How to fix “Set user settings to driver failed” error?

Some Windows computer users may stumble upon the “Set user settings to driver failed” error. This happens, as a rule, immediately after entering the operating system. It has been found that this problem often occurs on laptops.

The error itself is directly related to the touchpad driver from Alps, which is installed on many laptops from various companies, for example, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and so on. After doing a little investigation, we were able to find out for what reasons this error occurs.

Causes of the “Set user settings to driver failed” error

• The touchpad driver is installed on the stationary PC. If your computer simply does not have a touchpad and by some miracle you were able to install a driver for it (anything can happen), then the appearance of such an error is not something surprising.
• The Alps driver is not required. You may have installed the Alps driver on your laptop by mistake, but your touchpad needs a completely different driver, which is why the error appears.
• Incorrectly installed Alps drivers. If your touchpad uses the Alps driver, then it may just not be installed correctly in the Windows operating system.

Below you can find several solution methods that will help you get rid of the “Set user settings to driver failed” error once and for all.

Solution methods “Set user settings to driver failed”

Method # 1 Renaming the problem file

Tired of struggling with an error every time you start your computer? Why not just rename the apoint.exe file and forget about this problem, especially if you do not need a driver from Alps.

Try the following:

1. open the Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting the appropriate item;
2. find the process called “Alps Pointing-device driver”;
3. right-click on it and select “Open file location”;
4. return to the Task Manager and complete the process “Alps Pointing-device driver”;
5. find the file apoint.exe in the open folder;
6. right-click on it and select “Rename”;
7. name this file “apoint_old.exe” and save the changes;
8. restart your computer.

The next time you start Windows, you should not see any “Set user settings to driver failed” error.

Method # 2 Reinstalling the touchpad driver

Given that this problem relates to the touchpad, then reinstalling the driver for the device would be a completely reasonable solution in this case. Your touchpad may actually work with the Alps driver, but something has happened to it and is not working correctly.

Reinstalling the touchpad driver is done as follows:

1. press the combination Windows + R;
2. write in an empty line “devmgmt.msc” and press Enter;
3. open the Device Manager, expand the section “Mice and other pointing devices”;
4. right-click on the “Alps Pointing Device” item and select “Remove Device”;
5. now click on the “Action” item in the window menu bar and select the “Update hardware configuration” option, after which the Device Manager will automatically install all the missing drivers;
6. restart your computer after installation.

See if the “Set user settings to driver failed” error occurs again.

Method # 3 Disable autoload

It can be difficult to remove the Alps driver from Windows, but you can prevent it from loading into the system when it boots.

To do this, do the following:

1. right-click on the Start panel;
2. select the “Task Manager” item;
3. go to the “Startup” tab;
4. find all programs related to Alps and disable them by clicking on the corresponding button;
5. close Task Manager and restart your computer.

Everything, the error “Set user settings to driver failed” should not appear after logging into Windows.

Method # 4 Disable Alps Service

Couldn’t get rid of this error? Well, you can also try deactivating the Alps driver service on your system. Once you stop this service, the “Set user settings to driver failed” error should disappear.

But if the Alps driver is needed for your touchpad, then the second method is better! So, to disable the Alps service, do the following:

1. press the combination Windows + R;
2. write in the line “services.msc” and press Enter;
3. find in the list of services “Alps SMBus Monitor Service”;
4. double-click on it with the left mouse button to open the properties;
5. click on the startup type drop-down menu and select “Disabled”;
6. now click on the “Stop” button;
7. save your changes and restart your computer.

We hope that at least one of the methods in this article helped you get rid of the “Set user settings to driver failed” error.