Fix: Windows 10 Update Removes Asus Touchpad Driver

Plenty of users have experienced the issue where the most recent Windows 10 update they performed managed to disable or remove the Asus Touchpad driver from their PC. This can result in a variety of issues for them such as the touchpad not operating properly or even not working at all.

Fixing this problem can be explained by the fact that Windows tries to perform updates on all of your devices and sometimes it fails in the process. If Windows fails to update it properly, the old driver is then removed and Windows tries to install the latest version but sometimes it fails, resulting in the loss of the Asus Touchpad driver.

Follow the set of solutions presented below in order to fix this issue properly and without much hassle.

Solution 1: Run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

Preinstalled troubleshooters on Windows 10 sometimes fail to do any good but sometimes they manage to fix the issue completely. Several users have said that the troubleshooter actually fixed the problem on its own so it’s definitely worth giving it a shot.

1. Open the Settings app by clicking on the Start button and then the gear icon just above. You can also search for it.

2. Open the Update & Security section and navigate to the Troubleshoot menu.
3. First of all, click on the Hardware and Devices option and follow the instructions on the screen to see whether the troubleshooter finds something wrong on its own regarding the drivers installed on your computer.

4. If the troubleshooter finds an error, make sure you make it fix the issue by following the instructions displayed regarding the error.
5. After the troubleshooter is closed, check to see if your touchpad is working properly again and check to see if the Asus Touchpad driver is installed.

Solution 2: Uninstall All Touchpad Drivers and Download the Asus One

What Windows does is that it probably downloads the default touchpad driver after it fails to download the Asus one which may cause instability if your laptop is manufactured by Asus. What you can do is to uninstall the touchpad drivers currently installed and manually or automatically download the Asus driver.

Note: Use a regular mouse and connect it to your laptop since you will need to uninstall the touchpad driver completely.

Before doing anything else, you should first proceed to update your ATK Package since the Asus website recommends doing this before installing the Smart Gesture driver at all and it is quite possible that the old version of ATK Package is causing these issues.

1. Open Control Panel, set the View by option to Large icons and click on the Programs and Features option.
2. Locate the ATK Package if you have it installed, click on it, and choose the Uninstall option. Follow the instructions on-screen in order to complete the process.

3. Go to your local Asus website and click on Support. On certain sites, you must click on the Service tab first and then on Support.
4. Enter your laptop’s Model Name in the search box and select your laptop from the results. Click on drivers and tools if you are prompted with a similar option.
5. Choose the operating system you currently have installed and chosen ATK from the list of drivers that appears.

6. Select the latest version and locate the Global button to the right of the Download button.
7. After the file has downloaded, locate it in the Downloads folder, unzip it and run the setup. Make sure you follow the instructions on the screen carefully.

Now, let’s proceed with uninstalling the touchpad devices you currently have installed:

1. Click Start and type Run. Select Run. A Run dialog box will appear.
2. Type “devmgmt.msc” in the Run dialog box and click the OK button. This is to open the Device Manager Window.

3. Locate your touchpad driver by checking under the Mice and other pointing devices section. Click on the arrow left to this section in order to view the list of touchpad and mouse drivers.
4. Right-click on the adapter you currently have installed and select the Uninstall device option from the context menu. If you were using a regular mouse in the meantime, you might notice the driver for it as well but make sure you don’t uninstall this one. If you notice the Asus Touchpad driver named Smart Gesture or similar, proceed to uninstall it as well since we will be installing the latest version anyway and this one does not seem to be working properly.

5. Click on Action >> Scan for hardware changes. Windows should now proceed to download and install the Asus Touchpad driver.

Alternative: If Windows fails to download the Asus driver completely or if it downloads the wrong touchpad driver again, you will need to uninstall the wrong one again and download the Asus Touchpad driver manually from their website by following the instructions below.

1. Visit the following link and scroll down until you locate the two links from which you can download the Smart Gesture Asus Touchpad drivers. Choose the version according to the architecture of your CPU (32 bit or 64 bit).

2. A .zip file should be downloaded to your Downloads folder by default so make sure you extract it and run the setup file in order to begin the installation.
3. Follow the instructions on-screen in order to complete the installation and check to see if your touchpad is working properly again.

Solution 3: Roll Back the Changes in Device Manager

Simply put, this will try to roll back your driver to its previous version and its previous settings so this may help you revert to the state before the Windows update overwrote the driver with their default one:

1. Click Start and type Run. Select Run. A Run dialog box will appear.
2. Type “devmgmt.msc” in the Run dialog box and click the OK button. This is to open the Device Manager Window.

3. Locate your touchpad driver by checking under the Mice and other pointing devices section. Click on the arrow left to this section in order to view the list of touchpad and mouse drivers.
4. Right-click on the adapter you currently have installed and select the Properties option from the context menu.
5. After the Properties window opens, navigate to the Driver tab and choose the Roll Back Driver option.

6. Follow the instructions on the screen and check to see if Windows is able to revert the changes made to your Touchpad device.

After doing so, disable Windows from Automatically updating your drivers so that the changes are not automatically reverted.

Solution 4: Touchpad Has Been Accidentally Turned off

You may have not known this but a certain button (F9) toggles the Touchpad on and off on certain models of Asus laptops which can be a cause for this problem. Try clicking the F9 key once and check to see if anything has changed.

This solution is not a technical one and the chances of this occurring are quite miserable but it has happened to plenty of users who spent time and money trying to fix this.

Note: An alternative key combination for toggling the Touchpad on or off on other Asus devices is FN + F9 or Ctrl + FN + F9.