How to Disable Laptop keyboard
Disabling your laptop keyboard is not something you do by accident, so there’s certainly a good reason for it. For some users, it’s to enable them to port to a full touchscreen experience, while, for others, it’s the need to use an external or wireless keyboard.
Whatever your reasons, you’ll find the guide here helpful to temporarily or permanently disable your laptop keyboard. Read on below to find out!
How to Temporarily Disable Your Keyboard In Device Manager
You can disable your laptop keyboard in Device Manager, but the drawback with this method is that it only offers a temporary solution; your keyboard may spring back to life once you reboot Windows. However, it’s still an ideal solution if your reason for disabling your keyboard is to test out external hardware.
To disable your keyboard in Device Manager,
- Press Windows key + R to launch Run Command
- In the Run mini window, type devmgmt.msc in the provided search box and click OK
- In the Device Manager window, navigate down the list of hardware and click Keyboards to expand the options therein
- Right-click your device keyboard and select Disable Device.
Unless you’re using a laptop with touchscreen capabilities, your keyboard may start working again as Windows needs it for your security details input when signing in. Given this, you might want to use the next method below instead.
How to Permanently Disable Your Keyboard with Policy Editor
If you’d fare better without your keyboard, you need to disable it permanently. And this can only be done by retracting your PC’s ability to install new keyboard drivers, as that’s what enables your keyboard to spring back to life when booting up.
To use this method,
- Press Windows key + R to launch Run Command
- Type gpedit.msc in the search box and click OK
- In the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration section and click Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation > Device Installation Restrictions
- Next, move your cursor to the right section to find Prevent Installation of Devices that Match Any of these Device Instances IDs. Right-click on it and select Edit
- In the new mini window, navigate to the upper-left section and select Enabled from the options
- Navigate to the small Show Contents window inside and click the Show Button, then minimize the entire Policy Editor window and go to the desktop
- Next, go back to step 4 of the previous method and select Properties when you right-click on your keyboard hardware
- Under the Properties window, navigate to the Value section and copy the first ID
- Now, come back to Show Contents mini-window in Policy Editor and paste the ID you copied earlier
- Click Ok in all open windows in Policy Editor to save the changes
- Lastly, go back to Step 4 of the previous method again and select Uninstall Device from the options this time
With all that done, you can now reboot your PC to confirm that your keyboard has been permanently disabled.
Final Notes
There you have it! I hope the tutorials in this article help you disable your laptop keyboard. If your keyboard is still working after using method 2, it’s most likely because you used the wrong ID in step 8. Restart the steps from that point and try other available IDs.
