If you regularly find yourself with an unlocked laptop, you may want to consider disabling the keyboard. It will prevent anyone from typing on your computer–without your knowledge or consent.
This blog will go into detail on how to do it properly for Windows users. Keep reading.
Disabling a Laptop Keyboard on Windows 10
There are two safe methods to disable a laptop keyboard on Windows 10: permanently uninstall it or utilize the Device Manager.
If these ways don’t work, you may try to trick your system. ‘Force’ your keyboard to handle a driver that it can not actually make use. With this, it will eventually stop working. However, this trick is not advisable, but at least you have other options to choose from.
Disable The Keyboard Thru Device Manager
To disable the keyboard through the Device Manager, you need to follow these steps:
- Open the Device Manager by doing a right-click on the Start button and selecting Devices and Printers on it.
- Navigate to the Keyboards section and double-click on it.
- Right-click on your keyboard of choice and select Properties from the menu that appears.
- On the Keyboard Properties window, click on the Advanced tab and then click on the Driver button.
- Select Disable from the drop-down menu and click OK.
- Click Apply to make sure that your changes are applied properly. If you notice a message saying that Windows can not disable this device, close it out by clicking OK on it.
- Reboot your laptop when prompted to do so by a message saying that there are driver updates available for you to install.
Disable The Keyboard Thru CMD (Windows 10)
There are instances that disabling a keyboard via Device Manager doesn’t work properly. In such cases, you may try disabling the keyboard by utilizing the Command Prompt. This method also makes use of the Device Manager.
Here’s how:
- Open the Command Prompt via Start > type cmd and select Command Prompt in the results that appear upon hitting Enter.
- Type the following command into the prompt: systempropertiesadvanced and hit Enter.
- Select the Hardware tab when the tab is highlighted, then select Device Installation Settings under the heading that reads Device Installation Restrictions.
- Check the box saying “Disable driver software installation” and click OK to apply your changes. This will prevent any gadgets from being installed on your laptop in the future.
- Reboot your laptop when prompted to do so by a message saying that there are driver updates available for you to install.
Optional: Use An Incompatible Driver
Besides permanently deleting your keyboard or uninstalling it, there is also another way to disable a laptop keyboard. You may make it think that your keyboard is using an incompatible driver, which ultimately will make it stop working altogether.
- Open the Device Manager.
- Navigate to the Keyboard section and double-click on it.
- Right-click on your keyboard of choice and select Properties from the menu that appears.
- On the Keyboard Properties window, click on the Driver tab and then click on the Update Driver button.
- Select Browse my computer for driver software on the next screen, hit Next afterwards to continue installing a driver for your keyboard.
- Browse to your Keyboard folder and select the correct driver for it.
- Select Close after you’re done installing the driver and close out of Device Manager as well when prompted to do so.
With all of these methods, there is always a chance that your laptop keyboard will stop working temporarily – but there’s nothing you can do about it except wait.
Stop the Keyboard From Installing Through Group Policy Editor
Group Policy Editor is a tool that’s pretty much used by more experienced users who are either IT or security personnel. It’s a powerful tool that enables you to change virtually any aspect of the Windows operating system, from its settings to configuration and even security.
This technique is quite challenging to use, but it’s quite effective. To do it, follow these steps:
- On your Windows 10 laptop, launch Run and type gpedit.msc.
- Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation > Device Installation Restrictions and open it on the left panel to view its contents on the right panel.
- Scroll down until you see the policy settings that are related to “Prevent installation of devices not described by other policy settings”.
- Double-click on “Prevent installation of devices that match these device IDs” and change its status from Not Configured to Enabled. Click OK when you’re done configuring your laptop’s Group Policy Editor.
- When prompted to restart your computer, click OK.
- At your laptop’s screen where it says Press any key to boot from CD/DVD/USB, press CTRL + SHIFT + DELETE at the same time.
- When you see the Windows Recovery screen that asks you whether or not you want to load a previous version of Windows on your computer, click on the Troubleshoot button and then under Troubleshoot menu choose Advanced Options > Startup Settings and press Enter.
- On the Advanced Boot Options screen, press F7 on your keyboard to access Safe Mode.
- When the loading is complete, log in to your Windows 10 laptop with your user account and launch Run as administrator once again. Now type gpedit.msc into it and click OK when you’re done configuring Group Policy Editor on Safe Mode of Windows 10.
- After you’re done configuring the Group Policy Editor, restart your PC on your Windows 10 laptop by clicking the Power button (Restart) or pressing CTRL + SHIFT + F5.
The above steps should work on all Windows 10 laptops. However, you have to repeat Steps 5-10 until it works for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I temporarily disable my laptop keyboard?
Laptop keyboards can stop working from time to time. There are several methods that are capable of doing this, but it all depends on the model of your laptop and whether or not it’s a mechanical keyboard.
The safest method to accomplish this is by running the KeyboardTest.exe application from the start menu. This application attaches the keyboard to a USB port, and the command line output can easily be read out by anyone.
How do I enable my laptop keyboard after disabling it?
In order to use your device after you have disabled it, you will need to reboot your machine using the ACPI 5 method and then disable the ACPI5 RTC memory range by clicking Disable in the Windows 10 Group Policy Editor. After that, you need to restart your computer and press CTRL + SHIFT + F5 when your device prompts you to restart it.
Why does my laptop keyboard automatically type?
The problem with this issue is that the keyboard device has a different configuration than the on-screen keyboard you normally use for text input. Since the on-screen keyboard can get confused when you press and hold keys, a third-party software application may be able to solve this problem.
How do I disable the keyboard and enable the external keyboard on my laptop?
The process for this varies depending on the model of your machine. The following steps should generally work for most laptops:
Restart your device and press CTRL + SHIFT + F5 to enable the wireless keyboard. Select your language as usual, and press CTRL + SHIFT + F10 to bring up the command line. Run the program keyboardtest.exe from the Start Menu to test if it works.
Conclusion
As you can see, using these tweaks on Windows 10 laptops is quite possible and can help you solve a wide range of problems that otherwise would have forced you to call a technician for your laptop.
However, before you change anything on your computer’s configuration, make sure you have accurate knowledge about the commands used in the tutorial because whenever you make any changes through the registry, it causes more damage than needs to be done.
