If you use a laptop running Windows, chances are your laptop uses a Synaptics TouchPad — that’s why you’re here. Understood! FYI, Synaptics is one of the biggest manufacturers of touchpads. When you buy a new laptop with Synaptic TouchPad, the touchpad will be out of stock.
However, it will lack some functionality like one-finger scrolling and other gestures. To get the most out of its features, you need to go to the Synaptics control panel and modify the settings to your preferences.
Normally, you’ll find a dedicated Synaptics tab in Mouse settings right next to the Hardware tab. But unfortunately for some users, the Synaptics tab is missing and therefore they cannot access the Synaptics dashboard. For other users, the tab is present but lacks any settings.
Are you also facing one of these problems? Do not worry. Here we are going to tell you some fixes that will help you restore the missing Synaptics TouchPad settings.
Start.
1. Restart your laptop
The first step to fixing any problems is to restart the device. If Synaptics TouchPad is suddenly missing from Mouse settings, first restart your laptop and see if it restores the option to configure Synaptics TouchPad.
2. Update Driver from Device Manager
You should always update your PC and its drivers to the latest version. To restore the Synaptics tab, try updating the Synaptics TouchPad driver. To do so, open Device Manager and update the driver.
Here’s how to go about it.
Open Device Manager
There are several ways to open Device Manager on your laptop. Use Cortana’s search to find Device Manager. Alternatively, press Windows key + X, then select Device Manager from the menu.
If not, open This PC or My Computer and go to its Properties by right clicking on it. In Properties, click on Device Manager present on the left.
Update drivers
Next, you need to update the driver. To do so, follow these steps:
Step 1: In Device Manager, click the little down arrow next to ‘Mouse and other pointing devices.’
Step 2: Right-click on the Synaptics driver and select Update Driver from the menu.
Step 3: On the next screen, select ‘Automatically search for updated driver software.’ Your system will start searching for updated drivers.
3. Use Windows Update to upgrade Driver
Since some Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certified driver updates are also pushed through Windows updates, you can use this update to upgrade your Synaptics drivers.
To do that, go to your PC’s Settings, then Update & Security. Here click Check for Updates. If an update is available for Synaptics, it will be downloaded and installed automatically.
4. Back to the driver
Sometimes the problem is caused by a bug in the updated version of the driver. So if there is no update, try to rollback the driver to the previous version.
There are two ways to go back.
Method 1: Use the Roll Back option
To do so, first launch Device Manager. Then right click on the Synaptics driver under ‘Mouse and other pointing devices’ and go to Properties.
On the pop-up window, go to the Drivers tab and select Return Driver.
You will be asked to restart your PC. After rebooting, go to Control Panel > Mouse. Hopefully Installing Synaptics TouchPad or ClickPad will be available by now.
Method 2: Manually Select Previous Version
The above method will automatically rollback to one of the previous versions. To select the version manually, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to Device Manager > Mice and other pointer devices. Right click on Synaptics option and go to Properties.
Step 2: Go to Drivers tab and note down Driver Version (19.5.10.75 for my laptop).
Step 3: Click Update Driver.
Step 4: Click ‘Browse my computer for driver software.’
Step 5: Click ‘Let me choose from a list of available drivers on my computer.’
Step 6: Now choose a smaller version than the one you noted above. In my case it was version 19.5.10.69. Click Next and you will be asked to restart your PC.
When you log back in, open Control Panel and go to Mouse Settings. The Synaptics tab would be happy to sit there. Click it to modify the TouchPad/ClickPad settings and enable scrolling.
5. Download the Synaptics . App
If none of the methods mentioned above bring up the Synaptics tab, install the Synaptics app from the Microsoft store. Once installed, launch it and you will be able to modify its settings.
Bonus Tip: Show the TouchPad Icon on the Taskbar
To quickly access TouchPad settings, you can place its shortcut icon on the taskbar. For that, go to Control Panel > Mouse. Go to the last tab i.e. TouchPad or ClickPad. Here, enable the Static or Dynamic tray icon present in the Tray Icon and click Ok to apply the changes.
Do you touch me?
While the TouchPad works even if its control panel is missing, no one wants to lose out on the extra features and customizations offered by Synaptics. We hope the above methods have solved your problem and you can get your Synaptics TouchPad or ClickPad settings back.
Next up: Is your Windows laptop running low on storage space? Clean up junk files with the built-in cleaner called Storage Sense. Here’s how to use it.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
