How to Change the Mouse Scroll Direction in Windows 10

A comprehensive guide on adapting a mouse to your needs

3 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

Scrollbars are ubiquitous in all types of computers and by default, rolling themouse wheeldown scrolls down a page. But some users want to reverse the scroll direction inWindows 10.

Read on to find out what options you have to change the mouse scroll’s direction on your device.

Can I reverse the mouse scroll direction?

Windows 10used to have a Settings option that you could use to configure thescrollingdirection with.

However, an update removed theReversescrollingdirectionsetting. So how can we now configure the mouse wheel’s scroll direction inWindows 10?

Well, there are two easy alternatives you can try out, as you will see from the guides below.

How do I change the mouse scroll direction in Windows 10?

1. Edit the Registry

Even if there’s no longer a Reverse scrolling direction option via Settings in Windows 10, you can still customize the mouse wheel’s scroll direction with a registry edit.

For that, you’ll need the mouse VID ID which is listed in Device Manager.

Press theWin+Skeys at the same time on your keyboard to open the search box.
Typedevice managerin it and click on the first result to open the app.
SelectMice and other pointing devicesand double-click your mouse.

4.Click on theDetailstab, which includes the drop-down menu shown directly below.

SelectDevice instance pathfrom the drop-down menu.
Right-click the value in theValuebox and selectCopy.
PressOKand close theDevice Managerwindow.
OpenNotepadand paste theVIDIDin Notepad.
Press theWin+Rkeys to open the Run dialog.
Enterregeditin Run’s text box to open the Registry Editor app.

11.Open this registry location:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumHID

This is where theVIDIDcomes in handy. Click the key that matches the VID ID inNotepad.

13.Now you can select a Device Parameters key that has aFlipFlopWheelDWORD as shown below.

14.Next, double-clickFlipFlopWheelto open an Edit DWORD window.

Enter1in the Value data text box and pressOK.
Close the Registry Editor window (You’ll need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect).
Click theStartbutton and roll your mouse wheel up. That will scroll the Start menu’s bar slider down. Roll the mouse wheel down to scroll back up the menu.
To revert back to the default setting, select theFlipFlopWheelDWORD in Registry Editor window and enter0in the Value data box.

Did you know that you can improve your scrolling experience significantly with thesmooth scrollingfeature? Learn more from our dedicated article.

2. Set up an AutoHotkey Script

AutoHotkeyis software that users can set upmacro scriptswith and with which they reverse the scroll direction.

This is freeware software you can add to Windows by pressing theDownloadbuttonon the program’s website. Set up a reverse scroll direction script as follows:

These are two ways that you can reverse themousewheel’s scroll direction inWindows 10. Now, the scrollbar slider will move down when you roll themousewheel up and vice versa.

Let us know if you found this guide helpful and write down any questions you have in the comments section below.

How to Change the Mouse Scroll Direction in Windows 10#

Can I reverse the mouse scroll direction?#

How do I change the mouse scroll direction in Windows 10?#

1. Edit the Registry#

2. Set up an AutoHotkey Script#

How to Change the Mouse Scroll Direction in Windows 10

Can I reverse the mouse scroll direction?

How do I change the mouse scroll direction in Windows 10?

1. Edit the Registry

2. Set up an AutoHotkey Script