How to Turn On or Off On-screen Touchpad in Windows 11

This post shows students and new users steps to show or hide the virtual touchpad on Windows 11. One can use the on-screen or virtual touchpad to control the mouse pointer with their touchscreen Windows device.

Once the virtual touchpad is enabled, it can be dragged to any screen location simply by holding it down and moving it to the desired location.

When using a Windows touch screen device, one can follow the related posts below to enable or disable other touch screen-related tasks. For example, you can disable touchscreen usage in Windows 11, enable an on-screen keyboard, and more.

Below is how to enable or disable the on-screen touchpad or virtual touchpads when using Windows 11.

How to enable or disable virtual touchpad on Windows 11

As mentioned above, one can use the on-screen or virtual touchpad to control the mouse pointer with their touchscreen Windows device.

Below is how to enable or disable the virtual touchpad on Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a centralized location for the majority of its settings. As a result, everything can be done, from system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows from its Settings app.

To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + I shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings, as shown in the image below:

windows 11 start settings

Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.

Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click Personalization > Taskbar tile to expand it.

On the Personalization > Taskbar settings pane, under Taskbar corner icons, toggle the buttons to On or Off for Virtual touchpad.

You can now exit the Settings app.

Alternatively, use the steps below to enable or disable the virtual touchpad:

  • First, press and hold (or right-click) the taskbar, then select Taskbar settings.
  • Under Taskbar corner icons, set Virtual touchpad to On.
  • Finally, select the touchpad button on the taskbar.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to show or hide the virtual touchpad in Windows 11. Please use the comment form below if you find any errors above or have something to add.