Surface Touchpad Not Working: Touchpad Fixed (Troubleshooting Guide)

Surface Touchpad not working is a problem that is faced by many users of Microsoft Surface. To help the user to solve this issue, we are writing this blog so that you can fix the Microsoft  Surface touchpad not working issue by yourself with the help of this step by step guide.

Surface Touchpad Not Working: Problem Overview

Microsoft Surface is one of the most elegant laptops. It has all the features which make it best for productivity. Although Microsoft Surface is a sturdy and stable device but sometimes users have problems with their touchpad. As per the report of the users, the touchpad becomes unresponsive or the whole type cover/keyboard does not work. Whatever is the case this post will help you solve this problem.

Surface Touchpad Not Working: Fix for all type of Touchpad

In this post, we will try to cover fixes for all types of Surface touchpad not working problem. Broadly you can divide into two types of keyboard & Touchpad.   One is the detachable type and the other is fix type of touchpad.

Detachable type touchpad like a touchpad in type cover or touchpad in surface Book. Fix type touchpad is like a touchpad in a Surface laptop. We will guide you to fix both types of touchpad so that whichever surface touchpad has a problem you can fix it on your own.

In this post, we will provide a fix for all the Microsoft Surface models (Microsoft Surface Go, Surface RT, Surface pro, Surface pro 2, Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro (5th Gen) or Surface Pro 6, Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro X, Surface Laptop (1st Gen), Surface Laptop 2, Surface Laptop 3, Surface Boo, Surface Book 2.

Methods to fix surface touchpad not working

Method-1

Update windows

Before going further, if you have not updated your windows from sometime then it is one of the most crucial steps you should perform right now. You may have missed a few most important patches or updates related to your Surface touchpad.

Windows update alone can automatically fix many problems as it updates crucial drivers to function the hardware correctly.

Updating windows is very easy, you just need to check for available updates, if it is available then you need to update it.

Please follow the steps to update the windows

Surface Touchpad Not Working: Detachable type touchpad

If you are using detachable type keyboard with touchpad like type cover for Microsoft Surface Go, Surface RT, Surface pro, Surface pro 2, Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro (5th Gen) or Surface Pro 6  & Surface Pro 7 and touchpad in Surface Book 2

Although Microsoft has designed surface type cover and Surface book that dirt and dust could not enter and stick on the surface connectors. Still, users have experienced that dirt & dust over the connector leads to surface act weird like touchpad not working or whole keyboard not working problem.

We need to be sure that connectors are cleaned. To clean the connectors, first of all, you need to power off the surface & unplug if it is plugged in.

Now detach the type cover  from the surface or if you are using surface book then detach the keyboard from surface

Take a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol. Wet that cotton swab with rubbing alcohol and clean the connector both side i.e. surface and keyboard side connectors. Rub the cotton swab back and forth gently over the connector.

Now let the connectors dry and then reattach it back with the surface and make sure that the connectors fit well with each other.

Now start with troubleshooting steps for all the surface touchpad not working problem.

Perform Force/Two-button shutdown

When your surface encounters some problems like touchpad not working then a normal shutdown is not enough. You need a complete shutdown to close the kernel session completely. There is a two-button shutdown or force shutdown process to shut down the surface completely.

To perform a two-button shutdown follow the below steps. It is a little different for each surface model. Follow the steps carefully.

For Surface Go, Surface Go with LTE Advanced, Surface Pro (5th Gen), Surface Pro 6, Surface Pro 7 & Surface Pro X, Surface Book 2, Surface Laptop (1st Gen), Surface Laptop 2, Surface Laptop 3

You need to press and hold the Power button for approx 10 seconds, it will turn off your surface.

Now release the power button. Again press and release the power button to turn it back on.

If it does not shut down the surface completely then you need to follow the alternate method

Now press and hold the power button for approx 20 seconds until you surface restart and you see the windows logo, Now release the power button.

For Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, Surface Pro 4 & Surface Pro 4, Surface Book

You need to follow the steps same as 1st method above, if it does not work then you need to follow the alternate method

Press and hold Power Button for approx 30 seconds and release it, now Press hold the power button and Volume up button simultaneously for approx 15 seconds and release both the buttons.

Now wait for 10 seconds and press the power button and release it to restart your surface.

Note: while holding the boh keys for 15 seconds you may see the surface logo but you need to keep it pressed for 15 seconds.

For Surface RT, Surface 2, Surface 3

Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds until your surface turns off, release the power button

Now press the power button and release it to turn on your surface.

Most of the time it fixes the surface touchpad not working problem.

Method-2

Update or reinstall the Surface touchpad driver

It is possible that the surface touchpad or keyboard driver has been outdated or it has been corrupted which leads to Surface touchpad not working. You should update your touchpad driver.

If updating your driver does not solve the touchpad issue then you may be required to reinstall the surface touchpad driver.

We would like to suggest you update your keyboard driver as well.

To update the surface touchpad driver follow the steps below

To uninstall and reinstall the surface touchpad driver follow the steps below

follow the same steps as we performed above but this time instead of update the driver you have to, uninstall the device.

After uninstalling the TouchPad driver you just need to restart the surface device. it will automatically install the TouchPad driver again.

Method-3

Remove device drivers that are not in use

There are many devices which we use in our windows system and their drivers installed on the system but when we remove the devices, the driver does not remove from the system. Sometimes it creates interference with the currently installed devices and it leads to not function correctly.

To resolve surface touchpad not working, you need to find the unused driver and uninstall it. You need to go to the device manager and under the device manager, you need to find under human interface devices or mice and other pointing devices.

If you find any driver which may create interference with your surface touchpad which is not in use then uninstall it.

For detailed instruction flow the steps below.

Method-4

Check for System file error

System file error could be the reason behind some hardware devices not working properly like Surface touchpad not working. There may be chances that Windows system files have been corrupted due to this hardware not working.

There is an inbuilt tool/command called sfc /scannow of windows that checks the system files of windows and repairs the corrupted system file automatically.

To run the sfc / scannow command follow the steps below.

Note: you need to pugged your Surface into power as it may take some time.

Method-5

Use Microsoft Surface Diagnostic Utility

Microsoft itself provided a diagnostic tool exclusively for the surface which is a set of the test to diagnose the hardware issues in the surface. It is one of the best tools to find & fix common surface problems like surface keyboard & touchpad not working.

It is a very small file which does not require installation, you can run it directly. Tool has many individual tests to diagnose and fix the problem in surface devices.

You just need to download the Surface Diagnostic Utility tool and run it to fix the problem.

Method-6

Reset your Surface

If you have reached till this step that means you have not been able to fix your surface touchpad not working problem. It means that the sfc /scannow command could not fix the corrupted system files.

You have only left with the option of Reset your surface. When we reset the surface it fixes all corrupt files & bad configuration.

Note: Resetting surface will remove all third party software, Apps, drivers, and recent update. But you will get an option to keep all your personal files & folders.

To reset the surface follow the below steps.

Contact Microsoft customer support

If you are still unable to fix your surface touchpad not working problem then there might be some hardware fault or other issue. You should contact the official Microsoft support center.

Microsoft Surface devices come with one-year hardware warranty. You can contact Microsoft store as well

Surface Touchpad Not Working: Tips to avoid Problem in future

You should always keep your surface updated through windows update. It is one of the easiest and simple tips to keep your surface trouble-free.

Windows always releases updates for driver and other Microsoft programs along with antivirus and malware protection.

Conclusion: Final Words

Hope this post helps you resolve your surface touchpad not working problem. We have explained and guided you with all the important reasons and solutions to this problem. All the given troubleshooting steps are explained enough so that you can fix this issue on your own.

Do let us know if this guide has helped you. You can leave your comment about your experience. Please like & share this post to help others.