Keyboard typing wrong characters: how to fix it

If you press one key and a different character appears, the keyboard is almost certainly not broken: Windows is using another layout (for example, United Kingdom or US-International instead of US). This usually happens because of a shortcut pressed by accident.

In this article

1. Quick fix
2. Keep only the right layout (so it doesn’t happen again)
   1. How to tell which keyboard you have
3. Letters turned into numbers (laptop)
4. Other symptoms
5. FAQ

Quick fix

1. Look at the right side of the taskbar, near the clock: if you see UK, INTL or another language code instead of ENG US, the layout changed.
2. Press Windows + Space and choose US.

Keep only the right layout (so it doesn’t happen again)

1. Open Settings › Time & language › Language & region.
2. Next to English (United States), click the three dots › Language options.
3. Under Keyboards, keep US, the standard QWERTY layout for keyboards sold in the United States.
4. Remove any other layouts you don’t use, such as United Kingdom or US-International.

How to tell which keyboard you have

• US: the “ symbol shares a key with ‘ next to Enter, @ is on Shift + 2 and the Enter key is a single wide row.
• United Kingdom: @ is next to Enter, “ is on Shift + 2, there’s a £ on Shift + 3 and the Enter key is tall. If your keyboard looks like the US one but types like this, the UK layout is active.
• US-International: same keys as US, but ‘ and “ wait for the next key to add accents (‘ + e gives é). If quotes and apostrophes only appear after you press another key, this layout is active.

Letters turned into numbers (laptop)

On some laptops without a numeric keypad, Num Lock turns the letters U, I, O, J, K, L into numbers. Press Num Lock (sometimes Fn + Num Lock or Fn + F11) to turn it off.

Other symptoms

• A key that “repeats” or is slow to respond: Filter Keys may be turned on. See laptop keyboard not working.
• Only some keys don’t work: it may be dirt or liquid; test with a USB keyboard to confirm.
• Your password is “incorrect” on the sign-in screen: check the layout in the bottom-right corner of the sign-in screen before typing.

FAQ

My keyboard layout keeps changing on its own.

There are almost always two layouts or two languages installed, and someone presses Alt + Shift or Windows + Space. Remove the extra layouts as shown above.

How do I type accents on a US keyboard?

With the US-International layout, type ‘ (apostrophe) and then the letter, such as e for é. To type a plain apostrophe, press ‘ and then Space.