Windows 10: qwerty changes to Dvorak. Don't know why.

In the last month and a half, for unknown reasons, my keyboard has switched from qwerty to Dvorak 6 or 7 times. I don't know how to switch it back except to restart my PC.

Any ideas about what I'm doing to cause the switch?*Redface

Thank you

:)

 

Windows 10 Fails to Properly Work with Dvorak Keyboard

No, this is a bug in Windows that I can reproduce on 100% of the systems (admittedly only 5 so far) that I've tried. My configuration may be obscure, but here are the steps to reproduce and a work-around I finally found that fixes:

• Set up a keyboard on a Windows 10 computer as Dvorak. In all of my cases, this was the only keyboard installed and installed that way during the Windows 10 installation (as opposed to added after the OS was setup). I'm not sure if the time the keyboard
  was set matters.
• Access the Windows 10 computer via Remote Desktop from another computer also running a Dvorak keyboard (can be running Windows 7 or Windows 10, possibly other OS's too, but only tested with those two). I don't know that remote computer also must be using
  a Dvorak keyboard, but all of my computers use only Dvorak keyboards, so all of my test cases were set up this way.
• There will now be an entry from the Language bar in the systray, showing ENG DV. However, once this appears, even though there is no QWERTY keyboard installed, Windows will seemingly randomly shift to QWERTY keyboard while typing. Pressing Win+space will
  flip the keyboard back to Dvorak.

In #3, I've finally figured out that it's NOT random. It's that it SOMETIMES happens when pressing Ctrl-Shift (it may be consistent, depending on which Ctrl and Shift (left or right) are being used, but I've not tested further), which is a key combination
for shifting keyboards set up by default.

This is clearly a bug, because there is no QWERTY keyboard installed. It should not be able to change to any other keyboard.

It does not work to add and remove a QWERTY keyboard. It also does not help to go into Control Panel\Clock, Language, and Region\Language\Advanced Settings and set the Override for default input method to Dvorak, as has been suggested in another thread.

However, what DOES work is:

• Go to that same Advanced Settings page: Control Panel\Clock, Language, and Region\Language\Advanced settings
• Under Switching input methods, click on "Change language bar hot keys".
• Select "Between input languages" and click on "Change Key Sequence..."
• Select "Not Assigned" for both options.
• Hit OK, OK, Save

Problem solved.

But this is a work-around for an MS bug in Windows 10.

 

QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts merging of sorts

I am currently trying to learn to the use the Dvorak keyboard layout, and so I frequently switch between Qwerty and Dvorak depending on the current activity using
Windows Key + Space. However, after some time the two layouts seem to merge together.

For example, if I am on the Qwerty layout, most keys will produce the correct character. However, a few keys will produce the characters of the other layout:

- Currently, the semi-colon ( key to produces an 's', as that is where the 's' key is on the Dvorak layout.

- The respective closed bracket (]) in each layout produce
'=' signs.

- The open bracket ([) key in Qwerty produces a '/'. When combined with Shift it produces the correct
open curly bracket ({).

As you can see, this is all very strange. The issue seems to be resolved when I reboot the system, however having to do this every time it breaks would be quite bothersome. Does anyone know what might be behind these problems?

 

Windows 10 Fails to Properly Work with Dvorak Keyboard

Thank you. That page describes the process in Windows 8, which is a little different from Windows 10, but it was close enough I was able to find that page. I had not setting the "Override for default input method" before. I changed that from "Use a language
list (recommended)" to "English (United States) - United States-Dvorak" (note that this is the only other option listed, which is part why it's so weird it ever flips to QWERTY -- there is no QWERTY keyboard even installed).

However, after changing it, typing this very message, the keyboard again flipped to QWERTY. Perhaps I need to restart the computer? I'll try that too.

Meanwhile, I should add one more bit of data that may help diagnostically:

If I remove the QWERTY keyboard through the Language Preferences, it appears to stay removed (so no flipping away from Dvorak), until I login again from a Remote Desktop session and then disconnect. This may be why this problem is not widely reported. It
appears to be an interaction between a Dvorak Keyboard and use of Remote Desktop.