Keyboard Light Indicator Disabled when User Logs On

ID: Q101898

The information in this article applies to:
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.

Microsoft Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server turn NUM LOCK off when you log off or shutdown the system to preserve the state of the key at that time. The system automatically saves the machine state in the HKEY_CURRENT_USERS subtree in the Registry database. To change this behavior, you can change the HKEY_CURRENT_USERS value.

To change this value, perform the following three steps:

  1. Start the Registration Information Editor, REGEDT32.


  2. Choose HKEY_USERS subtree and search for the DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard subkey.

    The default value is InitialKeyboardIndicators:REG_SZ:0x80000000.

    If this key has the value 0, Windows NT turns off NUM LOCK when the user logs off; if this key has the value 2, Windows NT turns on NUM LOCK when the user logs off.


  3. Choose the HKEY_CURRENT_USERS subtree and search for the Control Panel\Keyboard subkey.

    The InitialKeyboardIndicators:REG_SZ: value corresponds to the HKEY_USERS value: 0 turns NUM LOCK off when the user logs on and 2 turns NUM LOCK on when the user logs on.


For more information on enabling the NumLock key in Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0, please refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE: Q154529
TITLE: How to enable Numlock for the logon screen

Additional query words: prodnt caplocks 


Keywords          : kbenv kbhw nthw ntregistry 
Version           : WinNT:3.1,3.5,4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: January 13, 1999