’t want to use. Whatever the situation, hopefully, this guide has helped.
Alternatively, perhaps you are turning the touchscreen off and on in an attempt to fix it. That’s a good troubleshooting step, but you should also try other steps like updating drivers and running the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.
Is your Windows 10 touchscreen not working? Here’s a troubleshooting guide to fix your touchscreen issues in Windows 10.
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About The Author
Joe Keeley
(577 Articles Published)
Joe was born with a keyboard in his hands and immediately started writing about technology. He has a BA (Hons) in Business and is now a full-time freelance writer who enjoys making tech simple for everyone.
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