Keep Num Lock on after start-up

Anonymous
2008-12-22T16:09:28+00:00

How do I make windows start-up with the Number Lock on?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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
2008-12-22T19:42:50+00:00

Windows will remember the setting you use at shutdown, usually. If you have trouble with that, there is a registry setting you can make to do it. If you are comfortable with that, for now you can go to :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard] (or [HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard] for all users) "InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2"

Later, you can come back to this thread when the "FitIt4me" team has the button developed to do that for you. They should be finishing up development work on that pretty soon.

Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-06-09T14:28:04+00:00

    NUM LOCK ALWAYS ON: Simplest solution is to download the free utility 'NumLocker' at 

    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/NumLocker.shtml. You can select Num Lock always on and it has never failed me with Windows 2000, Vista and Windows 7.

    It also lets you turn Scroll Lock and Caps Lock always off or on.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-06-18T02:50:52+00:00

    Thank You; I'm going to save these steps;  I may have used them  in  the past ( It sounds  familiar ) because several years ago I had the same thing happen to my computer after a reboot & it just happen again last week & I don’t remember how I fix it last time. So I’m going to Thank You In Advance. :)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-23T16:25:11+00:00

    Does anybody know if MS ever plans on fixing this issue? It sure is a royal pain in the rump. Almost to the point that I have considered alternatives to MS products. Even in images the registry setting reverts back to num locks off.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-23T20:28:17+00:00

    We're enduring the legacy of  the original IBM PC and keyboard which used the num pad to alternate as a scroll pad with NUM LOCK and SCROLL LOCK.  After the 101-key AT keyboard with separate num pad and scroll pad (I only use 101- or 104-key boards) NUM LOCK and SCROLL LOCK are totally redundant. Unfortunately, compact laptop keyboards revert to needing NUM LOCK for the numbers embedded in the alpha keys. With my laptop at home, I always use an external 101-key AT IBM Model M keyboard. So the NumLocker utility lets me keep NUM LOCK ALWAYS ON and SCROLL LOCK ALWAYS OFF.  Keep it in the system tray and in the start menu.  Every time I reboot or restart, NUM lock is ALWAYS on and scroll lock is always OFF!

    I think Microsoft wrote the Vista, 7 and 8 systems with the compact laptop keyboard in mind since most people want alpha for every day use and many seldom need the embeded number pad. Hence, Num Lock is always OFF when starting.  Pain. pain, pain!  But using a full keyboard with separate num pad with Excel requires me to have num lock ON always. The NumLocker utility has work without fail through Windows 98, Windows Vista and now Win 7. Get it at http://numlocker.en.softonic.com/  or http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/NumLocker.shtml.  IT WORKS!

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