There's a thing that pops up when you hold down a key for too long,
which is supposed to be about ease of access.

It asked me if I wanted to disable it, and I clicked on Yes, and now
it has disabled my keyboard instead.

Is there any way I can get my keyboard back and stop the damn thing
from popping up?

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 1/8/2024 7:55 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
> There's a thing that pops up when you hold down a key for too long,
> which is supposed to be about ease of access.
>
> It asked me if I wanted to disable it, and I clicked on Yes, and now
> it has disabled my keyboard instead.
>
> Is there any way I can get my keyboard back and stop the damn thing
> from popping up?
>
>

Are these settings not applied per-account ?

If the machine has two accounts, try your second account at login.
That's assuming login still works, which is not a given...

The Ease Of Access might still be present, for usage at login.
And maybe the keyboard is dead there, too.

*******

These are examples of utilities triggered by Ease Of Access.

Utilman.exe, DisplaySwitch.exe, or Sethc.exe

This is what I used, to get an Administrator Command Prompt, so
a new account (plus make the account a member of Administrators Group)
could be applied. I don't think "making a new account" from Linux
is practical. And creating a new account, using "offline" techniques
from a Command Prompt window from Troubleshooting on a Win10 installer
DVD would necessarily work. As far as I know, creating an account which
has a profile, involves copying something from the Default account.

https://4sysops.com/archives/reset-windows-10-password-by-disabling-windows-defender/

And you should rename the utilities, rather than copying them.

ren sethc.exe sethc.exe.bak # These can be hardlinked somewhere, and using "rename"
# is to try to avoid breaking the hardlink.

copy cmd.exe sethc.exe # Once the real Sethc is out of the way, you can copy
# in something suited to hacking the machine.
... much later, remove the hack

del sethc.exe # Remove the fake superfluous cmd.exe you used

ren sethc.exe.bak sethc.exe # Restore the sethc executable. The hardlink is intact.

On the login screen, you type the shift key five times, the OS attempts
to open sethc.exe , and instead, your hacked executable, the cmd.exe opens.
And it opens as Administrator. These two commands, create a new account
that you will use for login. And perhaps, these don't have the keyboard
crippled, an account like this.

NET USER newaccount newpassword /ADD # Add an account

NET LOCALGROUP Administrators newaccount /add # Make the account an administrator, powers of UAC.

But it's possible the login screen, the keyboard is disabled
there too, in which case hacking our way in, is not going to help.

The only thing left at that point, is offline Registry editing.
The Kaspersky Rescue CD, if you have one around which is a
few years old, it may have a Registry Editor on it. Perhaps a UBCD CD
has a registry editor. Usually the registry editors do not edit
all registry files, only some of them.

*******

In the past, the "easiest way to disable a keyboard", was to
delete the wrong LowerFilter entry. Some people used to be
interested in some CDROM LowerFilter registry key, they would
delete the keyboard LowerFilter instead, and... the keyboard
would be cooked.

https://www.edmartechguide.com/2010/08/solution-mouse-andor-keyboard-not.html

I don't really know what is wrong, and that's the only other incident
that comes to mind. If the damage was done that way, perhaps plugging in
another keyboard would work.

Computers can use multiple keyboards and multiple mice at the same time.
A keyboard can be connected via PS/2 and via USB, but also via Bluetooth
(a Bluetooth keyboard, usually a folding model). These will
all likely go through some sort of filter that looks for the pressing
of the Shift key five times. I would try a USB keyboard, as it's the
most likely to be sitting on another computer for usage.

Paul

Paul wrote:
> On 1/8/2024 7:55 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
>> There's a thing that pops up when you hold down a key for too long,
>> which is supposed to be about ease of access.
>>
>> It asked me if I wanted to disable it, and I clicked on Yes, and now
>> it has disabled my keyboard instead.
>>
>> Is there any way I can get my keyboard back and stop the damn thing
>> from popping up?
>>
>>
>
> Are these settings not applied per-account ?
>
> If the machine has two accounts, try your second account at login.
> That's assuming login still works, which is not a given...
>
> The Ease Of Access might still be present, for usage at login.
> And maybe the keyboard is dead there, too.
>
> *******
>
> These are examples of utilities triggered by Ease Of Access.
>
> Utilman.exe, DisplaySwitch.exe, or Sethc.exe
>
> This is what I used, to get an Administrator Command Prompt, so
> a new account (plus make the account a member of Administrators Group)
> could be applied. I don't think "making a new account" from Linux
> is practical. And creating a new account, using "offline" techniques
> from a Command Prompt window from Troubleshooting on a Win10 installer
> DVD would necessarily work. As far as I know, creating an account which
> has a profile, involves copying something from the Default account.
>
> https://4sysops.com/archives/reset-windows-10-password-by-disabling-windows-defender/
>
> And you should rename the utilities, rather than copying them.
>
> ren sethc.exe sethc.exe.bak # These can be hardlinked somewhere, and using "rename"
> # is to try to avoid breaking the hardlink.
>
> copy cmd.exe sethc.exe # Once the real Sethc is out of the way, you can copy
> # in something suited to hacking the machine.
> ... much later, remove the hack
>
> del sethc.exe # Remove the fake superfluous cmd.exe you used
>
> ren sethc.exe.bak sethc.exe # Restore the sethc executable. The hardlink is intact.
>
> On the login screen, you type the shift key five times, the OS attempts
> to open sethc.exe , and instead, your hacked executable, the cmd.exe opens.
> And it opens as Administrator. These two commands, create a new account
> that you will use for login. And perhaps, these don't have the keyboard
> crippled, an account like this.
>
> NET USER newaccount newpassword /ADD # Add an account
>
> NET LOCALGROUP Administrators newaccount /add # Make the account an administrator, powers of UAC.
>
> But it's possible the login screen, the keyboard is disabled
> there too, in which case hacking our way in, is not going to help.
>
> The only thing left at that point, is offline Registry editing.
> The Kaspersky Rescue CD, if you have one around which is a
> few years old, it may have a Registry Editor on it. Perhaps a UBCD CD
> has a registry editor. Usually the registry editors do not edit
> all registry files, only some of them.
>
> *******
>
> In the past, the "easiest way to disable a keyboard", was to
> delete the wrong LowerFilter entry. Some people used to be
> interested in some CDROM LowerFilter registry key, they would
> delete the keyboard LowerFilter instead, and... the keyboard
> would be cooked.
>
> https://www.edmartechguide.com/2010/08/solution-mouse-andor-keyboard-not.html
>
> I don't really know what is wrong, and that's the only other incident
> that comes to mind. If the damage was done that way, perhaps plugging in
> another keyboard would work.
>
> Computers can use multiple keyboards and multiple mice at the same time.
> A keyboard can be connected via PS/2 and via USB, but also via Bluetooth
> (a Bluetooth keyboard, usually a folding model). These will
> all likely go through some sort of filter that looks for the pressing
> of the Shift key five times. I would try a USB keyboard, as it's the
> most likely to be sitting on another computer for usage.
>
> Paul

It might be re-enabable (Sheesh! I think that's a personal neologism)
from the Device Manager. Uninstall and Reinstall.

Ed

On 1/8/2024 11:11 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>> On 1/8/2024 7:55 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
>>> There's a thing that pops up when you hold down a key for too long,
>>> which is supposed to be about ease of access.
>>>
>>> It asked me if I wanted to disable it, and I clicked on Yes, and now
>>> it has disabled my keyboard instead.
>>>
>>> Is there any way I can get my keyboard back and stop the damn thing
>>> from popping up?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Are these settings not applied per-account ?
>>
>> If the machine has two accounts, try your second account at login.
>> That's assuming login still works, which is not a given...
>>
>> The Ease Of Access might still be present, for usage at login.
>> And maybe the keyboard is dead there, too.
>>
>> *******
>>
>> These are examples of utilities triggered by Ease Of Access.
>>
>>     Utilman.exe, DisplaySwitch.exe, or Sethc.exe
>>
>> This is what I used, to get an Administrator Command Prompt, so
>> a new account (plus make the account a member of Administrators Group)
>> could be applied. I don't think "making a new account" from Linux
>> is practical. And creating a new account, using "offline" techniques
>> from a Command Prompt window from Troubleshooting on a Win10 installer
>> DVD would necessarily work. As far as I know, creating an account which
>> has a profile, involves copying something from the Default account.
>>
>>      https://4sysops.com/archives/reset-windows-10-password-by-disabling-windows-defender/
>>
>> And you should rename the utilities, rather than copying them.
>>
>>     ren  sethc.exe  sethc.exe.bak      # These can be hardlinked somewhere, and using "rename"
>>                                        # is to try to avoid breaking the hardlink.
>>
>>     copy cmd.exe sethc.exe             # Once the real Sethc is out of the way, you can copy
>>                                        # in something suited to hacking the machine.
>>     ... much later, remove the hack
>>
>>     del sethc.exe                      # Remove the fake superfluous cmd.exe you used
>>
>>     ren  sethc.exe.bak  sethc.exe      # Restore the sethc executable. The hardlink is intact.
>>
>> On the login screen, you type the shift key five times, the OS attempts
>> to open sethc.exe , and instead, your hacked executable, the cmd.exe opens.
>> And it opens as Administrator. These two commands, create a new account
>> that you will use for login. And perhaps, these don't have the keyboard
>> crippled, an account like this.
>>
>>     NET USER newaccount newpassword  /ADD              # Add an account
>>
>>     NET LOCALGROUP Administrators newaccount /add      # Make the account an administrator, powers of UAC.
>>
>> But it's possible the login screen, the keyboard is disabled
>> there too, in which case hacking our way in, is not going to help.
>>
>> The only thing left at that point, is offline Registry editing.
>> The Kaspersky Rescue CD, if you have one around which is a
>> few years old, it may have a Registry Editor on it. Perhaps a UBCD CD
>> has a registry editor. Usually the registry editors do not edit
>> all registry files, only some of them.
>>
>> *******
>>
>> In the past, the "easiest way to disable a keyboard", was to
>> delete the wrong LowerFilter entry. Some people used to be
>> interested in some CDROM LowerFilter registry key, they would
>> delete the keyboard LowerFilter instead, and... the keyboard
>> would be cooked.
>>
>> https://www.edmartechguide.com/2010/08/solution-mouse-andor-keyboard-not.html
>>
>> I don't really know what is wrong, and that's the only other incident
>> that comes to mind. If the damage was done that way, perhaps plugging in
>> another keyboard would work.
>>
>> Computers can use multiple keyboards and multiple mice at the same time.
>> A keyboard can be connected via PS/2 and via USB, but also via Bluetooth
>> (a Bluetooth keyboard, usually a folding model). These will
>> all likely go through some sort of filter that looks for the pressing
>> of the Shift key five times. I would try a USB keyboard, as it's the
>> most likely to be sitting on another computer for usage.
>>
>>     Paul
>
> It might be re-enabable (Sheesh! I think that's a personal neologism) from the Device Manager. Uninstall and Reinstall.
>
> Ed

That's possible. You would have your trusty mouse, at your side.
You can get to Device Manager, from right-click Start.

*******

And we can't use "Last Known Good" in Safe Mode, as Win10 removed it.
I just checked, and it's gone.

Paul