How to Fix Your Touchscreen in Windows 10

Windows 10 is great for touch screens, especially thanks to the Continuum feature that allows you to snap between desktop and tablet modes with ease. But sometimes it can break for seemingly no reason, so we're here to show you how to repair your touchscreen in Windows 10.

The majority of the problems are caused by driver incompatibility. This is even more likely if the touchscreen has stopped working between your upgrade from a previous operating system to Windows 10.

If you have your own touchscreen troubles to share or know of some alternative solutions, please be sure to let us know in the comments section.

1. Run Troubleshooting

The Windows troubleshooting tool could be the quick and easy fix to any problem with your touchscreen.

Do a system search for troubleshooting and select the relevant result. In the new window, click View all from the left-hand menu. From the list that appears, click Hardware and Devices.

Click Next and run the wizard through. The tool will automatically detect issues and then repair them. However, it's by no means comprehensive and you may need to carry on reading.

2. Calibrate the Touchscreen

When your touchscreen is slow to respond or records your touch gestures inaccurately, a re-calibration might be all it takes to bring it up to speed.

Do a system search for calibrate and select Calibrate the screen for pen or touch. A new window will open containing tablet PC settings.

On the Display tab, use the Setup… and the Calibrate… buttons in turn to see if this resolves the issue.

3. Disable and Re-enable the Touchscreen

The closest fix to rebooting the entire computer, which should have been your very first step, is turning the touchscreen off and back on.

Press CTRL + X and select Device Manager. Left click the arrow next to Human Interface Devices to open the dropdown. Right click the listing for HID-compliant touch screen and select Disable. You'll be asked to confirm this, so click Yes.

You now need right click the listing again, but this time select Enable. This is one of the simplest solutions, but it doesn't always work. In fact, you may find that the issue still continues after a system restart. If that's the case, please read on.

4. Update the Drivers

A driver is a piece of software that helps your hardware, for example your touchscreen, communicate with your computer's processor. Thus touchscreen malfunctions could be due to a faulty driver.

Following on from the instructions above, with Device Manager still open, right click the HID-compliant touch screen and select Update Driver Software….

You'll want to Search automatically for updated driver software. This will scan Microsoft's database for any updates available for your touchscreen device. Follow the wizard through as necessary, then restart and see if your problem is resolved.

If not, you should try going directly to the manufacturer's website, look for their drivers page, select your device number, and download the latest driver.

With this driver downloaded, you may be able to extract it and install it automatically. However, you can select Update Driver Software… again, but this time click Browse my computer for driver software. Use Browse… to locate it, then follow the wizard through.

For more information on updating drivers, check out our guide on how to find and replace outdated drivers.

5. Rollback the Drivers

In Windows 10, the Windows Update also updates your hardware drivers. Unfortunately, not all driver versions work equally well. If it's actually driver updates that are causing the problems, you should try rolling back to the default.

For this, again in Device Manager, right click the HID-compliant touch screen and then select Properties. Then switch to the Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver.

If you know that there's a specific older driver version that will work, but aren't able to get to it through rolling back, within the Driver tab select Uninstall instead and then follow the method outlined in step four above.

Windows 10 has automatic updates and you might find that the system keeps pushing the latest drivers onto you — which may very well be the ones causing the problem. For details on how to overcome this, check out our guide on how take back control over driver updates.

Touch Problems Resolved

Hopefully, our advice above has resolved any problems that you were having with your touchscreen. If you've never been able to get your touchscreen to work, especially if under multiple operating systems, contact the manufacturer for support.

For related touch content, if you're having problems with your tablet's screen, check out our guide on how to resolve your tablet's touchscreen issues.

Do you have problems with your touchscreen in Windows 10? Do you have any solutions to share?

Source: How to Fix Your Touchscreen in Windows 10