Keyboard arrow keys are stuck on Windows 11/10

This article explains what you can do if the keyboard arrow keys are stuck on your Windows 11/10 computer. The arrow keys on a Windows computer are used for different purposes, like scrolling the web pages in web browsers, moving the blinking cursor up, down, left, and right in document editing software, switching between photos in the Photos app, etc. If any of these arrow keys are stuck, you will experience issues on your system, like the web pages will start scrolling automatically, the blinking cursor will start moving automatically in the document editing software, etc.

Keyboard arrow keys are stuck on Windows 11/10

If the keyboard arrow keys are stuck on your Windows computer, use the following solutions to fix the issue:

1. Check your keyboard physically
2. Run Troubleshooters
3. Uninstall and reinstall your keyboard driver
4. Troubleshoot in a Clean Boot state
5. Disconnect your Xbox Controller or other Joypad

Let’s see all these fixes in detail.

1] Check your keyboard physically

The first thing that you should do is check your keyboard physically. If you have not cleaned your keyboard for a long time, the problem might be occurring due to the dust accumulated inside your keyboard. Sometimes, it is the cause of loose keyboard keys. When we use a keyboard for a long time, the keys that we press the most become loose. These loose keys cause problems sometimes.

Connect the same keyboard to another computer and see if the issue persists. If the issue occurs on another computer, you should clean your keyboard and send it for repair.

2] Run Troubleshooters

If there is no hardware issue, the next step is to run appropriate troubleshooters. Because your problem is associated with your keyboard, running the following troubleshooters will be helpful for you:

• Keyboard Troubleshooter
• Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

You can launch the Keyboard Troubleshooter from Windows 11/10 Settings. But the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter is not available there. Hence, you have to execute a command in Command Prompt to run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter.

 3] Uninstall and reinstall your keyboard driver

The most common cause of the keyboard issues is the corrupted driver. Hence, we suggest you uninstall and reinstall your keyboard driver. Follow the steps written below:

1. Open the Device Manager.
2. Expand the Keyboards branch.
3. Right-click on your keyboard driver and select Uninstall device.
4. Restart your computer.

After uninstalling the keyboard driver, your keyboard will stop working. Therefore, you have to use your mouse to restart your computer. After restarting your computer, see if the issue persists. If yes, download the latest version of your keyboard driver from the manufacturer’s website and install it manually.

4] Troubleshoot in a Clean Boot state

Sometimes, the issues occur due to a conflicting startup app or third-party Service. Startup apps start with the system startup and keep running in the background. To check if this is the case with you, troubleshoot in the Clean Boot state. Perform a Clean Boot and check if the issue persists in that state. If not, you have to identify the problematic startup app or third-party Service.

Now, enable all startup apps and restart your computer. You can use Task Manager to enable and disable startup apps. If the problem comes back after restarting your computer, follow the steps provided below:

• Disable any one of the startup apps and restart your computer.
• Check if the problem persists.

Repeat these steps until the problem disappears. When the problem disappears, the app that you have just disabled is the culprit. Similarly, you can find out the problematic third-party Service. But this time, you have to use MSConfig instead of Task Manager.

Some of the affected users reported that the problem was occurring due to the third-party mouse software they installed on their systems. If you are also using third-party mouse software, it might be causing this problem. Uninstall your mouse software. If this fixes the problem, check if an update for the mouse software is available on the official website. Also, contact their customer support.

5] Disconnect your Xbox Controller or other Joypad

Sometimes when a gaming controller is connected to a computer, Windows considers it as a mouse or a keyboard. In this case, the direction-controlling stick on the controller acts as the computer arrow keys. This usually happens when the Steam Client is running in the background and you have configured its settings for your controller. However, the problem may also occur sometimes even if the Steam Client is not running in the background.

It is possible that your controller (wired or wireless) is connected to your computer as a keyboard and its direction-controlling stick is stuck in a particular direction. Disconnect your controller and see if it helps. If the issue was occurring due to the Steam Client, you have to modify the Steam settings.

I hope this helps.

How do I change my arrow keys back to normal?

If your arrow keys are not working properly or working as different keys, you can reset your keyboard settings to default. This will fix the problem. In addition to this, you can try updating or reinstalling your keyboard driver, running Windows 11/10 built-in automated troubleshooters, etc.

How do I fix Wasd swapped with arrow keys in Windows 11?

If the WASD keys are swapped with arrow keys on Windows 11, a gaming application might be responsible for this problem. Apart from that, corrupted keyboard drivers also cause this issue. To fix this problem, run Windows 11 built-in automated troubleshooters, update or reinstall your keyboard driver, reset your keyboard settings to default, etc.

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