How to disable laptop keyboard in Windows 10
In most laptops, you can't easily replace a peripheral, and every peripheral can't be easily disabled. In the event that the laptop keyboard has stopped working completely or partially, you can simply disable it and replace it with a new one. In some cases, typing on laptops is more difficult than on desktop keyboards. To fix this, you will have to open the hood of the laptop and replace the entire installation with the built-in keyboard. This process is costly, which is why many users choose to add an external keyboard to their laptop and use it instead. In such cases, on most laptops, the user is required to disable the built-in keyboard, and here's how to do it. If you want to disable your laptop keyboard after installing an external keyboard on your Windows 10/11 PC, you can do so by following the steps in this article.
How to disable laptop keyboard in Windows 10
Don't know how to disable laptop keyboard in Windows 10? Don't worry, you are in the right place! Laptop keyboards are made smaller by manufacturers to be easier to carry around. To work on a computer, you will need some peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc., but a laptop has a combination of all three. Windows has several methods that allow users to disable the keyboard in Windows 10 if it causes any problems. In this article, we can see how to implement the same.
Method 1: Disable Keyboard Driver
The main advantage of the Windows operating system is that you can completely disable the keyboard on your laptop. To disable the built-in keyboard, follow these steps:
Note. No computer can be used without a keyboard, so before disabling the built-in keyboard, you need to make sure that an external keyboard is connected to your laptop.
1. Press the Windows key, type Device Manager and click Open.
2. In the Device Manager window, find the "Keyboards" option.
3. Double click Keyboards to open it. It displays all keyboards that are connected to your laptop.
4. Locate the built-in keyboard and right-click it.
5. Then click Disable.
Note. If you don't see the Disable option, click Uninstall to uninstall the driver instead of disabling it.
6. Click "Delete" to remove it.
Even if you uninstall the driver for your laptop's built-in keyboard, Windows 10 may automatically update the driver after it detects it, if it does, you'll have to go through the process again from the beginning until the driver is completely uninstalled. If you don't know how to uninstall or uninstall device drivers from your computer, take a look at our guide to uninstalling and reinstalling device drivers in Windows 10.
Method 2: Disable the service that controls the PS/2 port
If the first method did not help you figure out how to disable your Windows 10 laptop keyboard, you can do the same with this alternative method. You can disable the port that controls the input and data of the PS/2 ports, since most laptops have an internal connection. Follow the steps below to disable laptop keyboard using command prompt.
1. Press the Windows key and type cmd. Click "Run as administrator" as shown in the picture.
2. In the command window, type sc config i8042prt start= disabled as shown and press the Enter key to execute the command.
3. Wait for the command to complete and restart your computer.
4. Your laptop keyboard will stop working.
Thus, you can disable the laptop keyboard using the command line.
Note. In case you want to use your keyboard in the future use the following command: sc config i8042prt start= auto
Method 3: Through the Local Group Policy Editor
If the above two methods didn't work for you to learn how to disable the Windows 10 laptop keyboard, you can use the Group Policy Editor to restrict the installation of the device. This method will prevent the laptop keyboard from reinstalling when the device starts up. Follow these steps to disable the Windows 10 keyboard.
Note. Before proceeding with this process, please note that this method only applies to devices running Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise.
1. Launch Device Manager through the Windows search bar.
2. Find Keyboards in the list and expand your driver by double clicking on it.
3. Right-click the driver and select the Properties option.
4. Now go to the Details tab and expand the Properties menu by clicking on the drop-down menu.
5. Select Hardware IDs from the Device Description drop-down menu.
6. In the "Value" section, select the first option. [HIDConvertedDevice&Col01] and right click on it. Click Copy to copy the text.
7. Press the Windows + R keys at the same time to open the Run dialog box.
8. Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter key to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
Note. You can also type "Local Group Policy Editor" in the search bar and open it.
9. Expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates by double-clicking them.
10. Now double-click System.
11. Then double click "Device Installation" to open it.
12. Double-click Device Installation Restrictions.
13. After that, in the right pane, look for Deny installation of devices that match any of these device instance IDs.
14. Once found, double click on it, then set it to Enabled.
15. Then, in the "Options" section, click the "Show" button, which will open the "Show Contents" window.
16. In the value column, double-click the spacebar and paste the copied ID (step 7) into the properties of the internal keyboard.
17. Press the OK button and press OK again.
18. You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor window.
The next step is to remove the internal keyboard.
19. Open Device Manager and follow steps 1-3 as mentioned in method 1.
20. Locate the built-in keyboard driver and right-click it. Then select the Remove device option as you did earlier.
21. At the next prompt, click Remove.
When you restart your computer, you will see that your computer's built-in keyboard has stopped working. Now you can disable the keyboard on your laptop.
Method 4: Through Third Party Tools
The methods discussed above will help you understand how to disable the Windows 10 laptop keyboard with built-in settings. If you haven't found a solution with these methods, you can still rely on third-party tools to help you disable the keyboard on your laptop.
1. BlueLife Key Freeze
BlueLife KeyFreeze is a simple and handy tool to help you easily disable the keyboard on your Windows 10 laptop or PC. Please note that you can use BlueLife KeyFreeze to disable your mouse. You can use this app (to lock or unlock keys) by simply pressing the Ctrl + Alt + F keys at the same time, but you can change this combination if you want. It blocks the keyboard and mouse individually or together without blocking the screen which is an added benefit. After downloading the tool from the official website, extract the zip file and run the setup file by double-clicking on it. The taskbar starts a countdown, and when the countdown ends, the mouse and keyboard can be locked or unlocked. You can also configure several settings such as changing keyboard shortcuts, disabling pop-ups, allowing mouse movement, and more.
Supported operating systems: Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP - (both x86 and x64)
Supported Languages: English, Arabic, Czech, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian , Vietnamese, Dutch, Persian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Romanian.
2. Keyboard lock
KeyboardLock is a more secure third-party app that locks the keyboard and mouse while using less system resources. It has a compact interface with accessible features. It's simple and can go unnoticed on the taskbar until you need to lock your mouse or keyboard on your Windows PC. All you have to do is set a password and click the start icon to lock your keyboard. If you want to lock the mouse, you must enter the password again. Don't worry, this won't cause confusion even if the keypad lock is enabled. This tool will not interfere with your open applications on your computer, and if you want to unlock your keyboard, please enter your password again. The interesting part of the tool is that it even works for external keyboards.
Supported operating systems
Windows 7 32/64 bit, Windows Vista 32/64 bit, Windows 2003, Windows XP
3. Anti-Neck
Anti-Shaya is a simple tool that can work on all versions of Windows OS. It has a simple and efficient user interface with a lock button and a password field. When you press the lock key, all keys will be disabled and hence you will now have to rely on the mouse to perform routine tasks. If you want to unlock the keyboard, click the Anti-Shaya icon on the taskbar. Then enter your password and your keyboard will now be unlocked. Since this tool does not involve any process in the Windows registry, it does not require installation and you can run the executable directly. Even a user who is not familiar with the system can use this tool and it works well with operating systems without causing crashes, freezing issues or error messages. This tool supports all versions of Windows.
Now you know how to disable the laptop keyboard using command line and how to disable the laptop keyboard in Windows 10. If you are stuck in the middle of the troubleshooting process, please let us know in the comments section. Feel free to contact us for additional questions.
Frequently asked Questions
1. How to temporarily disable the Windows 10 laptop keyboard?
Answer The easiest way to disable the laptop keyboard on a Windows 10 PC is to disable it in Device Manager. The Device Manager is where the complete list of drivers will be placed. So, open the Device Manager and double-click the Keyboards section. Now right-click on the built-in keyboard driver and choose Disable from the context menu. You can also click Uninstall to temporarily disable your Windows 10 laptop keyboard.
2. How to disable laptop keyboard without removing it?
Answer If you don't want to uninstall the laptop keyboard driver on your Windows 10 computer, but still want to disable it temporarily, open Device Manager, then double-click the Keyboards section, right-click the built-in keyboard driver, and select Disable. .
3. Why can't I remove my laptop keyboard?
Answer If you cannot permanently remove the laptop keyboard, you should know that your computer automatically reinstalls the removed driver whenever you restart your computer. To resolve this issue, you can use the Group Policy Editor to restrict device installation. You must determine the hardware ID of your keyboard in order to resolve this issue.
4. How to remove laptop keyboard in Windows 11?
Answer There is the easiest way to remove the laptop keyboard on your Windows 11 PC by disabling it in Device Manager. The Device Manager is where the complete list of drivers will be placed. So, open the Device Manager and double-click the Keyboards section. Now, right-click on the name of the built-in keyboard driver and select "Uninstall" from the context menu.
5. How to remove laptop keyboard 2022?
Answer Firstly, launch the Device Manager and locate the Keyboards option, then double-click Keyboards to expand the driver. Locate the built-in keyboard and right-click it, then click Uninstall.
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