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
    2013-08-14T15:45:25+00:00

    Hi Jensen

    I have the same issue as raised here. Do you have a solution?

    Kevin

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-17T19:07:04+00:00

    The GUI option is gone but you can do this:

    1. Open Regedit
    2. Browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Wisp\Touch
    3. Modify TouchGate to 0 (0=disable touch)
    4. Logoff
    5. When you log in, touch should be disabled but the stylus still work
    6. If it is still enabled, try a reboot

    You could potentially, export 0 and 1 values and run them as needed and logon/off.

    Not as elegant but should work.

    This may be a stupid question, but I'm completely new to tablets and Windows 8 altogether. Anyway, I did this, only to find that the stylus no longer worked either. Does this only work if you have a stylus specifically designed for the laptop you're using? Or is there a general kind of stylus for which this works. The tablet I'm trying to do this with is a Dell XPS 18, and the stylus was purchased separately.

    **EDIT** Did some more research only to discover this particular tablet does not have an active digitizer. Does this render this impossible for this device? Once again, I am a tablet noob, but my understanding from a brief bit of research is that the active digitizer technology is what allows a tablet to distinguish any old touch from stylus. Is that correct?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-17T21:29:07+00:00

    Ah, the Dell XPS 18. If only that had an active digitizer, it would be a perfect, marvelous machine. I am sorry to say that your machine does lack the hardware for an active digitizer pen. This is an electromagnetic sensor that resides underneath the screen. The EM filed powers a Wacom pen (or in the case of n-trig the pen has a battery to generate its own field). Then the active pen sends a signal back to the machine which determines the position of the pen. Inactive stylus' mimic the touch of a finger and interact with the capacitive layer of glass above the screen. With such an interaction the computer can not distinguish between a pen and a finger.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-09-19T14:43:22+00:00

    Thanks for the reply. Luckily for me, I did not order this tablet, so the blunder was not mine.

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