For some, the Caps Lock key is nothing more than an annoyance that shouldn't be on keyboards. Here's how to disable it on Windows 10 and 11.

The Caps Lock key capitalizes everything when enabled, and it has a pretty negative public reception. Google has abolished that key on its Chromebooks. Many users are convinced Caps Lock has got to go on Windows PC keyboards as well. That might be because it’s quite easy to accidentally enable Caps Lock, which is right beside the A key.

If you want Caps Lock scrapped, you can disable that keyboard key. When you’ve disabled that key, there’s no way you can accidentally activate Caps Lock whilst typing. Here are two ways you can rid your keyboard of Caps Lock in Windows 11/10.

Windows 11 doesn’t include any built-in settings for disabling Caps Lock. So, you’ll have to manually edit the registry to kill off Caps Lock without any third-party software. This is how you can edit the registry to disable Caps Lock.

If you ever want to restore Caps Lock, you’ll need to delete the ScanCode Map binary value. Open the Registry Editor at the Keyboard Layout key specified above. Right-click ScanCode Map and select Delete to erase it.

Read also: What Is the Windows Registry and How Do I Edit It?

NumLocker is a third-party program with which you can disable Caps Lock without editing the registry yourself. That software also includes options for disabling Scroll Lock and Num Lock. It’s a lightweight desktop app you can utilize on Windows platforms from XP up to 11. You can disable Caps Lock with NumLocker as follows.

Caps Lock won’t work so long as Always Off remains selected. That will remain the case even when NumLocker isn’t running. You can easily re-enable Caps Lock by selecting the On option for it in NumLocker.

You can also disable Scroll Lock and Num Lock much the same with NumLocker. Select the Scroll Lock or Num Lock option in NumLocker and click Always Off. If you prefer, you can select Always On to keep them enabled.

Read also: Where Is Caps Lock on a Chromebook?

So, that’s how you can kill off Caps Lock on your keyboard in Windows 11/10. Doing so will ensure you never activate Caps Lock again without realizing it. You can also disable that key by remapping it with software like Sharpkeys. However, the two methods above for disabling CL will be sufficient for most users.

Jack has been a freelance tech journalist for more than a decade. He has covered Windows Vista, 7, 10, and 11 topics within a multitude of guides for Make Use Of and numerous other websites.

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