Windows Keyboard Layout Configuration Scripts

The Problem

Windows has a frustrating habit of automatically adding or changing keyboard layouts without user intervention. This commonly happens when:

• Installing Windows updates
• Connecting to remote desktop sessions
• Installing language packs
• Switching between different input sources

These unwanted keyboard changes can disrupt workflow, especially for users who work with multiple languages but need specific keyboard layouts for each. Windows often adds standard keyboards that don't match your preferences, leading to constant manual reconfiguration.

The Solution

This repository contains PowerShell scripts to automatically enforce specific keyboard layouts for en-US and pt-BR languages. The scripts:

• Remove any unwanted keyboard layouts
• Configure only the keyboards you specify
• Run automatically at logon and hourly to prevent Windows from reverting changes

Scripts Overview

Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1

The main script that configures keyboard layouts. It:

• Checks current keyboard configurations for all languages
• Removes keyboards that don't match the desired configuration
• Sets the following keyboards:
  • en-US (0409): US QWERTY keyboard (00000409)
  • pt-BR (0416): US-International keyboard (00020409)
• Includes commented option for ABNT2 keyboard (00010416) for both languages

Note: Requires Administrator privileges to modify system keyboard settings.

Register-KeyboardTask.ps1

Creates a Windows scheduled task to run the keyboard configuration script automatically. The task:

• Runs at user logon
• Runs every hour (recurring)
• Executes with highest privileges
• Runs hidden in the background

Usage

Initial Setup

1. Clone or download this repository to your local machine

2. Configure your preferred keyboards (if needed):

   • Open Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1 in a text editor
   • By default, it uses US QWERTY for en-US and US-International for pt-BR
   • To use ABNT2 keyboards instead, comment out the current keyboard lines and uncomment the ABNT2 lines:

     $desiredLayouts = @{
         # "0409" = "00000409"  # en-US with US QWERTY
         # "0416" = "00020409"  # pt-BR with US-International
         "0409" = "00010416"  # en-US with ABNT2
         "0416" = "00010416"  # pt-BR with ABNT2
     }

3. Run the keyboard configuration script (as Administrator):

   .\Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1

4. Set up automatic execution (as Administrator):

   .\Register-KeyboardTask.ps1

Managing the Scheduled Task

View the task:

Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'ConfigureKeyboardLayouts'

Run the task immediately:

Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'ConfigureKeyboardLayouts'

Remove the scheduled task:

Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'ConfigureKeyboardLayouts' -Confirm:$false

Manual Execution

If you prefer not to use the scheduled task, you can run Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1 manually whenever Windows changes your keyboard settings.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• PowerShell 7+ (pwsh) or Windows PowerShell 5.1+
• Administrator privileges

Notes

• After running the keyboard configuration script, you may need to sign out and sign back in for changes to take full effect
• The scheduled task runs with highest privileges to ensure it can modify keyboard settings
• The task is configured to run even on battery power (useful for laptops)
• If you modify Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1 after creating the scheduled task, the changes will be applied automatically on the next trigger

Customization

To add or modify keyboard layouts, edit the $desiredLayouts hashtable in Set-KeyboardLayouts.ps1. The format is:

$desiredLayouts = @{
    "LanguageCode" = "KeyboardCode"
}

Common keyboard codes:

• 00000409 - US QWERTY
• 00020409 - US-International
• 00010416 - Brazilian ABNT2

See Microsoft's documentation for a full list of language and keyboard codes.

License

Feel free to use and modify these scripts as needed.