How to prevent windows from switching keyboard layout on the fly ?

smitty · 14 Mar 2016

hey all

i have 2 keybard layouts, English and French.

So once in a while the keyboard will just change input on its own. Not kidding.

i just start my browser to type something in a forum or facebook whatever and the layout changes from one to the other.

Windows is assuming i want to type in French because the interface is in french, but i'm on an english forum.

How can i prevent this odd behavior from happening while letting me choose on my own which layout ?

bro67 · 14 Mar 2016

If they are both hooked up at the same time, yes the OS can change the layout on the whim. Just get one with the keys silk screened with both English and French on the keys and then you can just make the change on the fly from a shortcut.

smitty · 14 Mar 2016

Hooked up at the same time?

1st that won't change anything in windows. windows doesn't change the keyboard layout based on an english or french keyboard.

it should, logically, to adapt itself but it doesn't. never has in the 25 years been using windows.

i've plugged english keyboards on french windows a thousand times and i had to add the us english layout myself, every time.

This is a laptop. no keyboard is "hooked up" it's built in and the keys are physically painted by the manufacturer in both languages. this is nothing new for canada, or anywhere else around the world where bilingualism is the norm.

1 keyboard, 2 language layouts. windows installed us english then i added French cms, us english for easier typing set as default but french for when i need it.

point is, this dual keyboard layout thing switches on its own depending on the browsed sites and its annoying. i want to control when this happens, not let windows assume when i need it.

ARC1020 · 14 Mar 2016

In the past I also found Windows sometimes randomly changed the language by itself, however it seems to have stopped doing that now. When I last clean installed Windows I did change the way I had the languages setup, which 'may' be the reason that it's OK for me now. You could try setting it up as per the second screenshot below, however if you already have Windows setup this way anyway, then I'm afraid I'm not sure what causes it.

How I originally had Windows set up (when it used to change by itself) was I had one language as the default Windows language (English United Kingdom) and then two keyboards for that language (United Kingdom and United States International Keyboards). When I needed to type in a language with accented letters, I'd just switch to the United States International keyboard by using either Win Key + Space or the taskbar icon.

How to prevent windows from switching keyboard layout on the fly ?-untitled-1.jpg

How I have it setup now (which Windows doesn't seem to change by itself anymore) is two separate main languages. Still the same default Windows language (English United Kingdom), but I also added a separate language and each language now has it's own keyboard assigned to it. Having it set up like this also means spell check works for the respective language you're typing in the Mail app, Browser, etc. and also word suggestions too on Windows Phone (when typing SMS for example).

How to prevent windows from switching keyboard layout on the fly ?-untitled-2.jpg

smitty · 14 Mar 2016

the problem is i can't add a 2nd language otherwise it also changes all of windows itself after a reboot.

i've disabled the shortcut combo keys in

How to prevent windows from switching keyboard layout on the fly ?-change-key-sequence.png

to not assigned. i don't know if this will fix the problem, i'll keep an eye on it the next few days.

source: Change Key Sequence in Windows 10

AndreyT · 15 Mar 2016

I have two input languages too - English and Russian - but I never saw them switch by themselves.

BTW, what is your current setting: did you opt for independent input language selection for each running application? Or did you ask Windows to use the same input language for all applications?

AndreTen · 15 Mar 2016

smitty said:

the problem is i can't add a 2nd language otherwise it also changes all of windows itself after a reboot.

i've disabled the shortcut combo keys in

to not assigned. i don't know if this will fix the problem, i'll keep an eye on it the next few days.

source: Change Key Sequence in Windows 10

Windows let you control language used for display, input etc.
I also find Windows 10 more consistent with switching language. There are some problems with region settings, but can choose which language is fisrt. Advanced settings are in control panel - you can get them from settings also:

ARC1020 · 15 Mar 2016

smitty said:

the problem is i can't add a 2nd language otherwise it also changes all of windows itself after a reboot.

You can choose the default device language.

On PC, select ‘Set as Default’ so that the language you want as the main PC language is showing as ‘Windows Display Language’.

How to prevent windows from switching keyboard layout on the fly ?-untitled-3b.jpg

On Windows 10 Mobile, the language at the top is the main phone language. To move a language to the top, press and hold a language to get the context menu, then select ‘Move Up’ until it’s at the top. If you don't do this as soon as you add a second language, then when you reboot it will change the phone language and you'll need to change it back again.