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Enable/Disable Dell XPS Touchpad with Ubuntu

June 23,2019 by MAhmadZ

The first time I purchased Dell's XPS 13 notebook was in 2015 and couldn't be more satisfied. Now I own Dell XPS 13 9380 with Ubuntu 18.04 pre-installed. After initial testing the hardware, I immediately installed a fresh 19.04 and everything was well supported.

However there is no proper was of enabling or disabling the Touchpad. In the Knowledge Base provided by Dell, there is no mention of Ubuntu even though the OS is officially supported. Dell had another link to the Linux issue which didn't look easy to follow. So I am sharing a more simpler fix.

Steps to Follow

Open the Terminal on type the command:

$ xinput list

You will get the output based on the devices attached to you system:

⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ELAN2930:00 04F3:2930                     id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech MX Anywhere 2S                   id=21   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DELL08AF:00 06CB:76AF Touchpad            id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Integrated_Webcam_HD: Integrate           id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Intel HID events                          id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Intel HID 5 button array                  id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                          id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech MX Anywhere 2S                   id=22   [slave  keyboard (3)]

For my case DELL08AF:00 06CB:76AF Touchpad id=11 [slave pointer (2)] is line of which is telling me that the Touchpad is using the ID 11, Perfect!

Now all I have to do is to disable this device using the command:

$ xinput --disable 11

Try using the Touchpad and it will not respond. To enable it again:

$ xinput --enable 11

And its done! Just in case you want to get the details of this device, run the command:

$ xinput list-props 11

What if it didn't work?

In that case look for the Knowledge Base I have shared in the start and following those instructions.