Share via

Cannot type in Edge

Question

Thursday, March 2, 2017 9:53 PM | 1 vote

Why can I not type anything in search or the address bar in MS Edge, it's like my keyboard is disconnected. The only way I can use Edge is if I type it in notepad and then copy and paste to Edge.

All replies (37)

Friday, March 3, 2017 12:06 AM | 1 vote

Open Microsoft Edge Browser and click on the **Settings and more ** (three dots)

Settings

Clear browsing data 

Choose what to clear

Now select “Cookies and saved website data” and “Cached data and files” and click Clear

S.Sengupta, Windows Insider MVP

Friday, March 3, 2017 7:26 AM

Hi, 

It seems that there is something wrong with Edge, please use following commands in Powershell running as admin to repair the installation: 

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

If this issue still persists, create new user account to check the results. Once the new user account can work fine on Edge, we can try following steps to repair your current user account: 

http://windowsreport.com/corrupt-user-profile-windows-10/

Please Note: Since the websites are not hosted by Microsoft, the links may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. 

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Saturday, May 13, 2017 5:43 AM

Why can I not type anything in search or the address bar in MS Edge, it's like my keyboard is disconnected. The only way I can use Edge is if I type it in notepad and then copy and paste to Edge.

I have the same issue.  But luckily, I found my problem.  Maybe you can get some ideas.
At the begin, I need to tell you; I cannot resolve it.  I only know how to avoid it.

Most of the problem cannot typing in the Edge browser because the software compatible issue.  Especially, the 3rd party software issue. 

All the problem is related with Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable (x86)

I notice after the Creative update, this problem is more seriously. After I disable the program which use 2008 library function. Then, I can type it in the Edge again.

All webpage relates to the XML format or the nice graphic search box.  It is not compatible. 
If it is a simple webpage.  Then, you don't have any issue at all.  

Edge is more sensitive than ever before (or I should call "Picky"), it collect all the information you type, you seek no matter you like it or not.  That's my understating.

However, there are still many x86 program or driver is still required.  So, you cannot get ride of it.
Don't try to uninstall 2008 if you have it.....  I need to go get my hammer and reinstall my Windows10 now.

As I said, I don't have solution.  But, at least I can give you an idea from mine.

Friday, June 30, 2017 6:02 AM | 22 votes

  1. Press Win + R (to open Run )
  2. copy paste and press enter to run this program. "C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe". it brings back the language bar and for me it allowed me to type in windows search, start menu and WINDOWS 10 apps again

Friday, July 21, 2017 5:51 PM

Thanks, I just run ctfmon and the problem was solved.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017 12:00 PM

Thanks, Problem solved :)

Wednesday, September 13, 2017 9:27 AM

Problem solved, thanks!

Sunday, October 8, 2017 3:07 AM

Thanks, problem solved

Friday, October 20, 2017 5:29 PM

still can't type . And i had already done you steps . Which were worthless . 

Thursday, November 9, 2017 11:05 AM

Many thanks the problem had been annoying me for weeks .

Monday, November 20, 2017 1:29 PM | 1 vote

Thank you..It worked. But is there any permanent solution for this problem as I have to run "C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe" everytime I turn on my pc.

Sunday, January 7, 2018 7:55 PM

Problem solved! You are awesome! 

The End

Monday, January 8, 2018 6:11 PM

wow that solved it! thanks alot! 

Monday, January 15, 2018 9:37 AM

Thx so much this solved my problem as well.

Sunday, February 18, 2018 3:56 PM

Thanks , It works . After this command,I am able to write in Cortana search and edge address bar

Monday, February 19, 2018 9:34 AM

thanks's, this help me !

i have a issue regarding window update . whenever i tried to update my pc it state that

some setting managed by your organisation!

 

 hope u ans it asap!

thank you !!

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 7:39 AM

this  fix is for short time , again i have same issue !

Friday, February 23, 2018 7:07 AM | 2 votes

Seems weird but to resolve this I made the "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" run as Automatic in Services panel. This resolved my issue permanently.

Saturday, March 17, 2018 12:16 AM

  1. Press Win + R (to open Run )
  2. copy paste and press enter to run this program. "C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe". it brings back the language bar and for me it allowed me to type in windows search, start menu and WINDOWS 10 apps again

this worked for me. I was having the same issue. could not type in edge. thank you for the solution!!!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2018 11:05 AM

This is the solution, but very strange

Thursday, May 31, 2018 2:26 PM

thank you!!!

Sunday, July 1, 2018 7:14 AM

Worked like a charm !

Not only did it fix issues in Internet Explorer Edge but also in Search as well as Calculator.

Thank you Usman for the assistance.

Regards,

AMEY.

Monday, October 8, 2018 4:19 PM

Open Microsoft Edge Browser and click on the **Settings and more ** (three dots)

Settings

Clear browsing data 

Choose what to clear

Now select “Cookies and saved website data” and “Cached data and files” and click Clear

S.Sengupta, Windows Insider MVP

This worked for me!!!  Thank you

Monday, October 22, 2018 10:40 PM

Not sure if your problem was the same as mine.  I kept trying to type and after several key presses, a character would finally appear in the Search/Address bar. I found that I could type out a search term by continuing to type each letter until it finally showed up.  I made a mistake and when I selected the incorrect text with the mouse, I saw that the blue highlight was flashing once a second.  This suggested that a window to type was only briefly available once a second.  I tried to search for "Why can't I type in edge" but the results from the default bing search didn't seem relevant so I typed out google in the address bar, pressed CTRL+Enter which took me to the google search page then went to Settings/Advanced settings/Change Search engines and chose google which was detected in the currently opened page.  When I clicked to open a new tab, typing was normal.  When I tried to type in the first tabbed opened to the bing search, I had the intermittent typing problem again.  I closed Edge and reopened and all was good.  As a final test, I typed bing and pressed enter in the address bar and in the bing search bar on the bing site, the intermittent typing ptoblem was back but since the AddressBar search is now tied to the google search engine, the address bar while on the bing page works fine.

Who would have thought thet Microsofts highly tauted new browser is incompatible with their own and default search engin and search page??

James Taylor

Thursday, January 3, 2019 11:22 AM

OK, finally solved this for me.

The solutions below worked but only for a very short while: i found the issue was actually caused by a security program called Keyscrambler, which scrambles the keyboard input so that keylogging malware can't steal your input. Clearing cache, or reinstalling Edge didn't work.

My solution:

1. Uninstall Keyscrambler

2. Run:  C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe

3. Reboot Edge.

Should work after this (at least it did for me).

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 6:30 AM

Thanks, Problem solved.

Monday, April 22, 2019 6:54 PM

Thanks. You saved my life. However I have to run this at every reboot but at least it is working. It annoyed me very much!

Friday, May 24, 2019 11:21 AM

i went to C:\Windows\System32   and found ctfmon.exe   and clicked on it . now the problem is solved. thanks. you were more helpfull than the actual official respond lol.

Thursday, June 20, 2019 4:18 PM

I had this very same issue and I've spent some time diagnosing what is going on.  ctfmon.exe controls language aspects with respect to advanced text services.

By default Windows 10 installs with the US Language Keyboard and regional settings.  If you remove ctfmon.exe from the registry and reboot/kill the ctfmon process, you can still type into Edge and the Start Menu for searching.  However, what I find interesting is that if you change the keyboard layout to UK and also set the regional settings to UK and kill the ctfmon.exe process, input for Edge and the Windows Start Menu stops working.  So there's definitely something wrong with the way Edge and the start menu is taking its input from certain HID devices (unless its now a requirement for it to accept input this way).

I have managed to get Edge and the Start Menu working without running the CTF Loader, but need to do some more checking to see if everything is working.

*************  UPDATE  ***************

Finally, I've figured out what is going on with Windows and why this is not working for the people here.  There is a Scheduled Task called the TextServicesFramework and it is this task that runs the CTF Loader and if this task is deleted or disabled, then you will NOT be able to type in Edge or the Start Menu.  Now this task is a Windows task, so it has a custom handler etc, so you can't see the details in the Task Scheduler.  Now the task files themselves live in C:\Windows\System32\Tasks and this task because it's a Microsoft Windows task lives in:  C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\TextServicesFramework.  In this folder you should have a file called MsCtfMonitor.  If you don't, or in the Task Scheduler under Microsoft\Windows\TestServicesFramework you don't have anything listed in the task Window, then you need to reimport the task.  On the right, there is an option to "Import Task", so then just select the file MsCtfMonitor file and then log off or reboot and everything will be fixed.  The scheduled task is only set to run on the log on of a user.  For those people who don't even have the file, then you can use the below to fix your issue.

Copy and paste the contents below to a file called MsCtfMonitor.xml and then use "Import Task" in the Task Scheduler to fix your issue...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<Task xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task">
  <RegistrationInfo>
    <SecurityDescriptor>D:(A;;FA;;;BA)(A;;FA;;;SY)(A;;FR;;;BU)</SecurityDescriptor>
    <Source>$(@%systemRoot%\system32\MsCtfMonitor.dll,-1000)</Source>
    <Description>$(@%systemRoot%\system32\MsCtfMonitor.dll,-1001)</Description>
    <URI>Microsoft\Windows\TextServicesFramework\MsCtfMonitor</URI>
  </RegistrationInfo>
  <Principals>
    <Principal id="AnyUser">
      <GroupId>S-1-5-32-545</GroupId>
    </Principal>
  </Principals>
  <Settings>
    <DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>false</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>
    <StopIfGoingOnBatteries>false</StopIfGoingOnBatteries>
    <ExecutionTimeLimit>PT0S</ExecutionTimeLimit>
    <Hidden>true</Hidden>
    <MultipleInstancesPolicy>Parallel</MultipleInstancesPolicy>
    <Priority>5</Priority>
    <IdleSettings>
      <StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd>
      <RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle>
    </IdleSettings>
    <UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>true</UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>
  </Settings>
  <Triggers>
    <LogonTrigger />
  </Triggers>
  <Actions Context="AnyUser">
    <ComHandler>
      <ClassId>{01575CFE-9A55-4003-A5E1-F38D1EBDCBE1}</ClassId>
    </ComHandler>
  </Actions>
</Task>

There you go everyone...  What causes the issue and how to fix it properly so that it will always work even after a reboot.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019 10:45 AM

Hello Everyone

I got a strange issue, i was unable to type in Edge then i found a solution that worked for me.

  • Press Windows + R key to open Run 
  • Type the following command:

"C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe"

It brought the language bar back and then it allowed me to type in the windows search, start menu and WINDOWS 10 apps again.

You can also give a try at this to solved the cannot type in Edge issue.

Good luck!!!

Monday, September 2, 2019 2:02 AM

Works!, thanks

Thursday, October 3, 2019 5:10 PM

If you look in Task Scheduler->Task Scheduler->Microsoft->Windows->TextServicesFramework you'll find MsCtfMonitor that you can right-click and run... But, FIRST, since you can't type 'Task Scheduler' at the Start menu 'cause your text input is all broken 'n stuff, remember?  You'll want to right-click the Start menu and pick Computer Management.  Then look for Task Scheduler in the left pane and start digging into that.  What's that?  You say you got an error 'computer not found' when trying to expand Task Scheduler?  Hmm, well go down to Services and Applications->Services, then IMMEDIATELY click the Standard tab so you get the view that does NOT waste half of the pane with worthless white space and scroll down to the Task Scheduler  service.  Right-click that service and Start it.  Now close the Computer Management window because no amount of refreshing will EVER get the Task Scheduler group to be expandable.  Next, go back to the step where I said to right-click the Start menu and repeat that step.  Then go back to the top of my post and repeat those steps.  That this point, you may actually have a somewhat operable computer in just 17,000 easy steps any average computer user would know to take.  I would suggest you use that somewhat operable computer to post as acrid a NASTYGRAM to Microsoft as I am doing.  Oh, and if you hindered in accessing the internet and this forum by your Windows 10 computer's inability to do something as basic as connect to your wireless router, you'll simply want to reopen Computer Management and go to Services and Applications->Services and start the friendly WLAN Autoconfig service just as users all over the world are forced to do with their NON-Microsoft operating systems. I'd like to suggest that Microsoft enhance Computer Management so it can - in one click - throw the host computer in the trash since that is the fate deserving of computers running Windows 10.  Either that or Computer Management can install some NON-Microsoft O/S or reinstall the Win 7 O/S that, insecure piece of junk that it was, at least allowed you to get some work done once in a while.

Saturday, October 5, 2019 9:20 PM

Nice it's worked. It solved and the other problem with the language bar

Monday, November 25, 2019 6:39 AM

Seems weird but to resolve this I made the "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" run as Automatic in Services panel. This resolved my issue permanently.

I've tried many days to find solution but nothing worked. Then I tried this solution and it work like a charm even if it passed a year ago and I just found. Thanks a lot Brennanx.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019 1:31 AM

i don't understand anything you said. grammar, formation, explanation, solution, literally nothing is there. why even bother commenting?

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 2:50 PM

Hi Mr. Usman ,

Greetings for everyday!!!

My problem got resolved with your solution.

You saved my time.

Thank you so much!!

Cheers

S. Chinna

+91-8939470063

Monday, January 20, 2020 10:37 AM

i found a permanent solution

based on the command:C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe i opened it up then it brought me here :C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

what i do next is to get the ctfmon shortcut and move it to the startup folder so that when you open your pc it always starts the script and you will no longer have to click or run C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe