Wierd – keyboard works for Windows XP Logon but not once logged on

Well, this was a wierd one and worthy of blogging.

After much troubleshooting (of hardware, drivers, fresh profiles, etc. using the file transfer settings wizard, which migrated the ‘problem’ :)…

A user could login to Windows XP, but could not use the keyboard once logged on. In fact, the keyboard appeared powered up but even numlock keys, etc. would not function.

Guess what it was? The person had held down the right Shift Key enabling the ‘FilterKeys’ function in the accessibility options. She had held the key down (probably leaning on it) and was prompted with an option to accept, which she did (not knowing why, sigh).

Anyways, it behaved like the keyboard was dead. In the end, I had to go into the control panel, accessibility options and disable the Filterkeys function. Alternatively, I could have held down the right Shift key again….

Anyways, a wierd and time consuming one for the ages…