The laptop’s touchpad is often used as an alternative to an external mouse. Personally, I’ve encountered many inconveniences when accidentally touching the touchpad while typing, causing the cursor to jump around unexpectedly. Therefore, disabling the touchpad has significantly improved my laptop usage experience.
Guide to Disabling Touchpad on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04
Step 1: Open Settings
First, you need to open the “Settings” window in Ubuntu. You can search for “Settings” in the application menu or click the gear icon in the system tray to open it.
Step 2: Navigate to “Mouse & Touchpad”
Once the Settings window is open, navigate to the “Mouse & Touchpad” section. This is where you can adjust settings related to the mouse and touchpad on your laptop.
Step 3: Disable the Touchpad
In the “Touchpad” section, you will see an option called “Enable Touchpad.” To disable the touchpad, simply toggle this option off or uncheck it. Once you do this, the touchpad will stop functioning, and your laptop will only respond to an external mouse (if connected).
Note that the interface and option names may vary depending on the version of Ubuntu you are using. However, the general steps above should help you disable the touchpad in most Ubuntu versions, including 20.04, 22.04, and 24.04.
How to Re-enable Touchpad on Ubuntu via Terminal
If you have disabled the touchpad and cannot use an external mouse, or if you want to enable the touchpad without reopening the Settings window, you can do so via the Terminal.
Step 1: Open Terminal
Open the Terminal using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T. Then, enter the following command to list the available mouse and touchpad devices:
xinput listThe Terminal will display a list of connected mouse and touchpad devices. Look for the device name related to “Touchpad” and note its ID. An example entry might look like this:
↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=12Step 2: Enable the Touchpad
To enable the touchpad again, enter the following command in the Terminal, replacing <ID> with the touchpad device ID you noted earlier:
xinput set-prop <ID> "Device Enabled" 1This command will activate the touchpad, allowing you to use it normally.
Tip: Automatically Disable Touchpad When an External Mouse is Connected
If you only want the touchpad to be disabled when an external mouse is connected, you can use the Touchpad Indicator tool, which allows automatic touchpad control. This is a convenient way to avoid manually enabling and disabling the touchpad every time you switch devices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I permanently disable the touchpad on Ubuntu?
If you want to permanently disable the touchpad, you can modify configuration files or use a script to disable the touchpad every time the system starts.
I followed the instructions but couldn’t disable the touchpad. What should I do?
If the touchpad is still not disabled, you can check the u003cstrongu003eSettingsu003c/strongu003e again or use the Terminal commands to verify the touchpad’s status. You can also try using third-party touchpad management software like u003cstrongu003eTouchpad Indicatoru003c/strongu003e.
This is the method I typically use to disable the touchpad on Ubuntu, but you might have other useful tips! If you have any experience or tricks to share, please leave a comment. I’d love to learn from you all!