my num lock keeps shutting itself off by itself can i stop this

Anonymous
2010-04-04T15:23:43+00:00

my num lock keeps shutting itself off by itself can i stop this

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2010-04-05T10:58:03+00:00

Hi vargatron,

a. Was it working fine earlier?

b. Do you remember making any recent changes to your computer?

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the windows help article below.

Back up the registry**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-the-registry**

  1. Go to start and type regedit.exe.
  2. Navigate to HKEY_USERS.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard.
  3. You'll see an entry on the right called InitialKeyboardIndicators. The "usual" default value is 0. Double click on this entry and change the value to 2.
  4. Close registry editor.

Restart the computer. The issue should be fixed by now.

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

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73 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-08-04T21:47:04+00:00

    Thank you for this hint!  Yes a Word2010 VBA SendKeys command was making it happen in my case. And thanks to your post I noticed it was that macro.  Interestingly, the exact Same SendKeys command in a VSTO addin did not cause this at all!

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-08-28T11:18:16+00:00

    I am having the same problem with my work computer.  I have the same initialkeyboardindicators number.  I did not change it as many of the other posts indicated that changing it to 2 did not help.  It is very annoying to think you have your number lock on and then end up somewhere else on the screen.  Was there an answer to this question?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-10-17T22:25:00+00:00

    None of the registry mods mentioned here are going to solve this problem. The registry ONLY sets the state of the number lock key on startup. The problem everyone is experiencing is that the number lock key seems to randomly turn itself off at various inconvenient times while you are using your computer.

    This problem is caused by a bug in Microsoft Office 2010 that Microsoft hasn't bothered to fix.

    The solution I found is to download and install a free program called NumLocker 1.0. It's fixed the problem on all my windows 7 machines. (I have not tested it with win 8 or 8.1 but I'm guessing it should work.) You can set it to startup with windows, and it runs in the system tray. It's default behavior is to force the number lock key to STAY locked. Very handy!

    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/NumLocker.shtml

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-11-21T10:08:49+00:00

    Let me be the first to apologise to Microsoft. As users of your operating system and Office products,  the complaints above are unwarranted. 

    We could never expect Microsoft to bother about buggy software it had been trying to correct for 30 years. 

    We will all live with num locks randomy switch off.

    It is clear that Microsoft cares nothing.

    Which is why we have all embraced Google and Android

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