How to prevent Windows 10 from automatically adding keyboard layouts (i.e. US keyboard)
To fix this issue, delete the Preload registry folder and sign out or restart the computer:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload
This folder seems to be some legacy remnant that contains non-user-specified keyboard layouts to be added to the list of languages when the user signs in. While the fix itself works through restarts, at time of writing there's things that bring back that pesky folder, here's a few that I bumped into personally:
- Remote desktop to a computer with US layout
- Using the same Microsoft account on another PC that still has this issue
Whenever the problem comes back, that registry folder needs to be deleted again.
Edit 2: Thanks to @Lu55's suggestion, here's a handy one-liner to use on a command prompt with admin privileges:
reg delete "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload" /f
Edit:
I have created a RemovePreload.reg
text file with the following content, this way this fix can easily be re-applied every time without navigating the registry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload]
To use this, save it in a text file and change the extension from .txt
to .reg
. Then whenever it comes back, you can just double click it and restart or sign out.
Actually, the solution is quite simple and requires no registry editing!
Go to to Region and Language (previously named Language preferences), click on English (United States) and go to Options.
If you see "US Keyboard" there, remove it, and you're done.
If the remove button is not working / disabled, add another keyboard first, and then try again.
HOWEVER, if you do not see it there, then click on Add a keyboard, add "US keyboard", then remove that keyboard and you're done.
I figured this out after some trial and error trying out various things, I had the same issue.
I found the answer after an hour as of now for build:
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
OS Version: 10.0.18362 N/A Build 18362
- This will work even after restarting.
- It's easy to do. And set for good.
- It will stop any other languages from being created for new users.
- It will no longer show these languages in the login screen too.
- No registry hacks which didn't work for me after restarting.
You can also go via (but ensure to check your language settings first - see screenshots below).
Control Panel → Region → Administrative tab → Copy settings...
Here's the step in images with notation in the images also for reference.
Then your registry should look like so, with only one preload.
Copy this Computer\HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload
to the address bar of the registry editor to jump straight to it to check for yourself.