Tue 2 Sep 2008
Enable or Disable Number Lock at Startup
Posted by brett under registry, tutorial, windows
[5] Comments

This tutorial explains how to enable or disable Keyboard Number Lock each time your computer starts.
Have you ever entered a phone number via the numeric keypad only to discover nothing has appeared? The most likely cause is Number Lock (or Num Lock as it us usually labeled) is disabled, and it’s a simple matter of hitting the Num Lock key to get numbers from your keypad. If you have done this enough times however, you will know how much of a pain it is to retype things repeatedly. Luckily a simple registry setting can set the Number Lock Status to your preferred setting.
To enable or disable keyboard numberlock at startup:
1. Stat regedit but going start -> run -> regedit -> OK
2. Browse to HKEY_Current_User\ControlPanel\Keyboard
3. In the right hand pane double click “InitialKeyboardIndicators” and set “Value data:” to 0 to have NumLock disabled, or 2 to have NumLock enabled at startup.
Oddly Microsoft recommends making a visual basic script to set Number Lock. This seems a litte cumbersome compared to changing a single registry entry, but that is probably a matter of opinion.


June 16th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
thanks to you for this post.
August 17th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Hi
It’s a great tip.Surely Numpad lock settings freak you out many of the times.
I had made changes in the registry for my pc
and now thinking to do it for win 7.
will it work?
November 22nd, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Hi
i did that . set registry to zero.
but the numlock is still enabled at startup.
Windows xp pro
any help?
thanks
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Hi szar,
You are right I just tested it and it no longer works. Every time I restart the registry setting reverts back to 2 and number lock is on. I’m guessing a windows update has changed something.
There is however a Microsoft knowledge base article explaining how to use a script to set number lock to your preferred setting but I haven’t tested it…
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314879
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314879
December 16th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Thanks for inform