Fix: Left Click Not Working Windows 10

There are numerous cases where people using Windows report that their left-click button doesn’t work. There are various cases of the button not working; it might be working intermediately, or it may not be working at all. Regardless of the situation, there are two possible solutions for this problem; either there is a hardware fault or there is a software problem. Only soft problems can be solved using the solutions listed below. Start with the first one and work your way down accordingly.

Before following the solutions, you should make sure that your left-click is selected as the primary mouse button. If it is and you cannot use the left-click normally, only then proceed with the solutions listed below. Otherwise change it to left and see if the problem gets fixed.

1. Press Windows + S, type “mouse” or “mouse and touchpad settings”, and open the settings application.
2. Select the primary button as “Left”. Now check the response when you click the left mouse button.

Solution 1: Disabling your Antivirus Software

There are some cases where your antivirus software on your computer conflicts with some modules in your computer which may be blocking some important functionalities which are needed for efficient running. You can check our article on How to Disable your Antivirus. We have listed the ways on how to disable the software by covering as much products as we can. One particular antivirus known as Norton 360 was highlighted to cause problems. Nevertheless, you should try disabling all your antivirus software.

After disabling your Antivirus, restart your computer and see if this made any difference. If it didn’t, feel free to enable the antivirus software back on.

 Solution 2: Checking for Corrupt Files and Registering

This error might be generated because of bad configurations present on your computer. Because of these errors, your left click might now be working as expected. We can try running the SFC scan and check if there are any integrity violations. If there are, we can run the DISM command to fix them.

1. Press Windows + R to launch the Run application. Type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box and hit Enter to launch your computer’s task manager.
2. Now click on File option present at the top left side of the window and select “Run new task” from the list of options available.

3. Now type “powershell” in the dialogue box and check the option underneath which states “Create this task with administrative privileges”.

4. Once in the Windows Powershell, type the following command in the dialogue box and hit Enter. This process may take some time as your entire Windows files are being scanned by the computer and being checked for corrupt phases.

sfc /scannow

5. If you encounter an error where Windows states that it found some error but was unable to fix them, you should type the following command in the PowerShell. This will download the corrupt files from the Windows update servers and replace the corrupt ones. Do note that this process can also consume some time according to your internet connection. Don’t cancel in any stage and let it run.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If both your left-click still isn’t working after executing both commands, we can try re-registering in the same PowerShell window. Close all other windows before proceeding. Also make sure that you are logged in as an administrator.

1. Execute the following command in an elevated PowerShell (you can use the window which is still opened from previous steps).

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like “*SystemApps*”} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

2. Restart your computer after executing the command and check if the problem at hand got solved.

Solution 3: Disabling Track Point

Depending on your activities, Track Point Mouse button could be very useful for you. It is a button embedded at the bottom of your keyboard which you can move around to imitate moving a real mouse. It is used when you are not using a USB wired mouse but also doesn’t want to use your laptop’s default trackpad to perform your activities.

However, despite its advantages, there are numerous cases where track point causes some issues with clicks and tabs not working. We can try disabling the track point and see if this makes any difference in our case.

1. Press Windows + R, type “control panel” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Once in the control panel, make sure that Large icons are being viewed. Click on the sub-category of Mouse.

3. Select the tab “Dell Touchpad”. Select the device “Pointing Stick” and click on Disable. Do note that the steps may be slightly different for Lenovo Thinkpad devices but the whole process will be the same.
4. Restart your computer after implementing the changes and see if this makes any difference.

Solution 4: Restarting Windows Explorer

A simple and one of the easiest workaround is to restart the Windows Explorer using the task manager. This will reset all current configurations of the process and reset it. This solution is particularly targeted for people who are unable to use the left-click button when they are accessing Windows Explorer.

1. Press Windows + R to bring up the Run Type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box to bring up your computer’s task manager. You can also launch the task manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del and selecting it from the options given.
2. Click the “Processes” tab located at the top of the window.
3. Now locate the task of Windows Explorer in the list of processes. Click on it and press the “Restart” button present at the bottom left side of the window. You can also achieve this by using the keyboard keys to select the process and clicking the Del key to restart it.

Solution 5: Changing Touchpad Sensitivity

There also an option to change the touchpad sensitivity on your laptop. This determines how fast the touchpad would move or the sensitivity of your clicks. This also determines the touchpad delay your computer performs when it registers an action by the user. By default, the touchpad sensitivity is set to medium or low. We can change this sensitivity and check if this solves the problem for us.

This solution is particularly targeted for people who use “w, a, s, d” for gaming and click the left button to fire or perform any action.

1. Press Windows + R, type “delay” in the dialogue box and open the application which returns in the result.

2. Change the sensitivity to “Most sensitive”. Close the settings and restart your computer. After restarting, check if the problem at hand got solved.

You can also check our article on right click not working.

Solution 6: Checking by plugging another Mouse

If the left-click of your Mouse is not working even after performing all the steps mentioned above, it is possible that there is a hardware fault on your device. Mice are used all the time and it is not new to know that one might stop working.

To make sure that the problem is related to hardware, you may try plugging in another mouse and see if it works. If it does, it means that there is a hardware fault present and you may need to replace your mouse. Also, try changing the USB port where you are plugging in your device. There are often some ports which do not support the mouse.

Note: Before being absolutely sure that this is a hardware problem, make sure that you reinstall the mouse drivers or update them to the latest build. To reset the mouse drivers, press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter. Locate your device, right-click it and select Uninstall. Now restart your computer. The default mouse drivers will be installed on the next startup. You can also update the drivers by right-clicking the device and select “Update Drivers”. You can either update them automatically or manually by choosing the location of the driver you downloaded from the manufacturer’s website.