2 Ways to Fix Keyboard not Working on Windows 11

Have you ever encountered a situation where your laptop keyboard doesn’t work? On Windows 11, the keyboard may be locked by the “filter key”. If you enable the “Filter Keys” function, after entering a letter, no matter how you type on the keyboard for the next period of time, you will not be able to enter other letters, resulting in your keyboard being locked.

The “Filter Keys” are mainly aimed at people with limited mobility. Press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard for 8 seconds to enable the Filter Key function. This feature allows only a single character to be entered, and then locks the keyboard to prevent accidental keystrokes.

If you have the same problem, don’t worry. This article describes how to turn off the feature and unlock the keyboard.

Turn off filter keys from settings

The way to turn off the filter key is simple.

Open Start menu and click on Settings.
Click the Accessibility tab on the left sidebar of the Settings window.
On the right side of the window, find and click the Keyboard tile under the Interaction section.
On the right side of the screen, turn off the toggle for the Filter Keys tile under the “Sticky Keys, Filters, and Toggle Keys” section.
Click the Filter Keys tile.
Click the toggle for “Keyboard Shortcuts for Filter Keys” to turn it “off”. This way you will no longer accidentally trigger a “filter key” on your system.

Turn off the filter key from the control panel

Except for turning off the filter key from the Settings app, you can also turn off the filter key from the control panel.

Open the start menu and search for Control, click the Control Panel tile.
Click Ease of Access Center in Control Panel.
Click the “Make the keyboard easier to use” option under the “Explore all settings” section.
Uncheck the box before the “Filter keys” option under the “Make it easier to type” section. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the window and click OK to close the window.

That’s it! Now, you may know the most probable issues behind the keyboard won’t type is the filter keys being turned on. Therefore, if you are facing this issue, you will know the solution.