Disable Trackpad when Mouse is plugged in

Mac Instructions

To disable use of the trackpad when a mouse is connected, follow these instructions:

  1. Click the Apple icon in the top left of the screen.
  2. Click System Preferences.
  3. Under the System heading, click Universal Access.
  4. Click the “Mouse & Trackpad” tab.
  5. Check the “Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present” option.

Windows Instructions

Machine dependent but these instruction work with most laptops.

  1. Click the start Menu
  2. Click on control panel
  3. Make sure that the control panel is in either Classic view (windows XP) or View By Large icons (vista win7 win8)
  4. Click on the Mouse Icon
  5. Click on the Device Setting Tab
  6. Check the tick box “Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached”
  7. Click the “OK” Button.

4 comments

  1. Thank you so much. Im a developer with a new Mac (from Windows) and looked for ages to find this. Thanks for your post.

    1. Hi Simon,

      The answer Yes,
      I have updated with windows instructions!
      hope this helps

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