Have you ever tried to log in to one of your accounts only to realize after a half-dozen password failures that the Caps Lock key was on?
Or perhaps you frequently catch yourself merrily typing a lengthy message in a chat session when you sudden realize you just shouted your digital lungs out at the person on the other end?
Unfortunately, this happens all the time, but you can prevent it from ever happening again by completely disabling the Caps Lock key on your Windows PC’s keyboard.
Note: Completely disabling the Caps Lock key is sort of a “nuclear option”, meaning it won’t be available to you in the event that you end up needing it at some point.
That being said, if you never use this irritating key you can potentially prevent a lot of headaches by simply disabling it.
There used to be a Registry hack that would disable the Caps Lock key, but for whatever reason Microsoft has made changes that render that hack ineffective.
However, you can still disable the Caps Lock key (or most any other key on your keyboard for that matter) using a really cool free tool from Microsoft called PowerToys.
Don’t let the “Toys” part of the name fool you. This little gem is no toy. It’s actually a very powerful and extremely useful tool that you can use to change the way Windows works in a number of beneficial ways.
Follow the steps below to install PowerToys and use it to disable your keyboard’s Caps Lock key.
First, you need to install PowerToys…
1 – Click here to visit the PowerToys download page on Microsoft’s GitHub website. You should now see information about the latest release of PowerToys displayed on the screen.
2 – In the “Assets” section, click the PowerToysSetup link (ignore the characters after PowerToysSetup as they simply indicate the version level of the program).
3 – Double-click on the downloaded installation tool and install the program.
4 – Once the installation is complete run the PowerToys program and toggle both of these settings to On:
— Always run as administrator
— Run at Startup
Now, let’s disable the Caps Lock key:
1 – In the left-hand pane, click Keyboard Manager.
2 – In the right-hand pane, click Remap a key. A box labeled “Remap keys” should pop up.
3 – Click the + (plus sign).
4 – Use the drop-down menu in the “Key:” field to select Caps Lock. (You might have to do a lot of scrolling up and down to find Caps Lock, but trust me, it’s in there.)
5 – In the “Mapped to:” field, select Disable. (It should be the very top option in the list.)
6 – Click the OK button, then confirm your choice by clicking Continue Anyway.
7 – Click the X in the top-right corner of the window to exit the PowerToys app.
That’s all there is to it – you’re done.
From now on your Caps Lock key won’t do anything at all when you press it, meaning you can now type away without accidentally shouting everything you type at the top of your lungs!
Note: The PowerToys app will need to be running in order for the Caps Lock key to remain disabled. But don’t worry, it should now be set to load automatically every time you turn on or restart your PC.