How to enable numlock by default in Windows by Bas Wijdenes

How did I get to enroll the numlock key at start up?

Many users and mainly from the finance department use the numlockpad to the right of your keyboard. Users often do not understand the numlock key and that these buttons have different functions.

When I was still a helpdesk engineer I was often called with the question why they can not type numbers. For some of these users we use the numlock key when starting Windows.


Enabling Numlock key on default, the basics.

Because you can not enable the numlock key in a Windows settings, we will have to implement this by adjusting the registry.

Follow the steps carefully.
Changing something else in the registry can have a big impact on your Windows and can corrupt your PC.

The tutorial consists of two parts.
One is for the techies among us and the second is the same, but with screenshots for the dummies.


Turn on Numlock at startup Windows for techies.

Go to Start and look for Regedit.
Or press CTRL + R and type in Regedit.

Navigate to the next location.
Since windows 10 you can also copy / paste it in Registry Editor.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard
Double click InitialKeyBoardIndicators and set the value to 2.

The numlock key is now enabled at starting Windows.


Let’s enable the numlock key on Windows for dummies.

Enable numlock key by default

Go to Start and click on Run, type in Regedit.
Or press CTRL + R and type in Regedit.Type in Regedit as in the screenshot below.

Enable numlock key by default.
Enable numlock key by default.

Navigate to the next location.
Since windows 10 you can also copy / paste it in Registry Editor.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard

The steps separately.

  • Click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER
  • Click on Control Panel
  • Click on Keyboard
  • Double click on InitialKeyboardIndicators
Enable numlock key by default.
Enable numlock key by default.
Enable numlock key by default.
Enable numlock key by default.

Change the value of InitialKeyBoardIndicators to 2.

The numlock key is now enabled at starting Windows. Try it out by restarting Windows.


Summary

I reviewed the post on 15-8-2018 and I think the content is still relevant. I made some adjustments so that it fits well with Windows 10.

Do you have questions or comments about this? Please let me know in a comment.

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Bas Wijdenes

My name is Bas Wijdenes and I work as a PowerShell DevOps Engineer. In my spare time I write about interesting stuff that I encounter during my work.

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