[Tip] How to Disable Touch Screen in Windows 10

Recently when I posted article about fixing touch screen not working in Windows 10 problem, an AskVG reader asked me an interesting question via email. He asked can we intentionally disable touch screen functionality in Windows 10? He wanted to turn off touch screen in his Windows 10 device. I said yes, why not?

I can imagine two situations when a Windows 10 user may want to manually disable touch screen in his device. First reason might be to prevent accidental touch on device. The user might be using a touch enabled monitor and someone can accidentally or intentionally tap on monitor and it can close running programs or open unwanted programs. So if a user has keyboard and mouse and he doesn’t require touch functionality, he may want to permanently disable touch screen functionality in his Windows 10 device.

Second reason might be the gap or spacing between Taskbar notification area (system tray) icons. As I highlighted in above mentioned article, when touch screen functionality is enabled in Windows 10, it increases the spacing between Taskbar notification area icons. Many Windows 10 users don’t like the extra wide spacing between icons and they want to restore classic less spacing between icons. If we disable touch screen functionality, Windows 10 automatically reduces the spacing between icons.

Following image shows the difference between notification area icons spacing when touch screen functionality is enabled and disabled:

So many Windows 10 users many want to disable Windows 10 touch screen functionality and this tutorial will certainly help them.

If you are also using Windows 10 operating system and want to disable touch screen in your Windows 10 device, following steps will help you:

METHOD 1: Using Device Manager

1. Press WIN+X keys together to launch WIN+X menu and select Device Manager option. Alternatively, you can open it using devmgmt.msc command in RUN or Search box.

2. Now look for Human Interface Devices section. Double-click on it and select HID-compliant touch screen option.

3. Right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and select Disable device option. Windows will show “Disabling this device will cause it to stop functioning. Do you really want to disable it?” warning message. Click on Yes button.

That’s it. It’ll immediately disable touch screen functionality in your Windows 10 device. Now you can check by tapping on your device screen and Windows 10 will not recognize the touch.

NOTE: In future, if you decide to re-enable touch screen functionality in your device, again right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and select Enable device option. It’ll immediately restore touch screen functionality in your Windows 10 device.

METHOD 2: Using Registry Editor

1. Press WIN+R keys together to open RUN dialog box. Now type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. In right-side pane, look for TouchGate dword. If it doesn’t exist, right-click on empty area and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Set the new DWORD name as TouchGate and set its value to 0

Close Registry Editor.

Restart your computer to take effects and it’ll disable touch screen functionality.

NOTE: In future, if you decide to re-enable touch screen functionality in your device, delete TouchGate DWORD created in above steps and restart your computer.

Thanks to our reader “Jay” for sharing the registry tweak…