How To Fix Middle Mouse Button Not Working In Windows 10 ?

While reading an eBook or scrolling through long webpages, if your mouse scroll button suddenly stops working, here are some ways that you can resolve the mouse wheel button not working.

Why Did The Mouse Wheel Stop Working?

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Before resolving the error, it is essential to know what may be causing the error so that the necessary precautions can be taken in order to prevent the error from presenting itself again.

Any peripherals can suddenly stop working due to many reasons. It can be a hardware failure or a driver failure as well. It is possible that damage may have been inflicted on the hardware or the connecting wires inside the mouse. Your drivers may be outdated and conflicting with your Operating System. Here I will discuss the solutions to middle click not working error with respect to the possible cause of the same. In case you are using a touchpad and it’s not working you can view this post to fix it.

Middle Mouse Button Not Working – How To Fix?

# Solution 1 (Update Mice Drivers)

To eliminate the possibility of an outdated driver, you must check and update any mouse drivers available.

Note: this is assuming that you are on the latest build Windows and have all the updates installed.

To update the mouse drivers, here are the steps you can follow:

Open a Run Window by pressing Win + R.
Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to open the device manager.

3. Connect the mouse to your system and expand the Mice and other pointing devices
4. In the list, right-click on the faulty mouse and click on Update Driver.

5. Windows will check for any pending updates. Follow the on-screen instructions to update any mouse drivers available.
6. Restart your PC after the updates finish.

If there were any clashing outdated drivers, updating them should have solved your issue.

If you have any branded premium mice that come with software for customization, you may try editing the values in the hardware manufacturer software to check if the mouse middle click not working issue is solved.

However, if this does not solve it, you need to check for faulty registry entries.

# Solution 2 (Check Registry Entries)

Sometimes, Windows can mess up the registry entries and cause the mouse to misbehave.

To check if the registry entries are in their correct values, follow these steps:

Press Win + R to open the Run dialogue.

Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

3. Navigate to the following path by pasting it in the address bar of the registry editor:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

4. On the right pane, locate and double click on the entry WheelScrollLines.
5. Change the Value data to 3 if its set to something different.

6. Restart your PC.

This should correct the registry error that may have been causing the mouse wheel and button to not work properly. If this is also not the case, check and run the hardware troubleshooter.

# Solution 3 (Hardware Troubleshooting)

Now that you have eliminated the possibility of a driver mismatch, it is time to troubleshoot the hardware.

First, connect the faulty mouse to a different PC and check if it is working fine there. If it works fine on the other system, there is a software on your system that is misconfigured in a way that has changed your middle button response. This usually happens with gaming software and other customizable software.

If it does not work fine there, you need to run the hardware troubleshooter in Windows.

To access the troubleshooter:

Open Settings (Win + I)

Select Update and Security.
From the left pane, select Troubleshoot.

4. From the right pane, select Hardware and Devices to open the troubleshooter.
5. Run the troubleshooter and follow the onscreen instructions to finish searching and fixing the errors.
6. Restart your PC.

The troubleshooter will try to locate the error and provide a possible fix for your issue.

If the hardware troubleshooter also does not work properly, if it possible that the hardware component inside your mouse has become faulty. The hardware fix will not be posted here as the mice specification usually varies from device to device and repair should be done by an experienced technician only.

Conclusion

The scroll wheel not working can be annoying as it is very useful in browsing and reading long pages. With the above-provided fixes, you should now be able to solve the ‘middle mouse button not working’ error with ease. If these fixes don’t help you, you need to get the device repaired or replaced if it is under the warranty period. Comment below if you have some query or for further discussion.