My accessibility Keyboard pops up every time I open a program. Please advise

Question

My accessibility Keyboard pops up every time I open a program. Please advise

Answer 1

Hi Sean Keith,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that the on-screen accessibility keyboard keeps appearing every time you open a program.

Please make sure you already tried the Q&A Assist steps. In addition, I’d like to narrow this down a bit:

• Does this happen only after you sign in, or also on the Windows sign-in screen?
• Are you using a physical keyboard only, or is this a touchscreen or tablet device?

In the meantime, you can try these steps:

1, Turn off Filter Keys and related shortcuts

• Open Settings
• Go to Accessibility
• Select Keyboard
• Make sure Filter Keys and the shortcut to start it are turned off

2, Check Touch Keyboard service behavior

• Press Windows key + R
• Type services.msc and press Enter
• Locate Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service
• Double-click it and set Startup type to Manual
• Click Stop if it is running, then Apply

3, Disable automatic keyboard at sign-in

• Open Settings
• Go to Accounts
• Select Sign-in options
• Turn off Automatically show the touch keyboard when no keyboard is attached

4, Test with a clean boot environment

• Press Windows key + R
• Type msconfig and press Enter
• On the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services
• Click Disable all and restart
• Check if the keyboard still appears when opening apps

5, Create a new local test account

• Open Settings
• Go to Accounts
• Select Other users
• Add a new local account
• Sign in with the new account and test if the issue persists

6, Check for pending Windows updates

• Open Settings
• Go to Windows Update
• Select Check for updates and install any available updates

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

Answer 2

Hi! Is it the Virtual Keyboard or Touch Keyboard that appears? Please attach an image of the keyboard type.

In the taskbar, click on ^ > See if there is a virtual keyboard icon (Attach a screenshot).

Open Task Manager (Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) > Click on Startup Apps > Look for Virtual Keyboard, or OSK.exe > Right-click > Disable > Restart your computer.

• Also check if the Virtual Keyboard and Access Keys are enabled in Windows Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.

Answer 3

If the accessibility keyboard is popping up every time you open a program, it may be due to a setting that enables the On-Screen Keyboard to launch automatically. You can check the following steps to resolve this issue:

1. Disable Automatic Startup: Go to the Ease of Access settings in Windows. Navigate to Keyboard and ensure that the option for "Use the On-Screen Keyboard" is turned off.
2. Check Startup Programs: Sometimes, the On-Screen Keyboard may be set to start with Windows. You can check your startup programs by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, then go to the Startup tab and disable the On-Screen Keyboard if it appears there.
3. Check for Accessibility Settings: Ensure that there are no accessibility features enabled that might be causing the On-Screen Keyboard to open automatically. You can find these settings in the Control Panel under Ease of Access Center.
4. Update Drivers: Make sure that your keyboard drivers are up to date, as outdated drivers can sometimes cause issues with input devices.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider checking for any third-party software that may be interfering with the keyboard settings.

---

References:

• Hardware and software keyboards
• Keyboard interactions