Turn Off NumLock

[enjay]

I'm having some problems caused by the fact that NumLock is on by default - does anyone know of a way to change this globally?

[Michael]

Take a look in the BIOS. There will probably be a setting in here somewhere.

[enjay]

Take a look in the BIOS. There will probably be a setting in here somewhere.

I was hoping for a method that doesn't involve visiting every computer individually.

Also, I think NumLock status also follows a user around in their profile, so people would probably undo my changes before I got round every computer.

[dgsmith]

Take a look in the BIOS. There will probably be a setting in here somewhere.

Nick, we have this problem on our laptops (which then causes problems because letters/numers are on the same keys). If it's a CC3 problem, in "Global Workstation Settings" under "Logon Screen" there is an option to disable this at the logon screen (so it "should" fix any logon problems), though I don't know if this would help once logged in.

[enjay]

Exactly the problem I'm having, Dave. I've just found that RMMC setting, but it doesn't seem to be having any effect. I've set it to "disabled" and rebooted the PC a few times, but NumLock is still on.

[Michael]

I'm pretty confident it isn't user or profile specific, but computer related.

Edit: Take a look at this, but not tried it myself.

[Shwaa]

We use a startup script to apply a regkey that turns off the numlock on the logon screen. It doesn't affect the users own setting in their profile, ie the logon screen will always have the numlock turned off, but if the user logs in and the numlock is set to on in their profile, then it will turn on when they logon.

Here is the key:

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard]

"InitialKeyboardIndicators"="0"

[SYNACK]

@Michael

Windows takes over control of the num lock off the bios when it starts up so the initial bios setting won't help as its only in effect before the windows HAL takes over.

[enjay]

Thanks Shwaa, that gets me part-way there. With your setting, I have managed to get it turned off on the logon screen, however it still comes back for users who have had it enabled previously.

I tried the corresponding HKey_Current_User string, but that gets over-ridden by the setting in the users' roaming profiles.

[Michael]

Thanks for that SYNACK. It's amazing how simple a function NumLock is that it's causing big problems NickJones is experiencing.

If it's the case that profiles are overwriting your registry edit entry, then I suppose re-allocating new profiles to users is the only solution. However, if users re-enable NumLock, you're back to square one.

[Shwaa]

What happens if you apply the key to HKEY_CURRENT_USER in a logon script?

If the logon scripts are run after the users profile is loaded, then it should work.

They can still turn it back on, but at least then that is their own fault, as they started with it off.

[enjay]

Of course! Thanks Shwaa. I tried making that change to HKCU manually and then watching it get over-written, but of course setting it after the profile has loaded will un-do whatever is stored in the profile.

Leaving people the ability to turn it back on is fine - our accountant would probably kill me if I took that away anyway!

[rocknrollstar]

How about using a program like KLOCKS Commandline Lock Keys Controller for NT4/W2K/XP to run at logon. We use it to make sure the caps lock is off.

[elsiegee40]

Turn off the NumLock on my desktop by default and you'd die! I use the number pad all the time!

On laptops; it's a different matter!

[leco]

I have this issue with many of my laptop users, as they don't notice that NumLock is turned on, it would be very useful to know how to do it.

As I haven't done anything like this before, could you give me an idea of how I write and run such a logon script, please? Where do I store and it and how do I implement it?