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Your keyboard has stopped working for some reason, and you need to do something before restarting that requires the keyboard. What do you do? Well, Vista has an on-screen keyboard that you can use by just clicking with your mouse (of course this assumes that your mouse is still working). I saw a related tip over at Tweakvista, but their solution was to make a shortcut ahead of time. Great if you’re the type that plans ahead for unlikely situations, but I was more interested in the “didn’t plan ahead, I’m screwed now” scenario.
It’s easy to start, just click on the Start menu and type OSK in the search box which will display the osk.exe file, then hit Enter. Hmmm, wait a minute, that’s right, your keyboard doesn’t work so you can’t type that stuff in. OK, here’s how to get to the on-screen keyboard using just your mouse.
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Click the Start menu and choose Control Panel
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Click on Ease of Access
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Click on Ease of Access Center
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Click on Start On-Screen Keyboard
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Up pops a keyboard! You actually have three keyboards to choose from in the Keyboard menu:
- 101 Key
- 102 Key
- 106 Key
Actually, you can take it further than that, as the Keyboard menu allows you to set each as a Standard instead of an Enhanced keyboard:
- 101 Key
- 102 Key
- 106 Key
Did I mention that the 101 key layout can also be changed to Block instead of Regular?
- Block Standard
- Block Extended
If you poke around the Settings menu you’ll find a few more options, like the ability to turn on a clicking sound, to have letter type by just hovering over them instead of clicking them, and even changing the font and size if you have a hard time seeing the letters on the keys (though the keys don’t get any bigger, try changing the font size to 72pt for a comical/unusable keyboard).
- 101 Key
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Comments
ITsVISTA Tip #13: Accessing Vista's Other On-Screen Keyboard | ITsVISTA
Dec 30, 2006 at 11:25 am
[...] Yesterday I posted a tip on how to access Vista's On-Screen Keyboard. If you have the Business, Enterprise, Home Premium, or Ultimate versions of Vista, then you have another option to the On-Screen Keyboard that Vista offers. Called the Tablet PC Input Panel, this program is designed to allow tablet PC users to input information in a few ways, including writing words or characters by hand, or by tapping on an on-screen keyboard. You don't have to be running a Tablet PC to use it, the functionality is now built into Vista (instead of being a separate version of Windows as XP Tablet PC Edition was). [...]
30 Tips for Getting More (or Less) Out of Windows Vista | ITsVISTA
Jan 31, 2007 at 9:40 am
[...] How to Open the Vista On-Screen Keyboard with a Mouse [...]
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Apr 10, 2007 at 6:44 am
The on-screen keyboard can also be found in Accessories->Ease of Access on the default Start Menu
Emi
Apr 10, 2007 at 9:23 pm
How do you turn off on-screen keyboard!? And also stop it from appearing when windows starts!?
Joe
Apr 12, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Mine has a ‘close’ button in the upper left-hand corner (can be seen in the images above). I checked the Tablet PC input panel (the other keyboard) and it does as well. With the Tablet PC input panel, clicking the close button actually just shrinks it to the side, you have to click ‘Tools’ and ‘exit’ to actually close it completely.
Jess Q.
May 26, 2007 at 1:42 am
you have to click ‘Tools’ and ‘exit’ to actually close it completely
What sucks is my Tools menu doesn’t list Exit as an option. I’m guessing it’s some dumb Administrator loophole? I’ll try it on the main account and see if that changes anything.
Jas
May 27, 2007 at 12:28 am
To turn of OSK from starting up in Vista you need to go to an area known as “Use text or visual alternatves for sounds”. There you will find the illusive OSK check box. Its not very obvious like many thing in Vista.
Lisa
Jun 21, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I am having the same issue. My son turned on the windows on screen keyboard and I have done just about everything to shut it off, but it jut reloads every time I start my pc. I hate that part of Vista. I think the keyboard and the magnifier are just a pain. I need tips as well how to shut all of that off. Thanks for your help in this matter, and take care. Lisa
Joe
Jun 21, 2007 at 7:56 pm
You are in luck. Stop back here tomorrow, tip number 60 will fix your problem!
Michael
Jul 24, 2007 at 1:05 am
Actually I figured it out… Go to Control panel > Ease of Access > Under use Computer without keyboard or mouse you will find a check box for the On-Screen Keyboard. Un-Check it and hit “SAVE” not apply. It will prompt you to re-start. That should fix the problem.
Michael
Jul 24, 2007 at 1:07 am
Actually you need to click on Use Computer without Keyboard or mouse, and then follow the directions above… Sorry.
Vic
Sep 10, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Thank you for the tip related to how to turn off OSK!
Stephanie
Sep 15, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Thank you soooo much! My dad just got vista and the keyboard popping up was driving him crazy!
Thank you again!
Matt
Sep 18, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Mike! You’re the man. I was getting crazy about this OSK. I almost recovered my machine. Thanks for the tip.
Matt
Sep 18, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Mike! You’re the man. I was getting crazy coz this OSK. I almost recovered my machine. Thanks for the tip.
Borys
Nov 27, 2007 at 7:56 am
Thanks so lot man!!!!!!!!!!
Jeffrey
Dec 14, 2007 at 2:13 am
THANX SO VERY MUCH! I’ve been trying for MONTHS to remove this bloody thing (OSK). You’re the BEST!
confussed
Feb 15, 2008 at 10:45 am
if your system has multiple users you will need to select “Apply Settings to Administrator” located on teh left hand bar. Otherwise the settings will not take for the OSK at login
Len
Jul 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Good one, thanks. Microsoft helpfully let’s you in on how to get it, but leaves you with it till the end of time.
Malin
Aug 4, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I have a HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop. I accidentally hit something on my keyboard and now when the num lock is on the letter “g” comes up as a 3 and so on…. I have tried using the fn key and hitting the function keys on top to hopefully toggle off the “problem” to no avial. I have also gone in to the Bios in startup to reset (which is what HP said to do) to no AVAIL…. any other ideas anyone?
Ricky
Aug 31, 2008 at 8:35 am
I have a problem where the On Screen Keyboard
takes over for the standard keyboard and will not allow typing from the standard keyboard.
I,ve tried turning off the OSK, reloading the standard keyboard drivers and restarting the computer…How do I get the standard keyboard to work? This problem is on a new Sony VAIO vgn-nr260e laptop.
Mel
Sep 4, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I had the same problem. nothing worked until I saw the post by “confused” His “Apply Settings to Administrator” tip cleared the problem. Without this, if you have multiple users, the fix will not work
Coty
Sep 30, 2008 at 2:12 am
THANK YOU MICHAEL!!!!! (July 24, 2007)
the OSK was driving me insane -.-
P.S. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M Osborne
Oct 10, 2008 at 3:58 am
Thank you Jas, I also have been trying to get rid of OSK for months, came close to throwing my laptop at wall everytime the bloody thing slowed everything til it popped up. Thanks again..
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