Microsoft’s Surface lineup is a series of personal computers designed with productivity in mind. All of these devices feature touchscreen panels, and beautiful aesthetics, which make the device feel premium during use. The Surface Pro is a 2-in-1 device, with pen input available for more precise and handwritten input.
The Surface Pro also comes with a keyboard folio that has a built-in trackpad for making use of the laptop mode. The keyboard connects using a proprietary connector, and the keyboard is fairly decent for regular use. However, some users have reported an error where they see the Surface pro touchpad not working on their devices.
Here I shall discuss how you can solve the Surface mouse not working error with ease.
How To Solve Surface Pro Touchpad Not Working?
The trackpad can be very valuable for simple computing, and it not working can hamper the user experience on the device. Here are some easy fixes that you can deploy to easily solve the Surface pro touchpad not working error.
Solution 1: Update Your Windows
Windows 10 was introduced in 2015, and Microsoft has based the operating system around regular security updates to keep the device on the latest versions of all software. Windows updates also handle the driver updates necessary for the normal functioning of the hardware devices.
If you have not updated your Windows for some time, you may have missed some important patch, which may be causing the touchpad error on your Surface pro. This is very easy to fix, and all you need to do is update your Windows to the latest version available. Now check if your error persists.
Solution 2: Reconnect The Keyboard Attachment And Restart Your Device
The keyboard attachment uses a proprietary connector to connect the keyboard to the Surface Pro. Sometimes, all you need to do is disconnect and reattach the keyboard cover to solve any problems with it. Unplug the keyboard, and leave it off for some time so that your Surface recognizes that your keyboard is disconnected.
Now attach the keyboard and check if your error is solved.
If you see that the keyboard is not functioning normally, you may also need to restart your device after disconnecting. This should reset all the system files, and your touchpad error should be resolved.
Solution 3: Move Away From Electronic Interference
The Surface pointer is designed to work even slightly away from the display. This is achieved via electromagnetic fields, which help locate the pointer on the device.
Several common household items can sometimes interfere with your device if it utilizes some technology that can be affected by these items. Things like your stereo speaker, iron, microwave ovens, refrigerators, etc. may seem innocent, but can affect your surface, and you can see that the Windows 10 cursor jumps arbitrarily on the screen.
Move away from the vicinity of such devices, and try working on your device. If your error was being caused by electromagnetic interference, moving away from the source should solve your error.
Solution 4: Update Touchpad Drivers
Drivers refer to the configuration files that facilitate the communication between your hardware device and your operating system. Missing or corrupt drivers can lead to many errors that revolve around the hardware malfunctioning.
It is possible that you missed the touchpad drivers update for your device, which may lead to your device not being able to work normally. You can update the drivers to eliminate that a missing or outdated driver is causing the error on your device.
To update touchpad drivers, follow these steps:
- Open a Run window by pressing the Win + R
- Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager console.
- Expand the Human Interface Devices section by clicking on the small arrow next to it.
- Locate and right-click on the device named HID-compliant touchpad.
- Click on Update Driver… from the context menu.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to update the driver for your device.
- Restart your device after the update completes.
Now check if your error persists. Your Surface Pro touchpad not working error should now be resolved.
Solution 5: Remove Ghost Devices
When you connect a device to your computer, the drivers for that particular device are installed on your computer. However, upon the removal of the said device, the drivers are not removed from your computer as a backup for when you next connect the device.
The drivers for the devices that you do not connect to your computer are referred to as ghost devices and can sometimes lead to interference with your devices. Uninstalling these ghost devices should remove the interference and solve the Surface mouse not working error on your device.
To uninstall these devices,
- Open a Run window by pressing the Win + R
- Type devmgmt.exe and press Enter to launch the Device Manager console.
- Expand the Mice and other pointing devices section by clicking on the small arrow next to it.
- Locate the ghost devices, and right-click on them.
- Select Uninstall from the context menu.
- Click on Yes and follow the onscreen instructions to uninstall the devices.
- Restart your computer once you have uninstalled all the devices.
Solution 6: Run DISM And SFC Scans
An SFC scan can be used to find if some Windows functions are not working, and restore the corrupted files that may have been causing the issue. If you are on Windows 10 or 8, run a Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool first prior to SFC.
Note: DISM and SFC scans use the Windows Update to replace the corrupted files. If your Update Client is already broken, you may use a Windows installation disc as a backup repair source. You have to use a different command which will be listed below.
Caution: Do not interrupt the scans until the verification is complete. The scans do take time, but interrupting the scans may break your system.
- Open an elevated command prompt. Search cmd in search and select Run as Administrator from the right-click menu.
- Type the following command and press Enter:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
- If you are using a repair disc or other removable media, you need to use a different command. The command for this is:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows/LimitAccess
Note: you have to replace C:\RepairSource\Windows with the location path of your repair source. You can find this path in the address bar of the drive.
After this scan finishes, you need to run an SFC scan. In the same elevated CMD, write the following command to run a System File Checker (SFC) scan and press Enter.
sfc /scannow
After the scan finishes the problem should be resolved. If there are some corrupt files, the scan will show results as a message.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Now you know how to solve the error where the Surface pro touchpad not working using the solutions provided above. Comment below if you found this useful, and tell us how you solved the error on your Surface Pro device.