I want my laptop keyboard to work when in tablet position


  1. Posts : 14
    windows 10
       #1

    I want my laptop keyboard to work when in tablet position


    My daughters laptop is a 2-1 so it can fold in half and be a tablet. I recently bought a monitor and mouse so she could use it more like a desktop but when I fold over the laptop into the tablet position, the keyboard stops working.

    I had windows 8.1, but upgraded as it was supposed to have a tablet mode that you could toggle that would allow the keyboard to work. I upgraded and it worked for one night, but now the keyboard always stopped working when I put the laptop into the tablet position.
    I hit the windows key +A and the tablet icon is greyed out, but no keyboard so I thought it was a laptop issue. I read that there was a toshiba exe file that controlled this functon, but deleting it didn't work either so I am back to thinking it might be something in 10?

    Please help.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 13,848
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #2

    ricobico said:
    My daughters laptop is a 2-1 so it can fold in half and be a tablet. I recently bought a monitor and mouse so she could use it more like a desktop but when I fold over the laptop into the tablet position, the keyboard stops working.

    I had windows 8.1, but upgraded as it was supposed to have a tablet mode that you could toggle that would allow the keyboard to work. I upgraded and it worked for one night, but now the keyboard always stopped working when I put the laptop into the tablet position.
    I hit the windows key +A and the tablet icon is greyed out, but no keyboard so I thought it was a laptop issue. I read that there was a toshiba exe file that controlled this functon, but deleting it didn't work either so I am back to thinking it might be something in 10?

    Please help.
    The 2-in-1s I've been privileged to look at appeared to have a mechanical switch to turn off the keyboard when it was folded into tablet mode, don't think there's anyway to bypass that without physically disabling it by taking the device apart, could end up destroying it.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 14
    windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Berton said:
    The 2-in-1s I've been privileged to look at appeared to have a mechanical switch to turn off the keyboard when it was folded into tablet mode, don't think there's anyway to bypass that without physically disabling it by taking the device apart, could end up destroying it.
    Thanks for your reply.
    I would agree, but I had it working the first night for many hours after installing windows 10. Then the computer went to hibernate mode or whatever and it stopped working when we woke it up.

    I can't imagine anything has a mechanical switch these days.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    As far as I know, Berton is right. My wife and I each have an HP x360 and I assumed there was a hardware switch that shut the keyboard off as well.

    If she has an external monitor and wants to use it as a "desktop", add a USB keyboard to it. That's how a corporate setup works (usually with a docking station), but you shouldn't/wouldn't need to put it in tablet mode.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 14
    windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks for the reply. I found this link with a suggestion, but I can't find it in my task manager.
    Unable to use laptop keyboard in tablet mode with monitor? - Laptops - Laptop Tech Support
    Looks like I found the solution to my problem. After doing some research I found that there is a service called TOSTABSYSSVC.exe that detects whether the laptop is in regular or tablet mode. By disabling this service in laptop mode could it then go into tablet mode and allow me to use the keyboard.

    Instructions to use Toshiba keyboard in tablet mode.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    1. Make sure your in laptop is in it's regular position.
    2. Stop TOSTABSYSSVC.exe in task manager and wait for it to finish.
    3. Fold laptop into tablet mode.
    4. Enjoy a sexy keyboard.
    *Create batch files to quickly disable and re-enable this task.*
    I also found some Lenovo discussions where they had a piece of software that controlled when the keyboard went on and off. I would only assume the Toshiba works the same way, but that doesn't help me unless I can figure it out.
      My Computer


 

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