How To Disable or Enable the Num Lock Key at Startup?

If you are one of those who find it rather troublesome to turn on the NUM LOCK key every time your computer starts and wish to enable Num Lock key automatically at logon, here are two easy methods to solve it.

Solution 1

For Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, and XP users, you can easily adjust how Microsoft Windows handles the Num Lock status by editing the Windows registry. Here’s how:

Firstly, open the Windows registry editor by clicking the START button. Then, click RUN, and type REGEDIT.

In the registry, open the following folders.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\

Search within the keyboard folder for a string value named “InitialKeyboardIndicators” with a value of 0, 1, or 2. Change the value to 2, and you’re done.

What does these registry value means?

0 = Num Lock is turned OFF after the logon.
1 = Disable Num Lock.
2 = Numlock is turned ON after the logon.

A word of caution, though. The above method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

Solution 2

Go to the RUN menu and type in MSCONFIG.

From here, click on the tab that indicates BOOT.INI.

Next, click on the button that says Advanced Options.

Select by placing a check mark next the to the box that says /NUMPROC= 1.

Lastly, click on the OK button and you will find that the next time your Windows startup, the NUM LOCK key will be on automatically.