How to Install Windows Precision Drivers on Any Laptop

Evan Gower August 10, 2019

Today’s laptop touchpads have come a long way from their predecessors from 30 years ago. You can now use gestures for zooming, scrolling, quickly accessing certain apps, and countless other features.

How to Install Windows Precision Drivers on Any Laptop

Due to their increased utility, Microsoft has developed Precision drivers, which further enhance touchpads’ capabilities. However, not all laptops have these drivers built-in, especially if they belong to older generations.

Luckily, if you have compatible touchpads, you can install Precision drivers manually. This article will explain all the necessary steps.

Step 1: Check the Touchpad and Download Drivers

There are two drivers compatible with Windows Precision drivers – Elan and Synaptics. Before you install the Precision drivers, you should check which ones you have. To do this, you should:

Right-click the Start icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
Select ‘Device Manager.’
Expand the ‘Mice and other pointing devices’ section by clicking at the arrow to the left of the icon.
See if it says ‘Elan’ or ‘Synaptics’ pointing device. If you have a Lenovo laptop, you may see ‘Lenovo pointing device’ instead, which is manufactured by ‘Elan.’
If it says ‘Elan pointing device’ you should download this
If you see ‘Synaptics pointing device’, download this one instead.
Extract or unpack driver to any location.

Step 2: Installing Windows Precision Drivers

The next step is installing the Precision driver software. You should make sure to have a mouse nearby in case the installation goes wrong and completely disables the touchpad.

Then, follow these steps:

Navigate to your touchpad driver by following steps 1-3 from the previous section.
Right-click on the touchpad driver.
Select ‘Update driver’ from the drop-down menu. A new window should pop up.
Click on ‘Browse my computer for driver software’. You’ll need to manually locate the downloaded drivers.
Select ‘Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer’ from the next window.
Select ‘Have disk’ button below the compatible drivers list.
Click the ‘Browse’ button from the ‘Install from disk’ window that appears.
Navigate to the folder where you’ve downloaded the driver software during the previous section.
Click the ‘Autorun’ file.
Press ‘Open.’
Select ‘OK’ when the other window appears.
Wait for a few minutes until the driver software appears on the list.
You will get a notification that the hardware may not function after you install the software, but you should click ‘Yes’ anyway.
Wait for the installation to finish.
Once the installation is finished, click ‘Yes’ when prompted to restart the system.

Step 3: Check If the Drivers Are Successfully Installed

When you restart the laptop, you should check if the Precision drivers are installed and working. To do this, you should:

Click the Start menu icon on the bottom-left of the screen.
Go to ‘Settings’ (gear icon) on the left.
Select the ‘Devices’ menu.
Go to the ‘Touchpad’ options to the left.
You should see a lot more customization options and adjustments than usual in this menu. There should be a ‘Your PC has a precision touchpad’ note under the ‘Touchpad’ headline on the top of the menu.

Touchpad Doesn’t Work with Precision Drivers

If your touchpad doesn’t work as it should after you have installed Precision drivers, your touchpad may not be compatible with this software. If this happens, you should perform a ‘Roll Back Driver’ action. To do this, you need to:

Locate your touchpad driver in the device manager (steps 1-3 in the first section).
Right-click the driver.
Select ‘Properties’ from the dropdown menu.
Click the ‘Driver’ tab on the top.
Select the ‘Roll Back Driver’ option.
This should return the driver to the previously installed version. Wait for the process to finish and then click ‘OK’ when prompted to restart your system.

Once you restart the system, the touchpad should work normally.

Unfortunately, if you have an earlier version of Windows, such as 8, 7, or earlier, these drivers won’t work. They are made to work with Windows 10 and this is the only compatible system.

Enjoy the Ultimate Touchpad Experience

If you manage to install Precision Touchpad drivers, you will notice the improvements right away. You’ll notice the increased smoothness and responsiveness, as well as some new features such as multi-finger swiping, scrolling, and others. Since Precision touchpads are significantly better than their counterparts, there is no reason not to set them up on your laptop.

Have you installed Microsoft Precision drivers on your laptop? If so, which of the new Precision Touchpad features do you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments below.