You must be wondering, ‘Is my computer hacked?’ The answer is no. The problem occurs if the keyboard is stuck or it selects the wrong keyboard language. That’s why the keyboard enters the wrong special characters. It mostly happens with special characters like at (@), double quotes (‘’), and tilde (~). Let’s find out the answer to what causes the issue and how to fix keyboard symbols changed issue in Windows 10.
1. Restart Your Computer
If the issue happened just once, start by restarting your PC. This simple solution might come to your rescue.
2. Check NumLock
If your keyboard comes with a NumLock key, then maybe you should use it to troubleshoot first. You might have forgotten to turn off the NumLock. And when that happens, the characters won’t work. Press the NumLock button a couple of times on your keyboard to check if it turns off or on. Then, try entering the special characters.
3. Change Keyboard Language
The wrong special characters issue usually happens when you change your keyboard language or layout. You might have done that intentionally without knowing it would create problems. However, sometimes, it happens accidentally too. When you press ALT + SHIFT keys on your keyboard, that changes the keyboard language. Now that causes a problem if the set language doesn’t match with your keyboard layout. If you have a QWERTY keyboard and you choose a different keyboard layout in language settings, problems will arise. Similarly, if you have a different keyboard layout and you select QWERTY in the language settings, again, you will face the issue. So the keyboard language layout used in settings should be the same as your keyboard. To change the keyboard language and format, follow these steps: Step 1: Open Settings on your Windows 10 PC from Start Menu. You can use the Windows + I shortcut key to open Settings directly. Step 2: Click on Time & Language. Step 3: Click on Language present in the left sidebar. Step 4: Check the order of the languages under Preferred languages. If your preferred language isn’t at the top, click on the language once and then use the given arrow keys to move it up or down. In case a wrong language is set, delete it using the Remove button Tip: You should try changing the language from English (United States) to English (United Kingdom) and vice versa to see if the issue is fixed. Step 5: You also need to check the keyboard layout for your language. For that, click on the default language first. Click on Options. Step 6: Scroll down and you will see Keyboards. Check the keyboard layout type. Use the Add a keyboard button to add a different layout that matches your physical keyboard. Remove the wrong layout, if any. Step 7: Restart your computer. To verify if the language and its layout are correct, press Windows + R. Type OSK in the Run window. The on-screen keyboard will open. Check if the symbols match with what you are trying to enter.
4. Run Keyboard Troubleshooter
Windows 10 comes with a native troubleshooter to find and fix common problems. Run the keyboard troubleshooter to fix the character issues. For that, follow these steps: Step 1: Open Settings on your PC. Go to Update & Security. Step 2: Click on Troubleshoot from the left sidebar. Scroll down and click on Keyboard on the right side. Step 3: Click on Run the troubleshooter and follow the on-screen instructions. Step 4: Restart the PC and see if the issue has been fixed.
5. Check Keyboard Driver
If the issue persists, you should try updating or uninstalling the keyboard driver. Start by updating, and if it doesn’t work, uninstall the driver. To do so, follow these steps: Step 1: Right-click on the Start Menu icon and select Device Manager. Step 2: Expand Keyboards. Right-click on your keyboard. First, select Update driver. Restart your PC. Then, check if the issue is fixed. If it continues, select Uninstall driver. Then, again restart. Wait for some time, and your system will install the keyboard driver itself. Then, try entering the special characters.
Alternate Way: Enter Special Characters Without Keyboard
If the issue continues and you have some important work where you need to type the special characters, an alternative way exists. Open Windows search and type character map. Open the app. Then, copy and paste the characters from the Character Map app into your required document.
Value the Specialness
We don’t realize the importance of special characters on the keyboard unless they stop working. And when that happens, hell breaks loose. We hope the above methods would have fixed the special characters not working issues on your Windows 10 computer. Next up: Sometimes, updating Windows PC also fixes various issues. Here’s a guide on how to update Windows 10 offline from the next link. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
