How to turn off Sticky Keys in Windows and disable the shortcut

If you keep turning on Sticky Keys by mistake, you can turn Sticky Keys off and disable the Windows shortcut altogether.

• You can turn off Sticky Keys in Windows by pressing the Shift key five times.
• On Windows 10 and 11, you can also turn Sticky Keys off in Settings and disable the shortcut there.
• On Windows 7 and 8, you can turn off Sticky Keys and disable the shortcut in the Control Panel.

Sticky Keys is a feature in Windows that allows modifier keys like Ctrl and Shift to remain active even when you're not pressing them. This can help users with physical impairments, who have trouble pressing two keys at a time (like using Shift to make uppercase letters).

By default, you can turn it on by pressing Shift five times in a row. However, this shortcut makes it easy to turn the feature on by mistake.

Here's how to turn off Windows 10's Sticky Keys feature for good, and disable that shortcut.

How to turn off Sticky Keys with a keyboard shortcut

If you want to turn off Sticky Keys, the easiest way is to use the keyboard shortcut you use to turn them on – pressing the Shift key five times. Alternatively, you can press two function keys at the same time (Ctrl, Alt, Shift, or the Windows key).

This won't prevent the problem from happening again, but it will solve your problem immediately.

How to turn off Sticky Keys from the Settings menu

If you're using Windows 10 or 11, you can enable or disable Sticky Keys by going into the settings. 

Let's start by looking at how to do it in Windows 11:

1. Press the Windows logo on your keyboard, or click the Windows icon in the Taskbar.

2. Search for "Accessibility."

3. Click on Accessibility keyboard settings in the search results.

4. Toggle the switch next to Sticky keys to Off.

5. To disable the shortcut, click on Sticky keys and toggle the switch next to Keyboard shortcut for Sticky keys to Off.

In Windows 10:

1. Press the Windows logo on your keyboard, or click the Windows icon at the bottom left of your screen on the Taskbar.

2. Search for "Ease of Access."

3. Select Ease of Access keyboard settings in the search results.

4. Toggle the switch under Use Sticky Keys to Off. You can also turn off the shortcut so it won't activate again by unchecking Allow the shortcut key to start Sticky Keys.

How to turn off Sticky Keys from the Control Panel

Follow the below steps if you're using Windows 7 or 8.

1. Press the Windows logo on your keyboard, or click the Windows icon at the bottom left of your screen on the Taskbar.

2. Select Control Panel to open it.

3. Click on Ease of Access.

4. Under Ease of Access Center, click Change how your keyboard works.

5. In the Make it easier to type section, untick the box next to Turn on Sticky Keys.

6. To disable the shortcut, click on Set up Sticky Keys and uncheck the box next to Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times.

7. Click on OK.