How To Disable a Laptop Keyboard

Do you need to use an external keyboard with your laptop but don’t know how to disable the internal one? Fortunately, there is an easy way to do so with just a few steps. 

We have created the following guide, which consists of easy step-by-step instructions that you can follow to disable your laptop keyboard. 

Disabling Your Laptop Keyboard

If you don’t know how to disable your laptop keyboard, follow the given two step-by-step methods to do so without difficulty. 

Method #1: Disabling Your Laptop Keyboard in Windows OS

On your laptop with Windows OS, you can do the following steps to disable your keyboard temporarily. 

1. Press Windows + X.
2. Wait for the pop-up menu to appear and select “Device Manager”. 
3. Find “Keyboard” and click the arrow appearing on the left to expand the list. 
4. On your laptop’s internal keyboard, press the right-click button. 
5. Click “Uninstall”.

Method #2: Disabling Your Laptop Keyboard in macOS

On the MacBooks with the Big Sur, you need a third-party app like Karabiner-Elements to disable your keyboard using the given steps.

1. On your MacBook, open the web browser and go to the Karabiner-Elements website.
2. Download the app and install it on your Mac.
3. Open the app, search “Disable”, and click “Disable the built-in keyboard”.
4. Choose another keyboard to disable your internal one. 

Enabling a Disabled Laptop Keyboard

If you’ve accidentally locked your laptop keyboard and don’t know how to enable it again, the following two methods can help you with the issue.

Method #1: Enabling a Disabled Laptop Keyboard in Windows OS

The Windows will automatically re-install a disabled keyboard upon restarting. However, you can do so manually by following the given steps. 

1. Press Windows + X.
2. Wait for the pop-up menu to appear and select “Device Manager”.
3. Find “Keyboard” and click the arrow appearing on the left. 
4. On your laptop’s internal keyboard, press the right-click button. 
5. Click “Install”.

Method #2: Enabling a Disabled Laptop Keyboard in macOS

You can enable your built-in keyboard using a third party like Karabiner-Elements in the following easy steps.

1. On your MacBook, open the web browser and go to Karabiner-Elements.
2. Download the app and install it on your Mac.
3. Open the app and go to “Devices”> “Advanced”, and click “Disable the built-in keyboard”.
4. Unselect your external keyboard and select your built-in keyboard.

Disabling Your Laptop Keyboard Permanently

If you want to permanently disable your faulty keyboard and use an external one, use the following two step-by-step methods.

Method #1: Restricting Reinstallation in Windows OS

Use the following method to stop your Windows from re-installing your keyboard whenever you restart it and permanently disable it. 

1. Search “gpedit.msc” on your Windows OS start menu.
2. Select “Computer Configuration” and go to “Administrative Templates”.
3. Click “System” and go to “Device Installation Restrictions”> “Device Installation”.
4. Right-click on the last option: “Prevent installation of devices not described by other policy”.
5. In the pop-up menu, set the policy to “Enabled”.
6. Disable your keyboard in the Device Manager, as explained in the above method. 

Method #2: Using the Command Terminal in macOS

Use the following method by using a script to disable your MacBook Keyboard permanently.

1. Open Applications and go to “Utilities”.
2. Click twice on “Terminal”, open it, and type in the sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBTopCase.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBTCKeyboard.kext/ command. 
3. Press Enter.

Summary

In this guide on disabling a laptop keyboard, we’ve discussed multiple temporary ways to disable the keyboard on Windows OS and macOS. WeWe’velso discussed how you could enable them again or permanently disable them if needed.

Hopefully, with one of these methods, you’ll be able to disable your laptop keyboard without difficulty. 

Frequently Asked Questions