A rather worrying experience last night that needed posting mainly because answers found on the net were largely unhelpful.
I had sat here for a few hours working: mainly online admins in Chrome. As the evening drew close, I was aware the system had slowed down and I made a mental note that I would have to reboot, but before I did, it happened.
Almost everything I did with the keyboard became erratic. Links would open new windows, keyboard strokes and combos (Ctrl + F5) would close windows (not refresh my page) and many others but I think you get the idea.
OK, time to reboot – and that’s when it happened.
Used the Power / Restart buttons and waited as the system gracefully closed down, didn’t ask if I wanted to save/close anything but then went through the reboot process.
Arrived back at the Windows screen requiring me to enter a 4 digit PIN = Nothing, the system was not seeing anything I was typing, regardless of which numbers I used (top of keyboard or keypad.
- First attempt was to disconnect the keyboard and plug in another (spare) keyboard into another port = nothing (even though I heard the connection beeps). Reboot again, bottom right of entry screen is a Power button. System rebooted but same, no keyboard.
- Hmmm, on my iPad, Google issue = Windows 11 not seeing keyboard. Microsoft can be obtuse at times and this was one of them. A few suggestions required “keyboard access” .. derr, that’s the issue.
- Don’t bother looking for “Keyboard Troubleshooter” – it does not exist. Microsoft removed it in 2007 (thanks Microsoft).
- This part I can’t explain.. the second keyboard began working albeit numbers only. At least I got in. The keyboard was still behaving erratically but the mouse was working.
- The suggestion I found was to uninstall the keyboard driver and REBOOT the system. Being honest, I had to repeat this exercise 3 times before it worked. In the light of day, the keyboard driver had become corrupted and needed reinstalling.
FIX #1 – Enable Onscreen Keyboard
I didn’t do this but if your mouse is working and you can get past the PIN screen then follow these steps. If your mouse is not working, then see “Getting Past PIN Screen”.
- Settings
- Acessibility
- Interaction / Keyboard
- Enable Onscreen Keyboard
- Go to Uninstall Keyboard Driver and Reboot
Uninstall Keyboard Driver and Reboot
- Device Manager > “Keyboards” > right click the keyboard driver and select “Uninstall Device”.
- REBOOT the computer (possibly repeat until working).
- Disable Onscreen Keyboard
Getting Past PIN Screen
Yes, this FIX requires getting past the PIN screen. There was an icon to display the Onscreen Keyboard but mine was not working.
If you can’t get past the PIN screen, I suggest rebooting until the system recognises at least the keyboard to get you in.
You cannot uninstall a Windows 11 keyboard driver outside of the operating system. While you can disable or uninstall the device driver within Windows using Device Manager, you cannot physically remove the driver from the system outside of Windows. The driver is essential for the keyboard to function, and uninstalling it within Windows will prevent the keyboard from working until the driver is reinstalled.
Good luck everyone.
Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12400 2.50 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)
Device ID C8A0FD2B-42DE-4A9C-8506-C4A1272A6A11
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
Installed on 26/11/2024
OS build 26100.4061
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.84.0
Wired DELL Keyboard <– many fixes discuss wireless which are unhelpful and do not apply.