Touchpad Click-and-Drag Not Working (Only Double-Tap + Drag Works)

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with my laptop's touchpad. Everything works fine — pointer movement, scrolling, gestures, and tapping. However, when I try to click and hold the touchpad to drag (e.g., selecting text or moving files), it doesn't work. It behaves as if I'm just clicking without holding.

The only workaround is using double-tap and drag, but that doesn't work consistently across all applications or interfaces.

Steps I've already tried:

• Updated the touchpad and mouse drivers.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers.
• Restarted the laptop after changes.

Despite these steps, the issue persists.

Any suggestions or settings I should check to restore click-and-drag functionality?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hello, thanks for reaching out. I'm Ace, one of the Independent Advisors.

Your touchpad click-and-drag issue is likely caused by incorrect settings, driver conflicts, or firmware limitations. Since you've already updated and reinstalled the drivers, the next step is to check the touchpad settings in Windows.

Go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad, then expand the Taps section. Ensure that Tap twice and drag to multi-select is enabled. If this setting is missing or disabled, you can manually enable it using the Registry Editor by navigating to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad

Look for the TapAndDrag entry and set its value to ffffffff to enable dragging.

Let me know if this method works.

Thanks!