If you take a bear on-enabled device for Windows 10, you might be wondering how you tin enable and disable the touchscreen on your system. While information technology'southward 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 information technology inside seconds.

How to Toggle the Touchscreen on Windows 10

Windows x doesn't have a user-friendly method to turn your touchscreen on and off—you won't detect anything in Settings, for instance. Windows 10 is constantly changing and evolving, so hopefully, this choice will become available in the future.

Though uncommon, your organisation manufacturer (like Dell, HP, or Acer) may have included its own software to assistance you manage the touchscreen. Delight refer to the guide that came with your arrangement or contact the manufacturer to meet if this is possible.

For most people, you lot will need to use Device Manager to disable and enable your touchscreen:

  1. Press Windows Key + Ten to open the quick access menu.
  2. Select Device Director. A new window will open up, which lists all the devices detected on your system.
  3. Double-click the Homo Interface Devices heading to aggrandize the listing of devices within.
  4. Right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and select Disable device.
  5. You lot volition then receive a alarm bulletin telling you that disabling this device volition cause it to stop functioning. As this is exactly what you desire, click Yes to proceed. The touchscreen will instantly be disabled, and no further activeness is required.
windows disable touch device

Want to plough the touchscreen back on? Only repeat the above process, only select Enable device instead. You may need to restart your system for the modify to take outcome.

How to Automate the Touchscreen Toggle

If yous constantly need to enable and disable your touchscreen, it's a scrap of a hassle to proceed going into Device Manager. To combat this, y'all can create a shortcut that volition automate the process. It'southward a bit complicated, so ensure to follow the instructions carefully.

1. Install Windows Device Panel

First, you need to download software called Windows Device Console, or Devcon for short. Normally this comes bundled with Visual Studio Express, just that download is far as well 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.

  1. Download the standalone Devcon software.
  2. One time downloaded, extract the ZIP file.
  3. Navigate inside the windows8.1 folder (it works perfectly for Windows 10, don't worry) and then into the folder for your operating system version: 32bit or 64bit. If you're not sure which you take, cheque out our guide on discovering your bit version.
  4. Printing Windows Primal + R to open Run, input C:\Windows\System32 (supersede the bulldoze alphabetic character if necessary), and press OK.
  5. Move devcon.exe into the System32 folder.
  6. Correct-click on devcon.exe and select Backdrop.
  7. Switch to the Compatibility tab.
  8. Check Run this program equally an administrator.
windows devcon properties

ii. Find the Hardware ID

Before you create the automatic shortcut, you need to observe out the ID of your touchscreen.

  1. Press Windows Key + X and select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click the Man Interface Devices heading.
  3. Right-click the HID-compliant touch screen device listing, then select Properties.
  4. With the Backdrop window now open, switch to the Details tab.
  5. Using the Belongings dropdown, select Hardware Ids. The value of involvement to you volition be in the post-obit format: 
          The specified language : markup does not be'
              Code generation failed!!            
'
windows touch screen device properties

Leave this window open for now. We'll come back to it in a moment.

3. Create a Batch File

Now you're going to create a simple batch file to automate a organization process. In this case, the procedure is toggling the touch screen.

Open Notepad and paste in the post-obit:

          The specified linguistic communication : markup does not exist'
              Lawmaking generation failed!!            
'
  1. Switch back to the Properties window that you kept open in the previous pace.
  2. Right-click the relevant Hardware Id and select Re-create.
  3. Supplant ID_HERE in Notepad with the value that you lot only copied to your clipboard.
  4. In Notepad, get to File > Save As and name the file touchscreen.bat. Save this anywhere you like; somewhere like your Documents would be a adept identify.

iv. Create a Shortcut

At present, it'due south fourth dimension to plow this automated batch process into a handy shortcut.

  1. Navigate to the file you lot just saved, and so correct-click it and select Create shortcut.
  2. Correct-click the shortcut and select Properties.
  3. Within the Target field, place double quotation marks around the path. So prefix information technology with cmd.exe /C. An example Target would be:cmd.exe /C "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\touchscreen.bat"
  4. From the Run dropdown, select Minimized then that Control Prompt doesn't open each time you select the shortcut.
  5. Click Advanced and check Run as administrator. Click OK.
  6. Finally, click OK.
touchscreen shortcut properties

You can also gear up a keyboard shortcut that volition run the batch file. Within the Backdrop window, click the Shortcut key file field and enter a key combination that isn't already in use. Peradventure something like CTRL + ALT + T.

And it'due south done! Place this shortcut wherever you like, mayhap on your desktop or on your Taskbar (you lot tin drag a shortcut straight 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.

Troubleshoot a Faulty Windows 10 Touchscreen

If you use Continuum, the feature that allows yous to switch betwixt desktop and tablet modes on Windows 10, and so you lot might have wanted to disable your touchscreen when in desktop mode. Or possibly your system comes with touch abilities that you just don't desire to apply. Whatever the situation, hopefully, this guide has helped.

Alternatively, perhaps you are turning the touchscreen off and on in an attempt to ready it. That's a good troubleshooting footstep, merely you should also endeavor other steps similar updating drivers and running the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.

How to Fix Your Windows 10 Touchscreen Not Working

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About The Author

Joe Keeley (893 Manufactures Published)

Joe was built-in with a keyboard in his hands and immediately started writing virtually applied science. He has a BA (Hons) in Concern and is now a full-time freelance writer who enjoys making tech simple for everyone.

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