Solution to Thinkpad UltraNav middle-click issue (updated for Windows 10)

There is an extremely annoying issue that cropped up as of the Thinkpad W520 (and similar-generation models based on forums) in which an important feature of the UltraNav Trackpoint buttons disappeared.

The UltraNav actually has five buttons – a left and right button below the touchpad, and then left, middle, and right buttons above the touchpad which are actually the Trackpoint buttons. If you disable the touchpad in the BIOS then the touchpad and its two buttons will become inactive, yet the Trackpoint buttons will still work.

However, the issue that occurred is that the middle Trackpoint button was not actually sending a middle-click signal to Windows. But the middle-click function is essential for certain things. In particular, its extremely useful in Firefox since you can close tabs by middle-clicking on them. Also, if you use a really cool Addon called “Grab and Drag” then you can also use the middle button to scroll pages. This in particular is something that is so convenient that not having it is really annoying.

In previous Thinkpad models (earlier drivers) in Control Panel -> Mouse -> Trackpoint there was always an option to configure the middle-click behavior of the Trackpoint button as either scrolling, magnifying, or none. With it set to “none” then the button would actually send the middle-click signal to Windows and all was well.

But with the newest version there was no option and it appeared to be locked in the scrolling option with no way to change it.

But I just found a forum post that has a solution:

The solution, although inconvenient, is simple:

With the default window update installed Lenovo thinkpad drivers, fire up regedit.
Navigate to:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synaptics\SynTPEnh\UltraNavPS2 and change TrackPointMode from 1214 to 2214

For Windows 10 you also need to change the following registry key:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synaptics\SynTP\StickPS2 and change MiddleButtonAction from 0 to 4

Then reboot/log out and back in…

Or instead of logging out:

Open the windows start screen, type “mouse”, then click settings, then “mouse” to open the mouse properties…

On the UltraNav tab, disable the TrackPoint by clearing it’s check mark, click apply. With the keyboard, track pad or other pointing device, re-enable the TrackPoint and hit apply. Your middle button should now function correctly.

sources:
forums.lenovo.com, “Re: Win8 trackpoint third button middle click action”
forums.lenovo.com, FIXED! Middle Click Functionality Disabled on Windows 10 upgrade . . . FIXED!!!!!!!