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5

In older OS X versions, this used to work just fine:

defaults write /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

It would enable tap to click for built-in MacBook Trackpads for the root user, which would also affect the login screen. There are similar commands to enable it for Bluetooth-based Magic Trackpads as well.

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work in OS X 10.8 anymore. Is there some other way of doing this in Mountain Lion?

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Why the downvote? – Mathias Bynens Aug 30 '12 at 6:31
1  
And why not down votes and comments on the wrong answers below that haven't been tried / don't actually work? – bmike♦ Nov 7 '12 at 14:47

5 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Turns out you can add this as a function in the Terminal:

sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -int 1

That worked for me, thanks to these guys - http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1218257

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It was already mentioned once, and I couldn't get it to work either. Do you have 10.8? – Lauri Ranta Nov 8 '12 at 5:35
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System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options > check Enable Dragging with/without Draglock.

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What does this have to do with the issue at hand? How can this work? – Mathias Bynens Oct 11 '12 at 6:01
up vote -1 down vote

Are you talking about the "Tap to click"? If so you can enable and disable in

System Preferences > Trackpad > Tap to Click

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At least for me it has changed. I'm using Mountain Lion – J. Costa Aug 30 '12 at 9:59
Not for me. This only changes the settings for the current user, not the login screen. – Mathias Bynens Aug 31 '12 at 6:32
up vote -1 down vote

I haven't tried this myself, but this might be what you're looking for: sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -int 1

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Just want to point out the following command does not work in 10.8 sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -int 1 – user26612 Aug 2 '12 at 16:57
1  
I found that one on MacRumors as well — but it doesn’t seem to work on OS X 10.8 either. – Mathias Bynens Aug 6 '12 at 17:27
up vote 1 down vote

Have you tried enabling dragging in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options?

(From How to change tap to click using "defaults write" from command line?)

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Dragging doesn’t seem to have anything to do with this. I also don’t see any reference to this setting in the thread you linked to. – Mathias Bynens Jul 30 '12 at 10:59

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