How to auto enable Num Lock on restart in Windows 10

Reading time icon 2 min. read


Readers help support MSpoweruser. We may get a commission if you buy through our links. Tooltip Icon

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more

To start with, here’s a free handy tip for Windows, when you log into Windows 10 and choose to sign in by pin instead of by password, Microsoft often automatically only allows numeric inputs into the pin entry interface.

The Num Lock key is a handy tool to have for many Windows 10 users. It allows users with certain keyboards to default to using the numeric keypad as standard for some functions. While the Num lock key is literally only a keystroke away, when entering alphanumeric passwords into the Windows 10 lockscreen, some might prefer that that keystroke was eliminated and Num lock automatically enabled at the start.

With Windows 10, there are two ways to get Windows 10 to run with Num Lock enabled from the very start.

Turn on Num Lock before a shutdown

1) When on the lock screen, press the Num lock key on your keyboard.

2) Reboot your PC from the virtual power button on the lock screen.

3) This should now auto enable the NumLock on the next restart.

Via the Registry Editor

This method makes the PC start-up with NumLock enabled permanently.

1) Open the Registry Editor by typing Regedit into the search bar.

2) Navigate to “HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard”
3) Search for the string InitialKeyboardIndicators
4) Set its value to 80000002 (Make a note of the original value at this point, in case you want to revert it)

User forum

0 messages