In this article I will show you how to reinstall the touchpad driver if you uninstalled it by mistake from your Windows laptop.

A touchpad driver establishes communication between your laptop’s touchpad and the operating system. The touchpad does not work if the touchpad driver is uninstalled or corrupted. Sometimes we may need to uninstall a driver. Windows installs the missing driver when you restart your system. However, this did not happen for some users who I accidentally uninstalled the touchpad from Device Manager.

Touchpad accidentally uninstalled from Device Manager

Some users have I accidentally uninstalled the touchpad from Device Manager and now they can’t reinstall it. According to reports, the Check for hardware changes The Device Manager functionality did not work for affected users. Additionally, their laptops also fail to reinstall the driver after a reboot.

Use the following suggestions to resolve this issue:

1. Download the latest touchpad driver from the manufacturer’s official website
2. Use dedicated software to reinstall the touchpad driver
3. Restore your system
4. Reset your laptop.

I have explained all these fixes in detail below:

1) Download the latest touchpad driver from the manufacturer’s official website

All compatible drivers for your laptop remain available on the official website of your computer manufacturer. You can download and install the missing drivers from there. Visit the official website of your computer manufacturer and search for the drivers for your laptop. You need to enter the model number or serial number of your laptop. Once you have downloaded the touchpad driver, double-click the installer file to install the driver.

If the driver is downloaded as INF fileyou can install it via Device Manager.

2) Use dedicated software to reinstall the touchpad driver

Computer manufacturers also develop dedicated software that helps users diagnose problems on their computers and keep them updated. Depending on your laptop brand, download and install the dedicated software. Some of these software include:

Run a diagnostic check on your system (if available in the software) and see if the problem is resolved. You can also use them to check for driver updates.

3) Restore your system

I also uninstalled the ELAN touchpad driver from my HP laptop. Windows installed the HID-compliant device driver for my touchpad when I performed the Check for hardware changes. After that my touchpad worked but it lost all its gestures. I was unable to use two and three finger gestures on my touchpad.

Luckily, I created system restore points, which helped me restore the ELAN touchpad driver on my HP laptop. By default, Windows automatically creates system restore points whenever it notices changes in the registry or when you install/uninstall a program. Check if a restore point with previous date exists on your system. If yes, your problem will be solved.

Use one of the previous restore points to restore your computer. This will also reinstall the touchpad driver on your system.

4) Reset your laptop

If restore points do not exist on your system, you can reset your laptop to factory default settings without deleting data. This will bring back the touchpad driver. To reset your laptop without deleting data, select the Keep my files option.

If nothing helps, you can also contact your laptop manufacturer’s customer support to resolve this issue.

Read: Touchpad does not work – ASUS | Acer | Dell | HP | Lenovo laptops.

How do I fix my touchpad not showing up in Device Manager?

If the touchpad is not displayed in Device Manager, it is missing from your system. Go to Action and select the Scan for hardware changes option. This will reinstall the missing touchpad driver on your laptop. If this does not resolve the issue, you can download the latest version from your laptop manufacturer’s official website.

How do I restore my touchpad driver?

The process for back up the pilot in Windows 11/10, it is the same for all device drivers. Open Device Manager, then open your touchpad driver properties. Now go to the Driver tab and click on the Roll Back Driver button. Follow the on-screen instructions. If the Roll Back Driver option is grayed outyou can try other methods.