How can I uninstall a keyboard that Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator created?
Normally you can uninstall a keyboard using the following method:
- Go to add/remove programs
- Find the keyboard, it should be the same name as the Description field of the project's properties in Keyboard Layout Creator.
- Press Modify
- Choose Remove the keyboard layout
The problem was that I uninstalled it incorrectly and I had to manually remove it.
If you need to manually remove it, here's how I did it:
- Remove the keyboard from the Language and Regional settings:
- Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages > Details...
- If it exists as one of the installed services, you should remove it. You can do this by adding another keyboard (e.g.
US
) and making it the default one, then removing the keyboard you are trying to get rid of.
- Open regedit
- Warning: you should backup your registry in case you accidentally delete something important.
- Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\
- Find the key that represents your keyboard: (referred to as "the key" in following steps)
- It should be in the form
XXXXXXXX
(an 8 hex digit number). - Each key should have values such as: Layout Display Name, Layout File, Layout Id, Layout Product Code, Layout Text.
- The
Layout Text
property should match the keyboard name that you chose. - Mine was near the end and started with an
a
instead of a0
like all the others.
- It should be in the form
- Take a look at the Layout File which should be a
.dll
name. I will refer to it as "the dll" in the following steps. - Look for the dll in
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache
and delete it if it exists. - Look for the dll in
C:\WINDOWS\system32
and delete it if it exists. - Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout\DosKeybCodes
and see if it has aName
which is equal to the key's name (e.g.XXXXXXXX
) and a value such asen
. If it does, delete it. - Navigate back to the key (from step 5), and delete the entire key.
Senseful
Updated on September 17, 2022Comments
-
Senseful almost 2 years
I used the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4 to create a keyboard layout which I was able to successfully install. The problem is that I now want to update it, but I can't uninstall the old one.
The help file says:
The .MSI is not written with 'Upgrade' or other such scenarios in mind -- simplicity was the goal. Therefore, to upgrade, you would simply uninstall the old keyboard and install the new one in its place.
it also says:
Figure 4: Maintenance mode lets you repair or remove the keyboard layout.
I followed the exact steps it shows and it even said that it has been successfully removed. However, when I go into the language settings, I still see it in there and when I try to make my new keyboard file, it says that there is already a layout with the same name defined. I tried restarting the computer multiple times. Reinstalling then uninstalling. Nothing works.
How can I remove the keyboard from the system so that it doesn't appear in Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages > Details... > Add... > Keyboard layout/IME: ?
-
Hashbrown about 8 yearsin windows 10 you can find your layout listed with the rest of the ordinary programs in Add & Remove
-
F.P about 6 yearsAlso, check
C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64
for the dll