9 Tips to Fix Middle Mouse Button Not Working On Windows

Is your middle mouse button not working lately? You can see the light of the mouse, but still, you cannot scroll the web page up and down using the scrolling wheel of your mouse? Confused? Just read this article to get acquainted with different reasons for the ‘middle mouse button not working’ issue and try some fixes discussed below before thinking of buying a new mouse.

Possible reasons for middle mouse button not working in Windows 10

The Middle mouse button is not only used for scrolling on the webpage but also used in many shortcuts of Chrome and Firefox, which saves a lot of your time while surfing. It might be quite annoying if it stops working all of a sudden. Although there isn’t any definite reason for its failure, but the abrupt change in your mouse functionality can be due to the following reasons:

1. Connection issues between your mouse and the computer.
2. Hardware issues in your PC.
3. Internal mouse issues.
4. The mouse driver on your PC might be corrupted and needs to be updated.
5. Some programs running on your PC might have changed the registry settings of your mouse.

This list can go on, but you can stop worrying as this article will walk you through a few solutions that might help you fix the middle mouse button issues.

Possible solutions to fix the Middle mouse button not working issue in Windows 10

1. Check for the hardware issues on your PC

 There is a possibility that the USB cable connecting your mouse and PC has some problem, or the USB port where your mouse is connected is not working correctly. Carry the following steps to ensure that your hardware is working appropriately.

1. Unplug the USB cable from your device, which was connecting the mouse and your system.
2. Wait for a few seconds to allow drivers for the keyboard and mouse to get unloaded from Windows.

3. RePlug the USB cable and check if the middle mouse button is working now.
4. If the above method didn’t work for you, then try to use another USB port on your system and check if the mouse works. 
5. If still the middle button of your mouse is not working, then connect your mouse to another PC and check if it works there.
6. If it doesn’t work on another PC, then there might be an internal issue with your mouse, and you have to replace it, but if your mouse works perfectly fine on another PC, you can try the next method to get more details about the hardware issue on your PC.

2. Reset your wireless mouse

If you are using a wireless mouse, then there might be connection issues between the receiver and your system, or a simple reset is required to fix your mouse’s problem.

Note: You have to read the user manual of your mouse to get the exact steps to reset your mouse.

Steps:

1. Locate the reset button behind the mouse and press it to reset the connection between your mouse and the system.
2. Unplug and plug back the USB receiver of the mouse to your system.

Now check if the middle button of your mouse has regained its original functionality. If not, then jump to the next method.

3. Reset the mouse setting

Resetting mouse settings to default may help you to resolve the issue. You can follow the below-given quick steps to change the mouse settings in the Windows 10.

1. Type mouse settings in the Cortana search bar.
2. Choose Change your mouse settings from the list of search results and left-click on it to open it.

3. Click on Mouse & touchpad option from the left panel.
4. Click on the Additional mouse setting in A suitable under the Related settings option.

5.  Click on the Device Settings tab in the mouse properties window. There you can see one device already selected.
6. Click on the settings button.

7. Press down the Defaults button to set all the properties of the mouse to default. 

8. Restart your system and check now if the middle button of the mouse is working without any problem. If there is still an issue with the mouse, then you can try the next method.

4. Update the mouse driver

If there is a defect in your mouse, specifically the middle mouse button not working, in this case, you can try uninstalling a mouse driver and allow your system to install a suitable driver for your mouse on restart automatically. Find out quick steps to implement this method.

1. Type Device Manager in the Cortana search bar and choose it from the search result.
2. Left-click on it to open the Device Manager window.
3. Locate Mice and other pointing devices from the list and expand it.

4. Choose your mouse name and right-click on it.
5. Click on the Uninstall option from the pop-up menu.

6. Wait for a few seconds to complete uninstallation and restart your PC.
7. A suitable driver for your mouse will get loaded automatically and now check if this solution helps. So any progress to the middle mouse button not working issue. Don’t worry if you are still stuck. There are more fixes coming on the way.

5. Disable the Save power feature for the mouse

In Windows, there is a feature to save power. If that feature is enabled, then it switches off that device when not used to save energy. You can try unchecking it for your mouse to fix the middle mouse button not working issue.

Note: Before making changes, create a Restore Point to ensure backup if anything goes wrong and log in as admin on your system to change the settings.

Steps:

1. Type Control Panel in the Cortana search bar and open it.
2. Click on View devices and printer under the Hardware and sound section.

3. Choose your mouse under the device section and right-click on it to select properties.

4. Click on the hardware tab and choose your mouse under the Device functions section.
5. Click on the Properties button.

6. Click on the Change settings.

7. Under the Power Management tab uncheck the option ‘Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power.’

8. Click on Ok to apply changes and restart your PC.
9. I hope this helps! If not, then try the next method.

6. Troubleshoot your mouse using an in-built tool

Windows offers an in-built tool Hardware troubleshooter to repair hardware devices attached to your system. You can try using it to fix the middle mouse button not working issue and regain its standard functionality. Within a few clicks, you can finish this process.

Steps:

1. Type Control Panel in the Cortana search bar and open it.
2. Click on View devices and printer under the Hardware and sound section.
3. Choose your mouse under the device section and right-click on it. Click on the Troubleshoot option from the pop-up menu.

4. Wait for a few seconds and allow the troubleshooter to find the problem and fix it.

5. Restart your PC once done and then check if the mouse issue is resolved.

7. Modify registry settings

There is the registry value for Wheelscrolllines, which decides how many lines you can scroll using your mouse’s scroll wheel. Due to some reason, this value might have been tampered disabling your mouse middle button. We can set this value to 3 and scroll three lines at a time on the web page. You can check and reset this value by following the below-given steps.

Warnings: Create a Restore Point before implementing this method to take a backup of your system settings. Editing a registry is a critical process, and if anything goes wrong, it would have significant consequences.

Note: Log in as admin to make changes in the registry of your system.

Steps:

1. Press Windows + R key to open the Run dialogue.
2. Type regedit and press enter to open the registry editor window.
3. Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder from the left panel.
4. Press on the control panel and click on the desktop to open a few settings in the right-panel.

5. These settings are listed alphabetically, locate WheelScrollLines, and check if it is set to 3. If it is not set to 3, then right-click on it and choose modify.

6. Set WheelScrollLines value to 3 and press the Ok button.

7. Restart your PC and check if his solution worked for you. Don’t lose hope. You can try the next method if you dint get the expected result. If you still find that the middle mouse button not working issue persists then consider moving on to the next solution at the earliest.

8. Install original mouse drivers from the manufacturer’s website

Windows use generic drivers for the mouse, which works perfectly fine most of the time. But you can try device-specific drivers to fix the issue with your device. You can find one for your mouse from the manufacturer’s site, download and install it. Check if this helps!

9. Scan for the virus

If none of the above solutions worked for you, then you can try this method. There might be some malware affecting your mouse functionality. You can run any robust antivirus on your system to check and remove viruses from your PC. Restart your PC and check if it helped to resolve the issue. This ought to be a fix to the middle mouse button not working issue, if not any of the above solutions.

Bottom Line:

This article has offered nine possible solutions to fix the disabled middle mouse button. They are worth trying and don’t require much technical knowledge to implement. You can give it a thought to try them before purchasing the new one. Update us if you come across any new solution to fix the middle mouse button.