14+ Effective Solutions If the Two-Finger Scroll Is Not Working In Windows 10/11

Laptops can do wonders these days, isn’t it? From gesture control to smart applications, even one-click support, you just name any, and the high-end laptops have all the functions enabled. But won’t it truly annoy us if the two-finger scroll is not working on our system?

You can solve the two-finger scrolling issue by updating your touchpad driver in compatibility mode with Windows. Besides, you can also change the pointer scheme and manually enable gesture support. You may also need to enable the virtual scrolling feature to resolve the issue.

However, several other pro methods can also fix this issue in no time. But before we dive deep into the solutions, let’s understand what this problem is actually and what are the primary reasons behind this error!

What Are The Primary Reasons If The Two-Finger Scroll Is Not Working On Your Device?

Although it is very rare to encounter such issues, especially in high-end laptops, you may still get the scrolling error. However, in a broader spectrum, the issue can trigger due to six main reasons why the two-finger scroll is not working on your system.

1. Any third-party app or any startup application is interfering with the gesture support.
2. The touchpad driver is outdated, or you are using an obsolete version of Windows OS.
3. You are using a wrong pointer scheme that is unsupported by your current OS theme.
4. You may have accidentally disabled the “Two-finger scroll” option from the touchpad properties.
5. Virtual scrolling is either unsupported or may be disabled on the control panel.
6. The values of “2FingerTap” and “3FingerTap” are wrong in the registry file.

Besides these six primary causes, the problem may also arise for several other reasons, such as a wrong driver update or a faulty coding line in any third-party mouse or touchpad driver.

6+ Easy Fixes If The Two-Finger Scroll Is Not Working

You should try the generic fixes before you resort to any pro methods that need serious tweaks on your device settings. And in almost 90% of the cases, these generic fixes alone will sort out the issue if the two-finger scroll is not working on your system.

1. Hard Reset Your Laptop

We often just shut down our laptop and reopen it after a few seconds. Trust me; it will not solve the issue if you don’t do it the right way.

And if you are encountering any hardware issues like the scroll or the pointer not working, you need to hard reset your system manually.

• Step 1: Click on the “Windows Icon” on your taskbar and click on the “Power > Shut Down” button to switch off your laptop.

• Step 2: Once it is completely shut down, remove the AC adapter, battery, and other peripherals attached to your laptop.
• Step 3: Press the manual “Power” switch of your laptop and hold it for at least 15 to 20 seconds to completely flush it.
• Step 4: Now, reinsert your battery and insert the AC adapter to power up your laptop.
• Step 5: Switch on the system, let it finish the booting and check whether the scrolling issue is still there or not.

It is also better to give a fresh restart to all the devices attached to your systems, such as a router or an eternal sound card.

You may not know, but those external peripherals can sometimes create an interference issue attracting further problems in no time.

2. Reboot With Safe Mode

If the two-finger scroll is not working in Windows 10 even after hard resetting your computer, you need to reboot the laptop in safe mode to check whether any third-party software is creating any interference or not. And this can be done in a few simple steps.

• Step 1: Launch the “Settings” app by clicking the “Windows” icon on your taskbar and then clicking the “Gear” icon.
• Step 2: Once the “Settings” app launches, click on the “Update & Security” option.

• Step 3: Now navigate to the left-hand panel and click on the “Recovery” button.

• Step 4: Go to the right panel and click on the “Restart Now” option under the “Advanced Startup” header.
• Step 5: Click on the “Troubleshoot” option once a new pop-up message appears.

• Step 6: Navigate to the “Advanced” tab and click on the “Startup Settings” option.

• Step 7: Click the “Restart” button and then select the “Safe Mode” option from the startup menu.

Many people have reported getting an undefined ethernet error after rebooting their laptop in safe mode from the bootup screen.

3. Change The Pointer Scheme

The pointer is the arrow that appears when you drag your cursor on your screen.

However, not many people know that Windows has prebuilt schemes that you can apply on your pointer, especially if you are using a touchpad. And you can do it from the settings.

• Step 1: Click on the “Magnifying Glass” icon on your taskbar to launch the search option.
• Step 2: Type “MAIN.CPL” in the search field and click on the first result that appears.

• Step 3: Once the “Mouse Properties” app launches, navigate to the “Pointers” tab from the header menu.

• Step 4: Click on the drop-down menu located under the “Scheme” header and select any other scheme, such as Windows Black (large) or Windows Standard (large).
• Step 5: Click on the “Apply” button to save the settings and then click “OK” to exit.

Once you finish changing the pointer scheme on your Windows 10 system, it is better to restart your computer.

And if the problem is still there, try to shift to another available pointer scheme until the problem disappears.

4. Enable From The Settings App

It is highly possible that you may have accidentally disabled the two-finger scroll operation from the windows settings.

Besides, any third-party app or the latest mouse driver update can also disable the operation in the background. So it is better to check and enable it manually.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + I” buttons together to launch the “Settings” app on your system.
• Step 2: Click on the “Devices” option from the menu.

• Step 3: Navigate to the left panel and click on the “Touchpad” option.

• Step 4: Click on the box adjacent to the “Drag two fingers to scroll” option under the “Scroll and zoom” header.
• Step 5: Reboot your laptop and check whether the problem is still there or not.

You can also navigate to the “Mouse” option from the left panel and then adjust the pointer speed. And if you can’t tweak those settings, open the “Settings” app with administrative privilege to apply the settings.

5. Enable From The Mouse Properties

With the latest Windows update in some of the high-end laptops that come with multi-finger gesture support nowadays, activating only the scroll and zoom functions will not solve the issue.

You also need to enable gesture support from the settings app.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + R” buttons together to initiate the “Run” command.
• Step 2: Type “MAIN.CPL” in the designated field and hit the “Enter” button.

• Step 3: Once the “Mouse Properties” window appears, navigate to the “Touchpad” tab from the header menu. (Click on the “Device Settings” tab if it is absent)

• Step 4: Now navigate to the “MultiFinger Gestures” section and tick the box adjacent to the “Two-Finger Scrolling” option to enable it.

• Step 5: Press the “Apply” button to save the settings and then “OK” to exit the app.

Once you successfully activate the multi-gesture control on your supported laptop, it is better to restart your computer and then check whether the issue still persists or not.

Alternatively, you can visit the manufacturer’s site to enable the option from their UI manually.

6. Change Your Mouse Pointer

If the two-finger scroll is not working in windows 11, it may be because of the strange bug that many people have encountered after the latest update release.

But to resolve it, all you need is to change the type of pointer you are using on your system right now.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + R” buttons together to initiate the “Run” command.
• Step 2: Type “Control Panel” on the designated field and click on the “OK” button.
• Step 3: Once the “Control Panel” app launches, click on the drop-down menu under the “View by:” option located in the top-right corner and select the “Large Icons” option.

• Step 4: Now click on the “Mouse” option to launch the mouse properties.

• Step 5: Navigate to the “Pointers” tab and then select any options under the “Customize” section.

• Step 6: Click the “Apply” button to save the settings and then exit the app.

It is always better to go with the classic arrowhead pointer if you are not encountering an issue with the pointer.

But if not, you can alternatively choose any pointer of your preference. And most of the pointers will work just fine on your laptop.

8+ Advanced Fixes For Two-Finger Scrolling Error

If you are still getting the same issue and the two-finger scroll is not working even after you tried all the generic methods, your problem may be way more deep-rooted than we have assumed.

In such cases, you need to resort to the pro methods that will definitely sort out this issue.

7. Update Your Touchpad Driver

If the driver update is long due and you are still using the obsolete version of the hardware driver, you may encounter smart gestures and two-finger scroll issues on windows devices.

So, it is better to manually update the mouse adapter driver to eliminate these issues.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + R” buttons together to launch the “Run” command window.
• Step 2: Type “devmgmt.msc” in the designated field and click on the “OK” button.

• Step 3: Once the “Device Manager” app launches, click on the “Mice and other pointing devices” category to expand it.

• Step 4: Right-click on your touchpad and select the “Update Driver” option from the menu.
• Step 5: Follow the on-screen instruction to manually update the driver from the internet.
• Step 6: Reboot your system once the driver is updated, and check whether the issue is solved or not!

If the problem persists even after updating the default touchpad driver, you may also need to update other drivers. So, expand the “Mice” section from the menu and update all the available drivers before giving your system a fresh restart.

8. Update The Driver In Compatibility Mode

If you are using any special laptop that comes with a prebuilt settings interface for the touchpad, you need to update the driver in compatibility mode, as updating the mouse driver alone will not going to solve the issue. And you can do it in a few simple steps.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + R” buttons together and type “devmgmt.msc” in the run command field.
• Step 2: Once the “Device Manager” app launches, navigate to the “Mice and other pointing devices” category and click to expand it.
• Step 3: Right-click on your touchpad, select “Uninstall Device” from the menu, and follow the on-screen instruction.

• Step 4: Once the driver is completely removed, restart your system.
• Step 5: Windows will automatically detect the touchpad and will prompt you to download the driver.
• Step 6: Now, visit the official download center on your manufacturer’s website and download the compatible driver.
• Step 7: Once the driver file is downloaded, right-click on the file and select the “Properties” option.
• Step 8: Navigate to the “Compatibility” tab from the header menu and select the “Run this program in Compatibility mode for” option.
• Step 9: Select your Windows OS from the drop-down menu and press the “Apply” button to save the settings.
• Step 10: Double-click on the driver file again to install the latest driver for your touchpad.

9. Uninstall And Reinstall The Touchpad Driver

Updating the driver will not sort the scrolling issue if the root files of your mouse driver are corrupted. In that case, you first need to manually uninstall the driver and then reinstall a fresh copy to eliminate this bug.

• Step 1: Click on the “Magnifying Glass” icon on your taskbar and type “Device Manager” on the search field.
• Step 2: Once the “Device Manager” app launches, click on the “Mice and other pointing devices” option to expand it.
• Step 3: Now, right-click on your touchpad and select the “Uninstall Device” option from the menu.

• Step 4: Once a new pop-up window appears, click on the box beside the “Delete the driver software for this device” option and then press the “Uninstall” button.
• Step 5: Restart your system and open the “Device Manager” again.
• Step 6: Navigate to your PC name, right-click on it, and select the “Scan for hardware changes” option.

• Step 7: Let windows search for the latest available update and install it by following the on-screen instruction.

Updating only the hardware driver from the windows settings will not do if you use a high-end laptop with custom touchpads.

In that case, you need to manually download and install the compatible driver from the manufacturer’s website.

10. Update Windows OS

Have you already updated the touchpad driver but still encountered the same problem where the two-finger scroll is not working on your system?

Are you still using the obsolete version of Windows OS on your system? If the answers are yes, you need to update your OS asap!

• Step 1: Click on the “Magnifying Glass” icon on your taskbar and type “Windows update” in the search field.
• Step 2: Click on the first result that appears to launch the “Windows update” app.

• Step 3: Navigate to the left panel and click on the “Windows Update” option.

• Step 4: Come to the right panel and click on the “Check for updates” option.
• Step 5: Let windows search for the current version, install it, and then reboot your system.

Many people have reported getting an unresponsive taskbar after they have installed the latest Windows update on their system.

11. Enable Virtual Scrolling

If the touchpad two-finger scroll is not working on your laptop, it is highly possible that you have either intentionally or accidentally disabled the virtual scrolling feature.

It is the main feature that allows the touchpad to work as a wheel. So, disabling it can surely attract several issues.

• Step 1: Click on the “Magnifying Glass” icon on your taskbar and type “Control Panel” in the search field.
• Step 2: Click on the first result that appears on the result page to launch the “Control Panel” app.
• Step 3: Click on the drop-down list beside the “View by” option located at the top-right corner and select “Large icons” from the list.
• Step 4: Now click on the “Mouse” option and navigate to the “Pointing Device Properties” tab.
• Step 5: Once the properties window launches, click on the “Device Settings” option.

• Step 6: Now enable both the “Virtual Scrolling” and “Long Distance Scrolling” options from the properties window.

• Step 7: You can also manually assign the “Scrolling Region” to denote the area of your touchpad where the scrolling should be available.
• Step 8: Click on the “Apply” button to save the settings and then “OK” to close the app.

If you have any UI for your touchpad (especially if you are using a high-end laptop), you need to enable the virtual scrolling feature from that third-party driver too. Otherwise, it will create an interference issue on your system.

12. Disable Windows Defender

There is no doubt that Windows Defender is a robust antivirus that offers all-around protection of your system from malware and phishing attacks.

However, this antivirus can create an interference issue at times, especially if you are using a third-party driver to enable the two-finger scroll feature.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + I” buttons together to launch the “Settings” app.
• Step 2: Click on the “Update & Security” option and further click on the “Windows Security” option located at the left panel.

• Step 3: Now navigate to the right panel and click on the “Virus & threat protection” option.

• Step 4: After the new settings menu initiates, click on “Manage Settings” under Virus & threat protection settings option.

• Step 5: Now, toggle the switch adjacent to the “Real-time protection” option.

• Step 6: Click “OK” to save the settings and check whether the scrolling issues still persist.

You may get a group-policy error if you disable the Windows defender, especially if you are using a system under a network administrator. In such cases, you can follow our exclusive guide to fix the “ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED” Error in Windows laptops.

13. Tweak With Registry Editor

It may happen that the root registry files have wrong values that are creating interference issues with the scrolling.

But beware; you should strictly perform the registry edits under expert supervision. Any wrong value in any parameter can initiate a series of additional issues.

• Step 1: Press the “Windows Key + R” buttons together to launch the “Run” command.

• Step 2: Type “regedit” in the command field and click the “OK” button.
• Step 3: Once the “Registry Editor” app launches, navigate to the
  “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synaptics\SynTP\TouchPadPS2” path

• Step 4: Navigate to the “2FingerTapPluginID” option, double-click to open the value field, and leave the field empty.
• Step 5: Follow the same and leave the value field empty for the “3FingerTapPluginID” option.
• Step 6: Now, set the “MultiFingerTapFlags” value to either 2 or 3 and the “3FingerTapAction” value to 4.
• Step 7: You also need to set the “3FingerTapPluginActionID” value to “0” and the “2FingerTapAction” value to either “2” or “4.”
• Step 8: Save the settings, exit from the registry editor app, and reboot your system.

Many people have reported getting DISM errors once they edit the registry file, especially the hardware registries.

If you are also facing a similar situation, you can follow our step-by-step guide to fix the DISM error code 87 in windows devices.

14. Enable Touch Events API (For Google Chrome)

It may happen that the trackpad two-finger scroll is not working exclusively on Google Chrome, where it is working on other apps.

In such cases, you have to enable the touch event API on the browser settings to allow two-finger scrolls to work while you browse web pages.

• Step 1: Launch Google Chrome and type “chrome://flags/” in the address bar to launch the “Experiments” feature.
• Step 2: Type “Touch API” in the “Search flags” field and hit enter.

• Step 3: Now, ensure the “Touch Events API” is “Enabled” on the flags field.
• Step 4: Save the settings and relaunch Google Chrome to check if the issue still persists.

If you can’t find the “Touch API” properties in the “Experiment” field, you need to update your Google Chrome first to the latest version.

If that doesn’t solve the issue, you can manually uninstall the Chrome app from your device and install a fresh copy.

What Is The Two-Finger Scroll?

The two-finger scroll is a smart gesture available in most laptops nowadays that helps us scroll through pages and apps. Without using any other key or an additional function, you can quickly scroll through multiple pages in any web browser through this gesture.

While the single-finger scroll on your touchpad will operate the page vertically, you can horizontally access multiple pages through two-finger scrolls.

However, you may need to enable the function or need to download the latest touchpad driver that supports these kinds of smart gestures.

Conclusion

It is absolutely safe to try any of the generic fixes we have mentioned above if the two-finger scroll is not working on your system without any expert supervision. However, if you need to apply any pro methods that need serious tweaks on your system, it is better to create a system restore point beforehand.

You should also take a backup of your data before trying any pro methods. So, that’s all the solutions we have for the scrolling issue. But, if you know of any other working solution for this problem, feel free to drop that in the comment box below.

FAQs

Q. Why can’t I scroll down with two fingers?

You may have disabled the two-finger scroll feature from the system settings. And to enable it, launch the “Settings” app and navigate to the “Devices > Touchpad” option. You can then manually enable the “Drag two fingers to scroll” or “two-finger scroll” options to allow the function.

Q. How do I enable two-finger scrolling?

Launch the “Run” command, type “main.cpl” in the designated field, and press the “OK” button to launch the mouse properties. Now click on the “Touchpad” tab and further click on the “Settings” option to launch the properties window. You can then manually enable the “MultiFinger Gestures” and “Two-Finger Scrolling” from the properties tab.

Q. How to fix two-finger scrolling in Windows 10?

Just start by updating your touchpad driver and the Windows OS. Besides you can also manually disable Windows defender to minimize interference. Moreover, you can also change the “Pinter Scheme” and enable “MultiFinger Gestures” from the mouse properties.

Q. How do I fix two-finger scrolling in Windows 11?

Start by rebooting your laptop in safe mode to check for any interference issues from any third-party app. Besides, you can manually enable gesture support within the settings app. Moreover, you can also change the mouse pointer from the mouse properties to check whether the problem is solved!