On Windows 11, the keyboard can be accidentally locked by a feature called ‘Filter keys’. When enabled, after accepting a first letter input, your keyboard will not accept other characters until a certain time has elapsed. Additionally, when you press a key, it may produce a beeping sound; that is as unpleasant as it is frustrating.

The feature is mainly focused on people having mobility issues, like hand tremors, where they might press several other buttons successively instead of pressing a single key. Hence, to prevent this, the ‘Filter keys’ function only allows a single character entry and then locks the keyboard for a specific amount of time to prevent unintentional keystroke input.

The filter keys can be turned on by pressing and holding the Shift key on your keyboard for 8 seconds. Though it is very unlikely that you will be holding the Shift key on your keyboard for 8 long seconds intentionally, it can still happen. If you tend to keep something on your keyboard now and then, it does increase the possibility of accidentally triggering the feature on your system.

If you are also experiencing the same issue on your PC, worry not. It is very easy to turn off the feature and get the regular usage of your keyboard back. There is more than one way to turn off the setting, and for your ease of convenience, we are going to showcase all of them in this guide.

Turn Off Filter Keys from the Settings

Turning off filter keys is a straightforward process. Moreover, it will not require you to put in an effort worth more than a couple of clicks.

To do so, first, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile present under the pinned apps section. Alternatively, you can also press the Windows + I keys together on your keyboard to open the app.

Then, locate and click on the ‘Accessibility’ tab present on the left sidebar of the Settings window to continue.

Next, from the right section of the window, scroll down to locate and click on the ‘Keyboard’ tile present under the ‘Interaction’ section to proceed.

After that, to the right section of the screen, locate the ‘Filter keys’ tile present under the ‘Sticky, Filter, and Toggle keys’ section, and click on the toggle switch to bring it to the ‘Off’ position.

Now, click on the ‘Filter keys’ tile to proceed and tweak the settings for it.

On the next screen, locate the ‘Keyboard shortcut for Filter keys’ tile and click on the following toggle switch to bring it to the ‘Off’ position. This will ensure that you do not accidentally trigger the ‘Filter keys’ on your system.

Turn Off Filter Keys from the Control Panel

If for some reason, you don’t prefer to turn off Filter keys from the Settings app (or can’t), you can also turn it off from the Control Panel.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Control to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Control Panel’ tile to proceed.

Alternatively, press the Windows+R keys together on your keyboard to bring up the Run utility. Then, type control in the text box present on the window and hit Enter on your keyboard to open the Control Panel on your screen.

Then, from the Control Panel window, locate and click on the ‘Ease of Access Center’ tile or category to proceed.

On the next screen, locate and click on the ‘Make the keyboard easier to use’ option present under the ‘Explore all settings’ section to continue.

Then, click on the checkbox preceding the ‘Filter keys’ option situated under the ‘Make it easier to type’ section to uncheck it. Once unchecked, click on the ‘Apply’ button present at the bottom section of the window to apply the changes, and click on the ‘OK’ button to close the window.

There you go, people! One of the most probable issues behind the keyboard getting locked is the filter keys being turned on. Well, in case you face this issue anytime in the future, now you know how to resolve it.