How do you disable finger input in Windows 8?

Anonymous
2012-10-29T13:08:11+00:00

From what I understand, disabling finger input in earlier builds of Windows 8 was as simple as it was in Windows 7. But with the release of Windows 8 last week, this is no longer the case, and that solution no longer exists. Was it moved to a more obscure location or removed entirely? To be clear, I (and many others) am looking to disable finger input while still maintaining stylus functionality.

Hopefully, if it is as impossible as it seems, a fix will be on the way within the week. The lack of this feature has nearly converted my tablet to nothing more than a neat toy. I have to strap cardboard to my hand so that resting it on the screen doesn't make my cursor flip out while I'm trying to work in Flash!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Search, touch, and mouse

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Anonymous
2012-10-30T08:29:14+00:00
  1. Yes, exactly. In Windows 7, the option is in plain sight in the Pen and Touch settings. In Windows 8 the option is no longer there.
  2. Yes, I'm looking to disable finger input while still being able to use the stylus for input. Most of the options I found only disable the touch screen entirely.
  3. It's a Samsung 7 Series Slate PC, model number XE700T1A-A01US.

Thanks for your assistance in advance! I was actually able to find a working solution with some extra digging, which unfolded in a thread over here. Although, this causes some major faults like being unable to use input at all on screens like the login screen (for some reason, no stylus support there). So of course, a much more elegant and direct route to the option would be just incredible for the artists like myself looking for this feature.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-26T08:10:04+00:00

    Ok, so after some search here and there , i found this solution for my EP121,

    The credit goes to a cool guy from xda-developers forum which i forgot the name and few other cool guys on internet. i just added a code at start for convenience . in core , its like openning the device manager and disable the touch device manually , but this will do it automatically. so far nothing bad happen to my device , but the choice is yours:

    download this :

    http://speedy.sh/UgpAV/Touch.rar

    extract it to your c:\

    go to the folder , and right click on the tc.bat , and choose "send to desktop create short cut"

    right click on the shortcut and select it to always run as administrator.

    now when u want to disable\enable the touch just click on the shortcut.

    and if ur device is not an EP121 , then edit tenable.ps1 and change the first line device id to ur device id .

    Also you should have power shell installed on ur win8 which is usually done by default.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-13T03:22:33+00:00

    Thanks all for the discussion here,  I'll give some of the ideas a shot.  I have a new Fujitsu T902 and there is a bewildering array of devices under the HID menu,  I guess I'll keep experimenting until I can find a combination that allows the stylus and stops me accidentally inputting every time I rest my hand on the screen.

    If MS don't fix this, it is going to be a serious issue for artists when choosing which system to buy.  That or I'm going to have to start wearing gloves when I draw!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T00:51:38+00:00

    I am confused. I have an Ep121 and a Samsung ATIV PC Pro 700T1C. I have run Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on all of them. With the standard pen drivers I have pressure sensitivity and as soon as I put the pen close to the screen touch is disabled.

    Does this not happen for you?

    Do you really need to disable touch if this is working?

    Maybe it is because I work mostly in OneNote, but I like having touch and pen working together (although touch has to automatically disable when the pen is close).

    What usage scenario is this undesirable?

    Forgive my ignorance.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T05:25:51+00:00

    I'm using Surface Pro and I must say that the Pen is pretty much useless without the ability to EASILY disable AND ENABLE finger touch.

    Yes, it is true: moving the pen close to the screen disables touch input temporarily, but this is not good enough. Try laying your wrist on the screen and write something - you will find yourself erasing wrist marks (recognized as touch) as soon as you rest for a while.

    I've been using a Tablet PC a few years ago (Toshiba Portege 3500 running Windows XP Tablet Edition) and the writing experience was great - just like "real" pen and paper! I have written hundreds of pages this way during University study.

    What I find most annoying is the removal of a feature (ability to disable touch) that worked well in previous versions. Unfortunately, this regression is not incidental and feels more like a strategy. Using Microsoft Products since the early 90's and being a certified professional and consultant for MS products, my feeling is that in latest versions of MS products, there are about 10 feature removals for each feature addition.

    Not hearing an official Microsoft voice in these forums too often is also a disappointment. 

    My suggestion to Microsoft: add some kind of gesture (touch/pen) to easily enable/disable finger touch. Until then, at least release a hotfix that brings back the enable/disable setting you took from us.

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