Windows Gestures Not Working: How to Fix?

Are your Windows Touchpad gestures not working? This can be a frustrating problem to have, but don’t worry – we’re here to help!

Windows 10/11 supports a variety of touchpad (trackpad) gestures. Apart from basic scroll and zoom motions, you may utilize gestures including a two-finger scroll, flicking three fingers away to display open windows, swiping three fingers towards yourself to display the desktop, and more. However, many Windows users are unable t take advantage of this feature as it’s not working on their system.

In this article, we will discuss some of the most common causes of this issue, as well as how to fix it.

Why do Windows Touchpad Gestures stop working?

There are a few different reasons why your Windows Touchpad gestures may stop working. We’ll go over some of the most common causes below.

• Outdated Drivers: One of the most common causes of this issue is outdated or corrupt drivers. To fix this, you’ll need to update your touchpad drivers.
• Incorrect Settings: Another potential cause of this issue is incorrect touchpad settings. This can happen if you accidentally disable the touchpad gestures in your Settings or if a third-party application changes your settings without you realizing it.
• Hardware Issues: In some rare cases, this issue may be caused by hardware problems with your touchpad. If you’ve ruled out the other potential causes on this list, then it’s worth checking to see if your touchpad is working properly in the Device Manager.

Fix Windows Gestures Not Working

Now that we’ve gone over some of the most common causes of this issue, let’s take a look at how to fix it.

Check the Compatibility of your Touchpad

Before trying to fix the issues with the touchpad gestures, check whether your device supports the modern Precision Touchpad. Though almost every latest laptop comes with the Precision Touchpad, some people still use the older laptops that do not come with this technology. To check whether your device is compatible with the gestures, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings -> Devices
   
2. From the left pane, choose Touchpad.
   
3. If you could see the option to configure the touchpad, your device is compatible with it.
   

Update Your Touchpad Driver

As we mentioned before, outdated or corrupt drivers are one of the most common causes of this problem. If you’re experiencing this issue, one of the first things you should do is update your touchpad driver.

To update your touchpad driver, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager from the list.
2. Under Device Manager, expand the Human Interface Devices section.
3. Look for the HID-compliant touchpad driver, right-click on it, and select Update driver.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to update the driver to the latest version.

Check Your Touchpad Settings

If your touchpad gestures are still not working after updating the driver, then it’s possible that the problem is caused by incorrect settings. This can happen if you accidentally disable the touchpad gestures in your Settings or if a third-party application changes your settings without you realizing it.

To check your touchpad settings, follow these steps:

1. Launch Windows 11 Settings.
2. Switch to the Bluetooth & devices tab on the left pane, and select Touchpad.
3. Ensure that the Touchpad is turned ON.

Roll Back Drivers

If you recently updated your touchpad driver and the issue started after that, then it’s possible that the new driver is causing problems. In this case, you can try rolling back to the previous driver to see if that fixes the problem.

To roll back your touchpad driver, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager from the list.
2. Under Device Manager, expand the Human Interface Devices section.
3. Look for the HID-compliant touchpad driver, right-click on it, and select Properties.
4. Switch to the Driver tab and click on Roll Back Driver.
5. If you see this option, it means that a previous driver is available and you can roll back to it.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to roll back your driver.

Re-install Touchpad Driver

In some rare cases, this issue may be caused by corrupted drivers of your touchpad. If you’ve ruled out the other potential causes on this list, then it’s worth uninstalling and re-installing the touchpad driver:

To check for hardware issues, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager from the list.
2. Under Device Manager, expand the Human Interface Devices section.
3. Look for the HID-compliant touchpad driver, right-click on it, and select Properties.
4. Switch to the Driver tab and click on Uninstall Device.
5. Restart your computer.
6. Launch Device Manager and check if the touchpad driver is automatically re-installed on your system.
7. If not, click on the Action tab on the top menu, and select Scan for hardware changes.

Check for Hardware Issue

If the touchpad still doesn’t work after following these steps, then it’s likely that there is a hardware problem with your touchpad and you’ll need to get it replaced.

Final Words

There are a few things that you can do to try and fix Windows gestures not working. The first thing is to update your touchpad driver, as this is often the cause of the problem. If updating the driver doesn’t work, then check your touchpad settings to make sure they’re enabled. You can also try rolling back to an earlier version of the driver or uninstalling and reinstalling the touchpad driver. If none of these solutions work, then it’s likely that there is a hardware issue with your touchpad and you’ll need to get it replaced.

Peter Brown

Peter is an Electrical Engineer whose primary interest is tinkering with his computer. He is passionate about Windows 10 Platform and enjoys writing tips and tutorials about it.