Windows 10: Typing problem - Suddenly unable to type in most of the input boxes

Hi,


Recently, I sometimes cannot type on my laptop all of a sudden. The symptoms are quite specific:


0. Everytime it happened, I was in the middle of using the laptop, and it can be solved by restarting the laptop.


1. When I typed in English, it seems that I can still type on webpages Google, but not in the Chrome search bar, file explorer, Microsoft word, etc.


2. Control keys work fine during the whole time, typing keys work fine with control keys. I can use win+r, but cannot type in the "RUN" box.


3. I cannot type Chinese/Japanese anywhere, the best situation was that for some input method, english letters were still coming out.


It happened at least three times. I wonder what this problem is about and how to solve it, thanks!

:)

 

Unable to type in to box on 'Control Panel'.

This issue might occur if some file types for indexing were disabled after the updates. We suggest that you try rebuilding your search index by following the steps below:

• Press Windows key + R, type control.exe srchadmin.dll, and click on
  OK.
• Click on the Advanced button.
• Click on the File Types tab. From here, you can choose to include certain file types from indexing by checking them in the list.
  

Let us know how it goes.

 

Unable to type in to box on 'Control Panel'.

In this case, we suggest that you follow these steps and check if the issue persists:

• Press Windows key + R, type control.exe srchadmin.dll, and click on
  OK.
• Click on the Advanced button.
• From the Advanced dialogue box, select Rebuild. Selecting
  Rebuild will begin the process of deleting, and then rebuilding your PC’s search index.

Note: While the steps to initiate the rebuilding process are simple, the actual process can take quite some time depending on how much data Windows has to index.

Keep us updated on the results.

 

The search box on the Taskbar and in Windows Explorer will not accept any typing input

The search box on the taskbar will not accept any typing input.

Nor will the search box in Windows Explorer.

Normal behavior: Click in the white box where it says "Type here to search", and type.

New, incorrect behavior: Click in the white box where it says "Type here to search", but the box does not accept any input.

Same for the search box in Windows Explorer.



Workarounds: None found so far.

Research: Google - multiple documents, none of which were exact matches. Applied many of the "solutions" suggested, to no avail.

Restarting the computer does not help.

Input into other applications (Word, Excel, Chrome, etc) is usually absolutely fine. Sometimes (about once a week) text typed into the Chrome browser does not reflect the input, e.g. I type "target" and the screen displays "rfotlt". If I retype the input
into Word, I can copy and paste into the browser. So I have a workaround. Restarting fixes this. (I don't need a solution for this, it is just FYI.)