How to Open the On-Screen Keyboard

You are probably wondering why you would ever need an on-screen keyboard when you have a real keyboard right in front of you. Well things happen, and trust me, one day you may need it.

A friend of mine used it regularly because he was missing a few keys off his laptop keyboard.. They were not cheap to replace either.

It is also great for people with disabilities that find it easier to use a mouse rather than a keyboard. If you open the on-screen keyboard you can use your mouse to press the keys to type.

How To open the On-screen Keyboard

1. Click on start at the bottom left corner.
2. Choose run and type OSK.
3. Then the on-screen keyboard will come up.

You can also search for the osk.exe file, then right click on the file and choose open containing folder. Then you can double click on the file to open the on-screen keyboard. But going to the start menu is the easiest way.

How to Open the Onscreen Keyboard When Your Computer Keyboard Does Not Work?

If you can use your mouse, then you can open the on-screen keyboard. This is handy if you keyboard does not work when you need it.

Open the On-screen Keyboard for Windows XP

1. Click on start at the bottom left corner.
2. Then choose All Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>Onscreen keyboard

Open the On-screen Keyboard for Windows Vista

1. Go to the Vista logo.
2. Click All Programs, then Accessories.
3. Choose Ergonomic options and then On-Screen Keyboard.

Open the On-screen Keyboard for Windows Seven

1. Go to the Start button.
2. Click All Programs, then Accessories.
3. Then choose Ease of Access, and then On-Screen Keyboard.

To open On-Screen Keyboard for Windows 8

1. From the Start screen, tap or click the Desktop tile to open the desktop.
2. Open Control Panel by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Settings, and then tapping Control Panel(or if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, clickingSettings, and then clicking Control Panel).
3. Tap or click Ease of Access, and then tap or click Ease of Access Center.
4. Tap or click Start On-Screen Keyboard.

Create a Desktop Short-cut to Open the On-screen Keyboard

1. Right click on the desktop.
2. Choose new from the menu. Then choose shortcut.
3. Type in the path to your file which is c:\windows\system32\osk.exe
4. Then name your shortcut ,osk, click next, and then click finish.
5. An icon will now be on the desktop.
6. Click on it and test it.