Windows 11: how to easily disable your PC’s touchscreen

With the advancement of technology, touch screens are becoming increasingly prevalent and integral parts of our devices. They offer convenience and efficiency, but sometimes they can become a nuisance. For instance, while using a Windows 11 PC with touchscreen capability, you might experience accidental interactions that interfere with your workflow. If you wish to disable this feature, follow this comprehensive guide based on multiple sources.

Understanding the Role of Device Manager

The Device Manager: A Central Tool for System Configuration

The Device Manager, or “Gestionnaire de périphériques” in French, is a key component within Microsoft’s operating systems that allows users to view and control the hardware attached to their computers. It provides detailed information about installed devices and enables the user to configure settings as per their requirements.

How does the Touchscreen Feature Work ?

The touchscreen element falls under the category of ‘Human Interface Devices’ (HID) within the Device Manager. This includes all input devices that enable human-computer interaction. By disabling or enabling specific HIDs, you can control how your computer responds to certain inputs.

Moving forward, we will delve into accessing this central tool on Windows 11.

Accessing Device Manager on Windows 11

Finding Your Way to Device Manager

Once you’ve successfully accessed it, identifying your user interface device becomes quite straightforward.

Identifying User Interface Device

Navigating through Human Interface Devices

Within Device Manager, find and expand the section named ‘Human Interface Devices’. Look for an entry named ‘HID-compliant touch screen’. There could be multiple devices listed, depending on your setup.

Follow me to the next step where I’ll guide you through the process of disabling the touch screen feature.

Procedure to Disable Touch Screen

Detailed Steps to Turn off Your Touch Screen

• Right-click on the ‘HID-compliant touch screen’ entry.
• Select ‘Disable device’ from the dropdown menu. Confirm if needed.
• If there are multiple touchscreen devices, repeat this action for each one.

Quick Tip

This method requires no advanced technical knowledge and only takes a few seconds. It’s a simple solution for those who prefer using a trackpad or mouse instead of touch input.

If you’re interested in going beyond this manual method and desire a quick shortcut via PowerShell, keep reading !

Using PowerShell to Disable Touch Screen

The Power of PowerShell

PowerShell is a powerful tool built into Windows which allows automation of tasks through script-based commands. Although it may seem daunting for beginners, some straightforward commands can assist in quickly toggling between enabling and disabling your touchscreen.

Last but not least, let’s discuss how to verify whether our changes have taken effect and how we can revert them if necessary.

Verification and reactivation if necessary

Facts Checking Our Actions

To verify that you’ve successfully turned off your touch screen, simply try using the touchscreen function. If it doesn’t respond, you’ve successfully disabled it.

Re-enabling Your Touch Screen

If at any point you wish to reactivate your touchscreen, simply repeat the above steps but select ‘Enable’ instead of ‘Disable’.

In our constantly evolving digital landscape, it’s essential to stay up-to-date with system updates. The Windows 11 interface and options may slightly change with updates, so always ensure your system is current.

By following this guide, you’ll be able to effortlessly disable the touch screen on your Windows 11 PC, thereby enhancing your user experience if you prefer a more traditional navigation method. Remember that while newer PCs (especially those from 2021 to 2024) include this feature, older computers might not offer this option. Happy computing !