How To Turn off Touch Screen on Ubuntu [Quick Guide]

How To Turn off Touch Screen on Ubuntu [Quick Guide]

Most current laptops and desktops come with a touchscreen feature which in some cases is not useful to some people. For most developers and other individuals who use Ubuntu the feature is not helpful. It can annoy some people and even mess some you during different times of the job.

Ubuntu is a free operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux. Ubuntu is built around the idea of community and collaboration, with projects like Ubuntu Open Week (UOW) and Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS).

There are several approaches that one can use to turn off the touch screen in Ubuntu. Some users normally think it's hard to fix them which is not the case. Many users say that turning off the touchscreen makes the machine fast and responsive. It eliminates cases where users have broken screens making it hard to use the touchscreen.

The Ubuntu manual covers everything you need to know to use Ubuntu, including installation, basic usage, troubleshooting, and advanced topics.

Most Ubuntu users are tech-savvy and following the prompts to repair their screens won't be a hard thing to do. The majority have extensive knowledge about the terminal which is all you need for the steps we will cover. The most common one is the use of  hid_multitouch and Xorg methods.

Using Xinput

Ubuntu uses Xinput as a utility to provide all the information about any device and how you can do any changes in the settings. Its documentation outlines different commands that you can use to achieve your desired results. 

To disable the touchscreen follow the steps below:

Open your terminal or your vim editor and type xinput -list and Enter. It will list all the devices connected to your Ubuntu operating system. After running the command, it lists all the devices with their respective ids. Go through the devices keenly and look for the finger touch option and note its id.

For example, if the id is 90, type xinput disable 90 and hit Enter on your terminal. After the process is through, you will have disabled the touchscreen. Be very keen on the ID you choose, since you can find yourself disabling important devices like keyboards and mouses. 

In case you disable any other device by mistake, you can use the xinput enable 90 command to get it back. 

Using 40-libinput.conf method

Using your favorite editor like vim, open the configuration file by typing the command below:
sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

Open the file and locate MatchIsTouchscreen "on" line and change it to MatchIsTouchscreen "off". Save the changes and restart your computer.

Using Xorg config

This works for users who use GUI like GNOME and KDE. You can customize the GUI defaults by performing different changes. For users who don't want to use 40-libinput.conf method, this one will work best for you. It works beyond the updates.

Create a new file under the device by typing sudo vim /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-disabletouch.conf command.

Load the file and add the following lines at the end of the file and reboot your device.

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Touchscreen catchall"
    MatchIsTouchscreen "off"

EndSection

It will solve the issue and turn off the touchscreen. You can also shorten the steps by locating the /etc/modprobe.d file and adding the following code blacklist drivername and restarting the machine.

Using Wayland

Ubuntu uses Wayland to make communication easier between the servers. It uses different protocols when communicating between the servers and users. Its protocol is a bit different from the previous X11, and X.org. 

Navigate to cat /proc/bus/input/devices and note down the vendor and product id. 

Under the output, copy the product is and vendor id for example Vendor=<2300> Product=<4500> and create a new udev rule. 

Create a new configuration file and paste the id of the value as follows:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{2300}=="VendorID", ATTRS{4500t}=="ProductID", ATTR{authorized}="0"
Ubuntu uses the udevadm tool that provides all the information required for touchscreen devices. After creating the rules, reboot the device. You can also achieve the same by rebooting the rules
udevadm control --reload-rules && udevadm trigger. 

Using hid_multitouch

Ubuntu uses loadable kernels when dealing with hardware drivers. We list all the drivers using the lsmod | grep touch command. It will list all the drivers and the multitouch will be among them.

Loadable kernels prevent the users from performing loading every time they need new functionality. It also uses fewer resources in terms of memory since the Ubuntu operating system does not include all the functionalities when loading the functionalities.

To ensure we are working with the right driver use the modinfo command. It will list all the details from the name, license, author, description, and license. Turn off the touchscreen using the -r command i.e  -r hid_multitouch. Confirm is the driver exists by using the lsmod command.

Using local settings

Press Alt + F4 on your keyboard to open the settings
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
Edit the etc/rc.local file by disabling the touchscreen option and making it executable 
.ls -1 /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-multitouch | grep 2A94:5241 > /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-multitouch/unbind
$ sudo chmod +x /etc.rc.local
Restart the device
$ reboot

How To Disable Touchscreen Permanently in Ubuntu

There are users who don't want to use the touchscreen again. Luckily, Ubuntu provides an option where you can disable it permanently instead of turning it on and off. 

To disable it permanently follow the steps below:

Open your terminal and open the .profile file and edit it.
sudo vim ~/.profile

At the bottom of the file, add the following lines
xinput | grep 'KEVIN Touchscreen' | grep -Po 'id=d+' | cut -d= -f2 | xargs xinput disable

Many users hate this method since it runs every time you boot your machine. You can also achieve the same using the 40-libinput.conf file. Open the file and locate the InputClasses. 

The class is as follows:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchscreen catchall"
        MatchIsTouchscreen "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"

EndSection

You only need to change the MatchIsTouchscreen "on" line to MatchIsTouchscreen "off". 

Conclusion

There are many methods one can use to turn off the touchscreen. All you need is to know how to use the terminal and have some basic Linux knowledge. It has more than one way that one can follow and get the desired result. Hope you liked our possible solutions. If you face more issues turning off the touchscreen screen, you can consult any expert like Geek Computer or visit the service providers.