How to Disable a Laptop Keyboard on Windows 10: Temporarily or Permanently

Disabling a laptop keyboard isn’t that complicated. Yet, there are still several Windows users who always ask me, “how do I disable my laptop keyboard?”

Today, I’ll be answering this question once and for all. Keep reading, and allow me to help you!

Why Should You Disable Your Laptop’s Keyboard?

When I first got my Windows laptop, it never crossed my mind that I’d want to disable the laptop keyboard.

Keyboards play a vital role in this one device. Why would I want the disable option for my devices? Well, there are several reasons.

FIRST, you want to use external keyboards. Using an external keyboard/USB keyboard is popular because of its CONVENIENCE, making me a big fan.

SECOND, you want to prevent further damage to your laptop. My keyboard got wrecked the last time I spilled a drink on my laptop.

I found out later on that I should have disabled the keyboard immediately to prevent the laptop from getting affected.

And LASTLY, you don’t want your pets or children accidentally pressing the keys. 

Somehow, children and pets manage to keyboard smash almost anything. And when this happens, I end up with a screen full of “sdfghw2qo3ce;inalkefopekbebncdad”

If you don’t want this to happen, disable your laptop keyboard.

Disabling a Windows Laptop Keyboard

After several years of using Windows, I’ve mastered disabling my laptop keyboard temporarily and permanently.

Disable Temporarily With a Few Easy Steps

Whether you have a new laptop or not, it pays to know how to disable your laptop keyboard. The whole process takes me no more than 10 minutes!

• Step 1: Power on the Windows computer and input the log-in credentials.

• Step 2: Press the Start menu and select Device Manager. Alternatively, you can type “Device Manager” on the search box. Hit the enter button, and a new window will pop up.

• Step 3: Open Device Manager and find the “Keyboards” section. Expand “Keyboards”, and it will show the available keyboard drivers installed on your computer.

• Step 4: Right-click on the desired keyboard and click “Uninstall Device. A prompt will confirm if I want to disable the laptop’s built-in keyboard, and I select continue to proceed.

Getting my internal keyboard to start working again is just as easy as disabling it. All I have to do is restart my laptop, and the keyboard driver software will automatically reinstall.

It’s that easy!

Permanently Disable Laptop Keyboard in Two Ways

Sometimes, I don’t want to use my laptop keyboard at all. And when this is the case, I permanently disable the keyboard through the device manager.

For this part, what I’m essentially trying to do is trick my computer.

Whenever I power on my laptop, I want to stop it from automatically installing my keyboard hardware or getting detected.

Instead, I will install the incorrect driver or wrong drivers.

Easy Steps for Windows Users

Start by following Steps 1 to 3 that I’ve mentioned above. Open the Start menu and double click “Device Manager.”

• Step 4: On the Device Manager window, right-click on the target keyboard, and press “Update Drivers.” Previously, I chose “Uninstall device.” But for this one, right-click and select “Update driver” instead.

• Step 5: A new window will appear, and you’ll be asked, “How do you want to search for drivers?” Double click on the option that says “Browse my computer for driver software.”

• Step 6: A new window will open again, which allows you to browse drivers on the computer. Select the option “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.”

• Step 7: On the new window, press the check box which says “Show compatible hardware.” Doing this shows all the available and new hardware to choose from. This step is CRUCIAL because you do not want to choose the same driver that your laptop already has.

• Step 8: After locking in my choice, I press next. An update driver warning pops up, and I press yes. The warning isn’t a cause for concern. It simply warns me that I won’t be able to use my keyboard after installing hardware that’s not compatible with my laptop’s internal keyboard.

• Step 9: A new window pops up, asking me if I want to restart my device. I press “Yes,” and my computer reboots. Once it’s done restarting, my keyboard stays disabled until I decide to install the right hardware.

Using Group Policy Editor

As an alternative to the steps I’ve mentioned above, I recommend using the local group policy editor on the Windows computer.

It will enable device installation restriction to disable laptop keyboard.

Personally, I prefer this option because it leaves no room for error. Plus, my keyboard will no longer function unless I purposely enable it.

Each time I power on my computer, I’m sure that my keyboard stays disabled.

Here’s how I do it.

Steps 1 to 3 remain similar to what I’ve mentioned above. Open up Device Manager on the computer.

• Step 4: On the Device Manager, right-click on the target keyboard, and select “Properties.”

• Step 5: Open up the “Details” tab, and on the drop-down menu, look for “Hardware ids” or “device instance ids.” Make sure to copy the value indicated because this will be a crucial piece of information later.

• Step 6: Select “Uninstall Device” and minimize the Device Manager page.

• Step 7: Open up the local group policy editor. Run dialog box, type “gpedit.msc,” and press enter. This will open the policy settings.

• Press the following folders accordingly on the Local Group Policy Editor: Administrative templates > system > device installation > device installation restrictions.

• Step 8: On the window, right-click on “Prevent installation of devices corresponding to any of this device ids,” and make sure it is enabled.

• Paste the Hardware ids value that was previously noted, which will simply disable the keyboard permanently.

• More importantly, ensure that the device manager scan is disabled to prevent your laptop from detecting and automatically installing the keyboard hardware.

• Step 9: Restart the computer to save the changes, and voila! It will prevent the installation of devices and disable the laptop keyboard immediately.

Final Words

Now that you know how to disable your laptop keyboard, what are you waiting for? You can finally disable laptop keyboards without breaking a sweat.

I hope you found this article very helpful.

If you have any questions about disabling a laptop keyboard, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

I’ll be more than happy to answer them!