Accessibility Turn On or Off Touch Indicator in Windows 11

Brink · May 7, 2022

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off the touch indicator for your account in Windows 11.

A touch screen, or touchscreen, is an input device that enables you to interact directly with what is displayed, rather than using a mouse, touchpad, or other such devices (other than a stylus, which is optional for most modern touch screens).

If your device (ex: laptop or tablet) has a touch screen, you can turn on or off the touch indicator to show a circle on the screen for visual feedback when you touch the screen. If you turn on the touch indicator, you can make the circle darker and larger to see better if needed.

Contents

Option One: Turn On or Off Touch Indicator in Settings
Option Two: Turn On or Off Touch Indicator in Control Panel
Option Three: Turn On or Off Touch Indicator using REG file

EXAMPLE: Touch indicator circle and circle darker and larger

Option One

Turn On or Off Touch Indicator in Settings

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Accessibility on the left side, and click/tap on Mouse pointer and touch on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Open Mouse pointer and touch settings

3 Turn on (default) or off Touch indicator for what you want. (see screenshots below step 4)

4 If you turned on Touch indicator, you can check (on) or uncheck (off - default) Make the circle darker and larger if wanted. (see screenshots below)

5 You can now close Settings if you like.

Option Two

Turn On or Off Touch Indicator in Control Panel

1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Pen and Touch icon.

2 Click/tap on the Touch tab. (see screenshots below)

3 Check (on - default) or uncheck (off) Show visual feedback when touching the screen (aka: Touch indicator) for what you want.

4 If you turned on Show visual feedback when touching the screen, you can check (on) or uncheck (off - default) Optimize visual feedback for projection to an external monitor (aka: Make the circle darker and larger) if wanted.

5 Click/tap on OK.

6 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.

Option Three

Turn On or Off Touch Indicator using REG file

1 Do step 2 (on), step 3 (on darker and larger), or step 4 (off) below for what you want.

2 Turn On Touch Indicator

This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Turn_ON_touch_indicator.reg

Download

(Contents of REG file for reference)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors]
"ContactVisualization"=dword:00000001
"GestureVisualization"=dword:0000001f

3 Turn On Touch Indicator with Circle Darker and Larger

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Turn_ON_touch_indicator_with_circle_darker_and_larger.reg

Download

(Contents of REG file for reference)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors]
"ContactVisualization"=dword:00000002
"GestureVisualization"=dword:0000001f

4 Turn Off Touch Indicator

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.

Turn_OFF_touch_indicator.reg

Download

(Contents of REG file for reference)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors]
"ContactVisualization"=dword:00000000
"GestureVisualization"=dword:00000000

5 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 Either sign out and sign in or restart the computer to apply.

9 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn Brink