How Do I Get CTRL Unstuck? A Technical Guidelines

A stuck key, especially a modifier key, like the CTRL or ALT key can be quite annoying. It can render your keyboard useless and hinder your productivity. Sometimes it gets stuck physically. However, most of the time, the issue rises on the software level, rather than on the hardware.

If your ctrl key gets stuck, periodically or all the time, fear not. It is possible to get it unstuck. So how do you get ctrl unstuck? Here in this article, we’ve prepared a list of fixes.

Solutions of How to Unstuck Ctrl Key

A simple solution is to disconnect and reconnect your keyboard. We assume you’ve already given it a shot. So here are some tested and proven solutions for a stuck control key.

Solution 1: Turn off CTRL Lock

Although disabling the ctrl lock was possible in windows 7, it isn’t anymore in windows 10, not through the control panel anyway. But you can do it via cmd. Open Command Prompt and go to Properties by right-clicking on the title bar.

Now untick Enable Ctrl key shortcut, if it’s ticked. Hovering the mouse pointer over it shows that it can interfere with some applications, maybe that’s what happened in your case.

Solution 2: Turn Off Sticky Keys

Sticky key is an accessibility feature that lets you simulate simultaneous keypress easily by pressing one key at a time. However, this can lead to the CTRL key getting stuck, as it will lock the ctrl key if you press it once, even accidentally.

Go to the keyboard tab from the Ease of Access in the settings menu of Windows 10.

Now see if Use Sticky Keys is turned on, if it is, switch it off. Also untick the Allow the shortcut key to start Sticky Keys, to prevent it from turning on accidentally in the future.

Solution 3: Run the Keyboard Troubleshooter on Windows

From the settings menu, navigate to Update & Security and then Select Troubleshoot and then Additional Troubleshooters. There, find the Keyboard tab and click on it.

Then click on Run the troubleshooter, as shown in the picture. Now follow the on-screen instructions and restart your computer when done.

Solution 4: Turn off Filter Keys

FilterKeys is yet another accessibility tool that lets you customize how your computer recognized repeated keystrokes. Depending on your presets, it can even ignore repeated keystrokes. It’s best to turn it off if you are facing a stuck CTRL.

Again, from the Ease of Access menu under Settings, find the Keyboard tab on left. Click on it and then under the Use Filter Keys section ensure Ignore brief or repeated keystrokes and change keyboard repeat rates is turned off. Now untick Allow the shortcut key to start Filter Keys.

Solution 5: Restart Your Computer in Safe Mode

Press Windows Key + R to open Run, and type msconfig in the Open box, hit enter. This will open the System Configuration menu. Now go to the Boot tab from the top, marked in yellow.

Next, tick the Safe boot checkbox and click Ok.

When your computer restarts in safe mode, see if the CTRL stuck issue still persists. If not, the culprit is one of the programs you’ve installed. Now you will have to find the culprit by uninstalling or disabling them one by one.

Although this fix will cost you some time, it’s totally worth it.

Solution 6: Update the Keyboard Driver

Updating the keyboard’s driver is definitely worth a shot. It doesn’t take very long and definitely saves you the time of updating your Windows altogether. Right-click on the start menu and select Device Manager.

Now under Keyboards section, right-click on the Standard PS/2 Keyboard, or your default keyboard, and click on Update driver. When done, restart your PC.

Solution 7: Uninstall Keyboard Driver

This method is almost like the previous one. however, this time we are going to uninstall the keyboard’s driver. Attempting this only when updating your keyboard driver failed to solve the stuck CTRL issue.

Going to the Device Manager, right-click on the primary keyboard, and select Uninstall device. Afterward, restart your computer. After restart, Windows you’ll see new hardware detected in the notification panel. Windows will automatically install the keyboard’s driver.

Solution 8: Disable Automatic Hardware Drivers Update

Sometimes automatic update of hardware drivers can mess up your hardware function. This may be the reason for your stuck CTRL key.

In the start menu, type View Advanced System Settings and open it. A new window with System Properties label will appear.

Click on the Hardware tab and select Device Installation Settings from below. Now under Device installation settings menu, select No, and click on Save Changes (with administrative privilege, of course).

Some Other Generic Fixes

While these solutions are not permanent, they are definitely worth a try. As a quick fix, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift at the same time. This usually gets any modifier key unstuck immediately.

If you are facing a stuck CTRL issue in a laptop with an Fn key, try pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Fn key together.

Another temporary fix is to remove all sorts of static charge from your keyboard. To do it, shut down your computer and remove the keyboard connection from the back of the computer. After a few minutes, connect it again and power on the computer.

You can also use system restore to restore your computer to a time when you were not facing the stuck key issue.

Finally, give your keyboard a proper cleaning by removing the keycaps, the CTRL key in this case, and wipe clean underneath the key with a baby wipe. You can use a compressed air can too.

Frequently Asked Questions And Answers

How do you fix the Ctrl key on an HP laptop?

Press and hold both the Control (CTRL) keys at the same time, for about 5 seconds, then let go. It should be fixed now.

How do I make Ctrl C work again?

Press and hold Alt + Ctrl + Fn keys together. This will reset the modifier key function and Ctrl + C (shortcut for copy) should work now.

Why is my Ctrl button not working?

If the Ctrl key is not working at all, which is different than Ctrl getting stuck, it is possible that your keyboard is physically damaged and needs a replacement.

Conclusion

If you haven’t recently spilled something on the keyboard, there’s a good possibility that the issue is with your OS and not your keyboard. When attempting a fix to unstuck the ctrl key, your first order of business should be unplugging and re-plugging the keyboard. Updating your Windows is also worth a try. Also, make sure to try the keyboard on any other computer to see if the ctrl key is stuck physically. Thanks for reading.