Solved Uninstalling Synaptics Pointing Device Driver

kantastisk

New Member
Messages
4
Becoming the "true" administrator to uninstall a driver

Hi there, new user here.

My Synaptics Pointing Device Driver is malfunctioning and I need to uninstall it. However, when I try to do so I get an error message telling me I must be an administrator to do so and to "please log off and log back on as administrator". I am already the administrator of my user account, but after some googling I found out I could enable a "true" administrator account of Windows 8.1 by doing
Code:
net user administrator /active:yes
and logging on to the now unlocked "true" administrator account.
After doing this I still get the same error. I've tried running control.exe as administrator but no luck there either. I've tried reinstalling the driver as well, which completes without errors, but nothing changes. Any help here?

I'm puzzled as to how it's even possible to create a third party application that defies the highest administrative level of windows 8.1. It seems like malware pushers should take some pointers from synaptics...
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
That's not normal. I installed and then uninstalled the Synaptics driver on my wife's Acer Windows 8.1 laptop. It turned out it has an ELANTECH touchpad, not Synaptics. What ever is going on may be why its malfunctioning.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
I don't know how you tried to uninstall the driver, I normally go to device manager, right click the pointing device, select properties and click uninstall in Driver tab.
Capture 101.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
That's not normal. I installed and then uninstalled the Synaptics driver on my wife's Acer Windows 8.1 laptop. It turned out it has an ELANTECH touchpad, not Synaptics. What ever is going on may be why its malfunctioning.

hmm, asus links to both drivers for my specific model from their website. I thought that would mean they were both good. Anyway, I still need to get rid of Synaptic's driver before I can try anything else.

I don't know how you tried to uninstall the driver, I normally go to device manager, right click the pointing device, select properties and click uninstall in Driver tab.

I tried doing it through Programs and Features

functions.PNG

I didn't even think to do it through Device Manager. When I do that, the driver is back upon reboot, though.

devicemanager.PNG

I swear this feels *just* like trying to rid yourself of malware.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
My wife's Acer laptop had both touchpad drivers listed for download, I guess some come with Synaptics and some come with Elantech. Maybe they switched during the production run. I took a guess and got it wrong. I uninstalled the Synaptics driver though Programs and features. If you do it though device manager there should be a "delete the driver files" or something similar option. Just make sure to disconnect from the Internet so it can't download and install them again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
My wife's Acer laptop had both touchpad drivers listed for download, I guess some come with Synaptics and some come with Elantech. Maybe they switched during the production run. I took a guess and got it wrong. I uninstalled the Synaptics driver though Programs and features. If you do it though device manager there should be a "delete the driver files" or something similar option. Just make sure to disconnect from the Internet so it can't download and install them again.

thanks bud, that prevented Synaptic from reinstalling its driver, which allowed me to install elantech's instead. I still can't get rid of the Synaptic driver in Programs and Features (it still asks for administrator privileges) which is annoying as hell, but that's not critical now that my touchpad has decent functionality again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
:thumb: On my wife's laptop the Synaptics driver installed but didn't really do anything. I had no two finger scroll etc. It sounds like that's what happened to you. I then uninstalled it and went to option two and that worked. I'm not sure what's going on with your uninstall issue though, something glitched somewhere. You could try taking ownership of the folder the Synatics drivers are installed in.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...le-folder-drive-registry-key-windows-8-a.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
:thumb: On my wife's laptop the Synaptics driver installed but didn't really do anything. I had no two finger scroll etc. It sounds like that's what happened to you. I then uninstalled it and went to option two and that worked. I'm not sure what's going on with your uninstall issue though, something glitched somewhere. You could try taking ownership of the folder the Synatics drivers are installed in.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...le-folder-drive-registry-key-windows-8-a.html

I tried taking ownership via. the 'advanced security settings', which seemed to go through but didn't make a difference with uninstalling. The entire folder is write-protected too - I don't know if that matters. I can seemingly succesfully remove the write-protection, but it returns immediately when I look at the folder properties.
I think pretty soon I'll boot my pc up in a linux distro and manually remove the folder.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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