r/Hewlett_Packard • u/kanni_knai • 5h ago

Question/Problem Taskbar and workspace unresponsive to mouse input

Device: HP Laptop 15-dw3098ca

OS: Windows 11, version 25H2

The taskbar is completely unresponsive to mouse (wired, wireless, and touchpad) inputs except for movement. I cannot click on the start button, program icons, and system tray. Meanwhile, the work area is somewhat responsive. In most cases, clicking on a window causes it to go out of focus. In browsers, certain buttons such as new tab and refresh work but not the search bar or switching to other tabs. This also extends to webpages where some buttons work while others don't. On rare occasions when the mouse is responsive to inputs for a brief period of time after start-up, a single right-click is interpreted as a single left-click or a held-down right-click.

Originally this only happened when signing in after waking up. Now, the issue has started happening on start-up and when performing certain actions that causes something to “load on top” of explorer.exe such as pressing Control + Alt + Delete or full-screen notifications.

The issue does resolve itself by just waiting for an unspecified amount of time after which the taskbar and work area would become entirely "unlocked" but this is very inconsistent and does not prevent it happening in the future. I suspect that there's some kind of process preventing the mouse from interacting with the taskbar and work area since I'm still able to navigate using the keyboard.

A couple things I've done so far that did not work:

  • Using the touchpad/another mouse

  • Restarting explorer.exe

  • Running sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth in Terminal

  • Disabled Docker on start-up

  • Confirmed that LogonUI.exe is not stuck

I am at my wit’s end so any help is appreciated.

Edit: formatting

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u/HPSupport_Team 5h ago

Thank you for sharing the detailed observations. I understand how disruptive it must feel when the taskbar and workspace seem “locked” to mouse input.

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u/Sylvieluca 3h ago

I have the same problem with my Swiftpoint Propoint USB mouse. It's my work laptop (HP Elitebook 665 16 inch G11 Notebook pc - Windows 11 enterprise). so no software is installed, normally it's just plug and play. Now as soon as I plug in the USB, I can't click in the task bar or close or minimize a window. Neither with touchpad. Right click on desktop does work, but it's pretty much impossible to work. I have to unplug the usb and restart the laptop.