How to lock laptop keyboard temporarily (Windows and Mac)

Accidental keystrokes are a major concern while cleaning your laptop keyboard or letting your cat walk across your keyboard, but there is a simple solution to prevent them. By temporarily locking your laptop keyboard, you can prevent unwanted commands, accidental keystrokes, delete files, or send half-finished emails.

While turning off your laptop screen using Windows key + L on Windows and Control + Command + Q on Mac works, there are other effective methods as well. Let’s look at how to lock laptop keyboard temporarily on Windows and Mac.

How to lock laptop keyboard

When it comes to a laptop keyboard, there is no simple shortcut or a dedicated “lock keyboard” option on Windows or Mac. You have to rely on built-in accessibility features or get creative. To ensure your cat doesn’t send another string of “jjjjjjjjj” in a work chat, let’s first look at how to lock laptop keyboard using different methods on Windows

Method 1: Using Windows Accessibility
– Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Settings
– Step 2: Navigate to Accessibility (Ease of Access) > Keyboard
– Step 3: Enable Filter Keys and go to Filter Keys settings
– Step 4: Enable the toggle next to slow keys and repeat keys
– Step 5: Set the shortest repeat delay and slowest repeat rate

ALSO READ: How to change keyboard language and layout in Windows/Mac

Method 2: Using Filter Keys Shortcut
– Step 1: Hold down the Right Shift key for 8 seconds
– Step 2: A prompt will appear to turn on Filter Keys
– Step 3: Click Yes, and the keyboard will lock

To disable, hold the Right Shift key for 8 seconds again or turn off Filter Keys in Settings.

Method 3: Third-party software
You can also use third-party applications such as KeyFreeze or Toddler Keys to lock laptop keyboard on Windows. KeyFreeze allows you to lock the keyboard and trackpad using Ctrl + Alt + F and runs in the system tray for quick access.

How to lock laptop keyboard on a Mac

Mac doesn’t include native keyboard locking, but there are some workarounds. Here’s how to lock laptop keyboard on a Mac:

Method 1: Lock screen
The simplest solution is to lock the screen on your Mac. To do this, go to the Apple menu and choose Lock Screen or press Control + Command + Q. This will not only lock your screen but also the keyboard.

Method 2: Accessibility
– Step 1: Open System Settings
– Step 2: Go to Accessibility > Keyboard
– Step 3: Enable Accessibility Keyboard

This will open a virtual keyboard on the screen, and the physical keyboard will remain disabled while the accessibility keyboard is active.

Method 3: Third-party apps
You can use third-party apps like KeyboardCleanTool to lock your Mac keyboard. Here’s how:
– Step 1: Download KeyboardCleanTool from the official site
– Step 2: Launch the application
– Step 3: Click Start Cleaning Mode
– Step 4: The screen displays a lock message
– Step 5: Press the designated key combination to exit

Whether you are using Windows or Mac, the first step is to ensure that you can unlock your keyboard before using any method mentioned above. We don’t recommend using the Device Manager or the PowerShell method to disable keyboard input unless you are aware of manually restoring system settings. While Windows offers native ways to lock laptop keyboard temporarily, Mac users need to get creative or rely on third-party applications.