Every once in a great while I see this odd problem arise. I have not yet found a solution but when I do it will find a home here.
Basically what happens is I will hop over to a specific application, try to type into that application, and find that certain particular letters will do nothing. This time it was these four letters: t, h, c, and v, but I think that sounds like what it was on other occasions (though I don’t recall perfectly).
Most recently this happened in Outlook. I have seen this happen in Outlook before, but I’ve seen it happen a couple of times in Firefox and once in Opera. It is definitely not a keyboard problem, a driver issue, a problem with the specific application, or a keyboard shortcut issue—nor is it a virus or spyware.
Something as yet undetermined happens in the wonderful world of Windows XP (I have one user reporting this in the Mac OS as well) wherein those four letters are completely ignored as input. It only effects a single application when it occurs. No alt-, ctrl-, or windows- commands are executed when any of those keys are typed. I can press the same key, the t say, 100 times and absolutely nothing will happen. Then I switch to another application et voilà it works fine. For instance I’ve had to type an e-mail reply into a text editor and paste it into the reply window because I couldn’t type basic words like the.
Using associated keyboard shortcuts seems to be unaffected. As noted I was not able to type the letter v. However, I was able to use ctrl-v to paste into the reply window.
Now I know you’re going to think: “well it must be that reply window”. Again, it’s application-wide. I am not able to type those letters into the search boxes or contacts windows or any other place that might allow text entry—within the afflicted application.
Also, I have seen this on at least three machines where there can be no relation between them (except my smiling face reflected in the monitor). I think I have seen this happen maybe half a dozen times in the last couple of years.
It’s easy enough to fix by restarting the afflicted application, but I am on the path for this one. It’s stuck in my craw so I won’t be satisfied until I figure what the hell is going on.
It has come to my attention this may also effect on-screen keyboards. Please test this in your case if you are able, and let us know your results below.
I’ll try to keep this up to date concerning my progress, but feel free to share your solutions. I’m all eyes. (This happens rarely enough that it’s good to have others contributing data.)
(It will be useful to include four items in your comments: 1) your solution (even if temporary); 2) keys effected; 3) application(s) effected; and 4) operating system(s) involved.)
Random Solutions and Workarounds Culled from the Comments (and Elsewhere):
(In no particular order. This may not be complete and up-to-date.)
- A double-tap of the Windows (or Super) key.
- A double-tap of specifically the right Windows key.
- Restart the effected application (or Explorer if effected)
- Reboot (last resort).
- “Detect and Repair” from the Help menu in Outlook (Outlook only)
- Press CapsLock and Shift back down to lower case (this is a per letter fix)
- Fn key + Windows key may toggle problem on and off.
- Alt key + Windows key may toggle problem on and off (especially in Win8).
- Region and Language —> Keyboards and Languages —> change keyboards;
delete all keyboards other than your language and delete all instances of “Ink Correction”. Or try changing the format setting at Format (dropdown): from English (United States) to English (United Kingdom) and click OK. - Disable Sticky Keys (Control Panel —> Ease of Access Center —> Make the keyboard easier to use —> Make it easier to type —> uncheck “Turn on Sticky Keys“)
- Remove all keyboards from the Device Manager and reboot.
- Login to the effected machine via RDP and then return to the machine and login locally.
- Laptops may have to use the Widows key on the laptop and not a secondary keyboard.
- In Win7 it may be useful to check for keyboard/language changing hotkeys here Control Panel —> Region and Language —> Keyboards and Languages —> Change Keyboards —> Advanced Key Settings
- If you have only a left Windows key, you may attach an external keyboard which does. Failing that, user Matan below wrote a right-Windows-key simulator which can be found here. (Please note that I cannot guarantee the integrity of that source, so please use appropriate caution when downloading from unknown sources.)
- User Klode as offered another possible solution for users lacking a right-Windows key. Open a command prompt and type first cd /d c:\tmp (then press Enter) followed by nircmd sendkeypress rwin (and press Enter). Klode also describes how to create a shortcut for that and his comment can be found here.
If none of these work or if you have one to add yourself, comment away.
(It will be useful to include four items in your comments: 1) your solution (even if temporary); 2) keys effected; 3) application(s) effected; and 4) operating system(s) involved.)
my letters were c v h in word.
It happened after my 9 months old son had attacked the keyboard while a word document was open. I wonder what key combination he had it.
ctrl v & ctrl c was still working.
After rebooting, problem went away – as you had stated.
Thanks for your contribution.
I have this problem, and I can use the caps lock solution and press shift-character to fix it, restart the application, or restart windows.
It’s really annoying because the problem doesn’t go away permanently.
specifically c/h/v for me, and other keys pressed together with the character work fine (i.e. shift+c, ctrl+c etc.)
I think that’s a pretty common key-set to fail under this bug.
Ah! I’m glad i found this. I was wiping some dust away from my laptop keyboard and pressed some random keys.. and letter c v h stopped showing up in chrome but it still works when i typed in microsoft word. I’m running on windows 7.
I just tried your first solution: double tap on windows key and i was able to type them again :DD
Thank you!!
Great.
Ditto – c,v,h mysteriously ceased functioning this AM in Chrome but still active in Word – perhaps because new kitteh likes laying and washing on laptop when warm – Ifound this thread 6 hrs later and executed the
” Windows Key doubletap ” maneuver – worked great, to wit: cvhcvhcvh … coudn’t do that at noon ….
Now …. why the problem, and what makes the solution work
Thanks, JBW
Thanks, JB. Wish I knew.
Same here. c, v and h keys stopped working in the url box. I was able to type them anywhere else. I have a month-old Dell Inspiron 17R running Windows 8. Hitting the windows key twice fixed it. Computers are so fickle sometimes. Thanks for your help!
My pleasure, Michelle.
Problem evidenced in Outlook, typing a new message cvht keys. **right** windows key twice, fixed my problem (not *left*). thanks for that. Had deleted all but one keyboard language instance (ink correction ones there too!!), but that didn’t provide a fix immediately (maybe that cures it long term?).
Thought my problems started when Utility Manager got activated by cats lying on laptop keyboard, and this appeared occasionally in remote desktop connections. It’s possible that the Utility Manager was a symptom of Windows remembering some key settings though (a ‘u’ in passwords).
Laptop keyboard doesn’t have a **right** windows/super key, so perhaps something you can get *in* to but not *out* of on a laptop (external KB connected at the moment).
One hit on google for ‘Outlook is unable to proceed with the reconversion’…. Which is a message you get while this prob happens in Outlook 2007, typing a new message. You can make the message appear again (even after fixing your keys), by typing, then pressing (WindowsKey+C). Which kind of points towards a windows key issue.
Are you saying that typing c while in Outlook would throw that error while your keys were dysfunctional? That would seem correct since other information suggests that it is as though there were a Windows-Lock in place.
I wasn’t able to input “c” and “h” in Opera (neither in text fields on web pages, nor in the search field of Opera itself). After restarting the browser, everything was normal.
Yep, sounds typical for this one.
THis problem affeCts all appliCations. Seems to Crop up wHen using VMWare and CyCling out using Hot-key Combination (Ctrl-Alt-Win). Appears in all appliCations, from CHrome to CiVilization 4 to Adobe ACrobat. Goes away upon appliCation restart, but reappears wHen win key is pressed again.
Thanks for your information.
I had this happen twice today – the first times I have seen it. I am running server 2008 R2 (English) and have a French keyboard. First time it happened in Chrome. Restarting chrome seemed to fix it.
Second time it happened in the start menu where you can type app names.
I tried the double tap of the windows key -nothing. I have 2 windows keys. I pressed them together and it seems to have gone
Thanks, Peter.
the ‘double tap of the windows (or super key)’ worked!! thanks!!
No problem, Sam.
So i was in skype and i could not type C V or H, it was driving me MAD! I was litterally hitting the keyboard on things to try to fix the ”loose” part that was inexistant. Shift + C V or H worked but not the lower cases… weird… Then i found that they worked in firefox (imagine looking for help on the letters C V and H without being able to type the damn thing) … what a relief when i found this page! Doubletapping the win key solved it for me. I was also sporting a french keyboard layout… maybe related?
anyway, TL:DR Win key X2 solves it for me
Thanks a million keystrokes! i almost unscrewed the keyboard to look for something broken! Imagine…
I don’t think it’s related to a specific keyboard layout, but of course I have no idea why it does this either. Glad to save you.
1) Double tapping windows key; 2) H and V; 3) firefox; and 4) Windows 7
It happened after my daughter mashed the keyboard, she opened a bunch of random things, which I closed and when I opened Firefox the keys just didn’t work. Same thing everyone else is saying, copy and paste still worked so… I have no idea, so weird
Thanks for your input.
Exactly the same issue with the keys c,v and h; all in MS Excel and Outlook.
I think I pressed a set of keys that “activated” this bizarre behavior.
Your suggested fix of tapping twice the “super key” (the one on the right) worked for me. Thanks million!
NB. You saved my keyboard of been broken/replaced by me (I even started hitting the keyboard :P)
Good news, David.
I was informed this problem occured due to Sticky Keys.
I get it time to time when playing a game. When I tab out of a game the problem disappears. But the ingame problem exists untill I rebooted the PC.
Disabling in control panel fixed it.
I’ll add your fix to the list above. Thanks.
Really suprised my post was not published whan Sticky Keys is the obvious answer. Nor is it mentioned above. Uncheck this in control panel and no more problems. FIX.
That would be me: slow to approve comments.
This happened to me for the first time today, fixed firefox with a restart and then went looking for answers and found this page. Imagine my relief to be told I’m not the only looney in the nuthouse.
Happened again (within 15 minutes of the first occurrence) after reading this article. Double tapped the Win-key and it all came good.
What the hell is going on ?
Love to know. Love to know.
Thanks for the blog topic, I’ve been having this problem for some time, quite annoying. I seem to have a solution, which worked just now. I have sticky keys off, but the problem seems to be related to a stuck modifier in the context of an application (or related apps). My windows sessions are always through rdesktop and the modifier I use in X for doing things like switching windows is the menu key in windows (the menu occasionally pops up as I’m switching away from rdesktop). My fix was to press and release each modifier key on my keyboard one at a time, going around maybe twice. The keys started working again without restarting applications or rebooting.
Great. Thanks for commenting.
Experiencing the same problem..! thanks for putting this as a blog.. Sometimes its annoying to switch between caps+shift inorder to type a small case t/h/v/c. I experience this issuse when ever i lock my system and or log off it and come back again. But on restarting it, I am able to access those keys.. If you have any solution to over come this isssue please put forward..
Do you lock your machine using Win-L?
I noticed the same thing on Outlook 2010 on my Windows 7 Professional computer. I have a laptop, with no Windows key on the right. I do have add-ons for Evernote, iCloud, and iTunes.
I had problems in Outlook with C, V, and H, but I was able to use the T key. It seems to only happen with Outlook 2010 – I opened up notepad and those keys worked fine.
It’ll be interesting to see what’s actually causing this.
Oh, how I wish I knew.
hi guys tapping the windows key thingy does not work for me. The letters B, N, are not working, sometimes backspace and s will also not work.
Have you tried a different keyboard?
Don’t you love it when the letters b n and backspace do not work .I can not figure out what is happening .They type great on this reply . But when I go to type in e-mail or wordpad and notepad , they do not work. You figure it out and then tell me .
I would try the various solutions at the bottom of the post. That is why they are there.
C H and V keys weren’t working in internet explorer and Microsoft word on my Dell Inspiron with Windows 7. I followed the Caps Lock and then shift key on non working keys and it made them work again. However, I just went to comment here and they suddenly stopped working again, so I followed the double tap on the windows key, and they started working again.
Thanks, Enya.
Glad I’m not the only one facing this issue. I first noticed this behavior when using Remote Desktop to connect to my machine at work. Ever since then it happens when connected remotely and using the machine locally.
I had read that logging out using the +L could cause this to happen but I would think rebooting the affected machine would permanently fix it in that case. Unfortunately I don’t have anything to add in terms of a real solution but I thought the remote desktop connection might be worth mentioning in case others here use it. If not then it’s probably a dead-end.
I have seen it where (in an RDP connection) it acts as though the Windows key is stuck in the on position. Again a double tap on the Windows key usually fixes this. One other user also mentioned remote connections (above), but mostly it remains unrelated. Thanks, Matthew.
this is getting frustrating.
win7 64bit sp1
stickykeys disabled
c,v and h don’t work in some programs
right now they are: firefox, startmenu, “run” dialog. i am typing this in notepad which – strangely enough – stopped accepting them as i was typing this!
what i find REALLY astonishing though…
open up on-screen keyboard, when you notice this happening, select a text box somewhere and CLICK on c, v or h… the button will flash, the sound will play, but no text will appear.
Don’t believe me?
what the hell?
Thanks for the video. Your audio isn’t working for me so perhaps you’ll want to repost, but send me the link if you do so I can update your post.
I have a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop and I could not use the lowercase “c” “v” or “h” keys after my cat walked on my keyboard while I was messaging in Skype. However, they did work when I tried to Google the problem in Chrome. Eventually, I did a system restore and the problem is gone, but it happened again when the cat walked on the keyboard (something I’ve yet to find a solution to keep from happening!) The double tap of the Windows key fixed it. I am positive that I had Sticky Keys unchecked this entire time, so I am quite sure that Sticky Keys has nothing to do with this specific key combination. Hopefully we can figure out a solution soon, because this is definitely frustrating!
I feel your pain, Sarah.
You saved me from insanity! Double taps of the two windows keys fixed this for me.
Thanks, Jesse.
I’m so very glad to have found this article. Though none of the solutions mentioned in the article helped me, I thought I was going insane, it was reassuring that I was not the only one.
I had only two programs open at the time. Firefox and iTunes. I had several tabs open at a time in the Firefox application, an update popped up, and I ignored it, knowing it would ask me to close out of all of my tabs. Shortly after my C, V, and H keys stopped working unless I typed shift.
1) your solution (even if temporary); Closed out of Firefox, Reopened, Upgraded Firefox to the newest update available.
2) keys effected; C, V, H and sometimes L logged me to the switch users screen.
3) application(s) effected; Firefox
and 4) operating system(s) involved.; Windows 7
Thanks for the contribution, Kelsey.
Rigt now, my keys are not working, tis append on crome, ie, g.talk, msn, after restart eery apps works again, but in some apps te problem bak.
Windows 7 SP1
te only solution is reboot te maine
Thanks, Raul.
This is crazy. Im running XP, and USB microsoft keyboard, my l, and keypad 258 worked intermitently, sometimes I have fixed the problem by erasing Chrome’s history, sometimes by going back to a restore point. Then switched keyboard, and voila! the problem was still there, this time only with the letter v. Checked for malware with Spybot and Mcafee, and the problem somtimes goes away when I vaccinate with Spybot. I uninstalled Chrome and the second keyboard seems to be working fine, so far. I have run all XP updates just in case.
You might try using the all-users version of Chrome (the usual installer is a single-user installer).
A double-tap of the Windows (or Super) key – worked for me.
This seems to be the most common solution.
thanks
With pleasure, Raj.
Holy crap! The double tapping windows key worked! so weird…
Thanks, Lexi.
Thank you! Double tapping the super key worked!
Very much appreciated!
You are welcome, Rachel.
This problem has been happening to me for a long while now…
The keys affected are (H , C and V), but using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V works.
Affected application: Every thing, from renaming a file or folder to 3Ds Max, Photoshop, Word, Notepad and even IE and Firefox. Every thing.
O.S: Windows 7 Ultimate X64.
One thing to note is: I am using Microsoft IntelliType Pro, and having the ‘Left Windows Key’ Disabled.
I also has all Keyboard related stuff in windows control panel disabled, Mouse Keys/Sticky keys/Toggle Keys/Filter Keys all are disabled.
When the problem occurred i tried to Double=Tap the right windows key but nothing happened, but when i enabled the left windows key and just pressed on it once the problem disappeared and i was able to use the H, C and V keys again.
Thanks for the information, Ehab.
Thanks for this. Cat walked across the keyboard and suddenly certain keys ( h, t, p, d for sure) were starting commands. Hitting the windows key twice fixed it.
Let me know if you find a way to reproduce this. That would be quite useful.
Thanks for the simple, yet comprehensive post. First solution worked for me as well.
Good to hear, Harish.
Thanks so much I was so frustrated. I can’t believe the double tap on the windows key solved it!
Excellent.
dear,
i am unable to use my laptop keyboards .
if press f then volume start decrease…other keys have similar prob…what to do
Have you tried any of the solutions listed in the article?
1) your solution (even if temporary)
Douvle tap windows key > I can’t believe it! It made my day, thanks a lot !!!
2) keys effected;
c v h
3) application(s) effected;
Google Chrome
and 4) operating system(s) involved
Windows 7
many thanks again,
Jeremy from France :-)
Thanks, Jeremy.
I was not able to type the letters: c, v, t and h. The first suggestion of tapping the super key twice solved this problem. Thanks
Great news, Anna.
i was not able to tap letter b,n,/ and the arrow keys. do you have suggestions? tapping the windows key does not work
There is a list of possible solutions at the bottom of the post. There is also a list of information you will want to include in your request so someone can best assist you.
CHV keys but only when in lower case, I tried the double tap method of the super windows key and that worked. Thanks for your help, i was going spare
Good news, Carly.
Hello,
Solution number 8 made the trick for me. I had the Ink Correction stuff removed.
Problem was on chv
For various applications including, excel, notepad++, windows explorer and chrome
I am on Win 7 64bit
cheers,
Thanks, rhao.
So glad I found this page…it has been driving me crazy only being able to type with c, v and h in capitals.
It only seems to happen to me when I was typing in rst. programs or email…so glad to have found a solution.
Thanks.
Thanks, Megan.
Just thought i would share that i have been experiencing this issue for a couple of years but only in the game World of Warcraft, and only in the chat window. The key perform all of the normal function in the game, but when I try to type a message in the chat window I get no input. Also, holding the keys down will cause the graphics to freeze, but the game will resume without issue once the key is no longer being held down.
That is unusual. Normally we find it effecting an entire application (or multiple applications) and not merely effecting one portion of an application. Did the solutions provided in the post help?
Remoting on to User A’s computer using Dameware v7.0. His c,v and h keys weren’t working in Notepad or on the desktop (I was trying change the name of a shortcut). I did not try any other applications other than start | Run, which also didn’t allow those characters. His “t” key works though.
He is on a Windows 7 32 bit machine, as am I.
Sticky Keys are off on my machine and on User A’s.
Logged off as User A on the Laptop and logged in as User B. Same result, so this is not user specific.
A Reboot did not fix the problem.
Closed Dameware and used RDC to connect as User A. Problem was gone! I logged off of the computer in RDC and reconnected with Dameware. The problem is back.
I RDC’d back onto it and this time instead of choosing “Log out”, I simply closed the RDC session. Dameware’d back on and now c,v,and h all work. Weird.
I wish I had something more substantial to add. Microsoft doesn’t seem to think this is a problem, as all the references on their Support site lead to “update your drivers” or “you have a bad keyboard”.
Your site (and some other forums I found) indicate that this problem is a lot more common than people think. Most posts tend to blame a single piece of software, but it really looks to me like Windows is the culprit.
Thanks, Steve.
This is by far my commented-on post, so that should give you a fair picture of how pervasive this problem remains (since at least XP). I haven’t seen it in Win8 yet, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
It is fascinating that leaving the RDP session open solved the matter for you. I wonder what Dameware might be doing differently from RDC?
Thanks for the tip! I was frustrated when my L key would not transmit to the cpu. It was not a keyboard issue. Hitting the windows key twice fixed the problem!!
Excellent to hear, ckh.
Problem ere on Windows 8.
Noting but rebooting fixes it.
That’s a drag.
Uninstalling SetPoint did the trick.
(I did not try removing Chrome or resetting Firefox, but I did disable their extensions.)
I’m not familiar with SetPoint. Good to know though.
Had the same problem today, ended up finding your article via the all mighty google.
Double tapping the right windows key twice did not fix it for me.
However, after double tapping the right windows keys twice, then the left, and right again, it did finally fix itself.
Hahaha. Nice. Glad you got it sorted.
Thank you for your post. I had that happen twice now. The first time I was able to fix by correcting the language of the keyboard and this time by tapping windows twice as you suggested. I could not quite remember how I did things and when I did a search for the solution, you find all sorts of posts saying that the keyboard is sticky or needs to be replaced. I like your suggestions because they are easy and they work. Thank you.
Thanks, Lan Do.
Thank you so much!!! This was a very annoying problem for me, so thank you for helping me solve this!!
You are welcome, Inna.
This has been bugging me for days, the right Windows key double-tap worked! Thanks
No problem, Will.
I didn’t read all previous comment, but I have had this problem once (only small c, h, t, v), on Chrome (I use Vista).
Note that I use an AZERTY laptop.
Note also the 4 letters are at the same places either in azerty or qwerty mode.
Interesting that it also effects other keyboard layouts. Thanks.