How to open the On Screen Keyboard in Windows 10 when your physical keyboard isn't working

[JamieKavanagh]

Quite a few users found USB issues when upgrading to Windows 10. The USB port would either fail to respond, go to sleep and not wake up until a reboot or would intermittently stop responding. Aside from a reboot, you can still troubleshoot the issue with the on screen keyboard. Here’s how to open the On Screen Keyboard in Windows 10 when your physical keyboard isn't working.

Losing the use of your keyboard has obvious usability implications, but you can still use your machine to troubleshoot before a reboot. Usually, it’s easier to unplug your keyboard for a few seconds and then plug it back in again. Windows should auto-detect the change and reload the USB driver. If it doesn’t, you can use the on screen keyboard.

Open the On Screen Keyboard in Windows 10
There is a simple way to open the On Screen Keyboard in Windows 10 when your keyboard isn't working.

1. Navigate to Settings, Ease of Access and Keyboard.
2. Toggle Turn on the On-Screen Keyboard to the on position.
3. Use the keyboard by clicking keys and options with the mouse.

From here you can set up the keyboard as you see fit. Click the Options button on the On-Screen keyboard and try these.

• Use click sound to have an audible tone when a key is clicked.
• Show keys to make it easier to move around the screen to illuminate each key as you click it.
• Turn on numeric keypad. Does exactly what it says.
• Use Text Prediction. If you love smartphones so much you cannot live without them.

There are a few other commands, but these four are the most useful while your keyboard isn’t working.

For more tips and tricks to taming Windows 10, try these tutorials:
How to perform Windows 10/Ubuntu dual boot
Guide to optimizing Windows 10
How to forget/delete Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 10

View all of our Windows 10 Tutorials