Restart your system and the problem should go away. Check to see when it was last updated or which is the latest version number available and install it. Find the latest version of the driver available. You can Google which driver your manufacturer recommends for your system. Most systems use Synaptics drivers however, many others use Elan drivers. The first thing you need to do is find out which touchpad drivers suit your system. This is why I recommend using the second solution i.e., manually installing a touchpad driver. I got a driver that was well over two years old. This will work however, you may not get the latest version of the driver which is what happened in my own case. Touchpad is locked on my Dell Inspiseries. The first is to use the Device Manager and have it scan for drivers to install. The fix is to find the right driver for your system and install it. I haven’t received a Windows update but my touchpad driver was gone.

At some point, perhaps as a result of a Windows update or something else, the touchpad driver on your system might have been uninstalled or rolled back to a much older version, or just replaced with generic touchpad drivers. The problem, as you can guess, has to do with your driver.

The bug is ‘fixed’ temporarily by restarting your system but there is a permanent fix. I encountered this same error on my laptop and while this is anecdotal, it might benefit to know that the bug could also be reproduced on my system when I connected or disconnected hardware e.g., an iPhone, or an external monitor. You might be able to move the cursor around but no clicks will register and any time you tap on your touchpad, the current active window will lose focus. Once the system is asleep, wake it up right away. Once your system is ready, close the lid to your laptop, or use the power button menu to put your desktop to sleep. This problem can be reproduced by booting to your desktop and allowing the boot to complete. SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article. If you’re getting this same problem, here’s how you can fix it. That said, there seems to be a problem whereby a small numbers of users get an unresponsive touchpad after your system wakes from sleep. For the most part this bug effects the Start menu or the lock screen. Windows 10 has had a long standing bug whereby various features and components become unresponsive after a system wakes from sleep.

Dell laptop mouse pad locked