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Num Lock turns off after Remote Desktop Session

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Friday, February 26, 2016 12:24 AM | 2 votes

I originally asked this question in Microsoft Community but it was suggested that I post here instead. So here it goes:

I often remote desktop into my Windows PC at work from home in the evenings. When I come in to work the next day and unlock my PC, I always have to turn Num Lock on. This is annoying because I sometimes forget to turn Num Lock back on and wonder why no numbers are being entered and find the cursor moving around instead - not a great way to start the work day! This behavior has always occurred on my Windows 7 Pro PC and even on my new Windows 10 Pro PC.

So my question is: How do I make the Num Lock stay on after a remote desktop session?

All replies (8)

Monday, February 29, 2016 8:25 AM âś…Answered | 5 votes

Hi,

Try this:

1. Open the Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to

HKEY_USERS\Default\Control Panel\Keyboard

3. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators  to 2.

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Friday, February 26, 2016 2:28 PM | 1 vote

Have you checked this with connecting different keyboard?

Open start and search for Feedback and report this through Feedback App.

Is NUM LOCK enable in the PC which you attempt to connect from?

Thursday, October 4, 2018 2:38 PM | 1 vote

This registry change did not work for my remote Windows 10 machine. My clients are Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 R2. However, the numlock setting does not change when I use iOS Microsoft RD Client. This leads me to believe it's the clients that are changing the remote machine's numlock, not the remote machine's remote desktop server.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 8:46 AM

I am having a similar problem.

When I am connecting with a remote computer using RDP, the NUM-LOCK function is not working properly.

The keyboard light for the NUM-LOCK function is lit (so in theory it should be on and working), but it does not work when it is set to "ON". But some how when I turn it "OFF", it works.

So my question to Microsoft: what is the solution for this problem?

Wednesday, March 6, 2019 3:15 PM | 1 vote

Amazing that this is marked as the solution when it clearly was not.

Thursday, May 16, 2019 11:10 AM

Have you ever found a solution?

Sunday, August 4, 2019 12:06 AM

The regedit solution described above did not work for me either. Here are my step-by-step observations:

After connecting remotely with RDP, NumLock stayed active on the server computer (indicator light on keyboard was still on).

After disconnecting RDP, it was still active (light still on).

When I signed back in to the server computer directly, I confirmed that NumLock was active by using the number pad keys to type numbers into the username field on the lock screen.

After signing in, the indicator light was still on. However, as soon as I pressed one of the keys, the indicator light turned off, and NumLock was no longer active (could not type numbers with the number pad). I had to press the NumLock key to reactive it.

After doing a quick web search, it appears that many other people suggest the regedit solution to change the default keyboard configuration. Here's an example: https://www.askvg.com/force-capslock-numlock-and-scrolllock-keys-behavior-using-windows-registry/

However, this solution does not seem to apply to remote connections. NumLock turns itself off after signing back in to the server computer directly, even when the regedit value is 2.

Is this a bug? Anyone have other ideas?

Thursday, August 8, 2019 5:48 PM

I found a fix that works! You can use a third party software called Jump Desktop, which is compatible with RDP, VNC, and their own remote access platform called Fluid. When connecting with RDP, Jump Desktop has a toggle switch specifically for setting NumLock to the initial setting. When this option is enabled and you've already set NumLock to be on, then NumLock will still be on after disconnecting. You will need to create a Jump Desktop account to set it up. Works great for me.

More info here: https://jumpdesktop.com/