Win95 keyboard lockup at Login

[Phil Docking]

I've been on holiday, which is a shame because I could have contributed
to the 'Login screen keyboard lockup' problem when it first started.

Luke's problem Number 1:

>1) keyboard locks up after a logout, when you get back to the login 
>prompt.  esc / tab work; alphanumerics don't.

is related to codepages (set by 'Regional Settings' under the control
panel) as was mentioned in Digest 1412 - the problem only happens when
the Win95 'default' codepage is different from a users' codepage when
using 'user profiles'

Thus, if a user's profile (which includes a reference to a different
codepage) is stored on a server and you completely re-install W95 on a
client that gets the profile from the server, you will STILL have the
same problem on the newly installed computer.

This problem will usually only affect Non-US users, because they would
normally only use the default US codepage and probably wouldn't bother
with changing most of the settings in the 'Regional Settings' dialogs,
which is proabbly why MS haven't been bothered with it before.

I suspect that the reason the keyboard locks up before the next session
(ie. at the login screen, after the user with the different regional
settings logs out) is because there is an incompatibility between what
the system thinks the keyboard driver is and what is 'preloaded' by the
system after the user logs out (because, as we all know, MS would like
everyone to have their own computer, rather than sharing a computer, as
in a lab situation - so they don't code for a lab situation).

The fix is, of course, to change the registry settings (for the
troublesome user)

The most inportant key to look for (I think, though I haven't really
been very scientific about this) is:

HKU\user\keyboard layout\preload\1\    '[default]' or '@'

where the '[default]' or '@' key should be changed to match the default 
codepage for the installation (usually found in:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Locale\[default])

Check for any other keys marked 'Locale', (although I don't know how
important they are) such as:
HKU\<username>\Control Panel\International\Locale
also check
HKU\Default\Control Panel\International\Locale
so that new users don't have the same problem

I hope this helps those of you who are having this specific problem - It
took me a hell of a long time to work out, with no help from MS (as
usual, because my Win95 licences are OEM, ... even though I'm an MSDN
member (I won't be renewing this - MS take note!))

Good luck.

-- 

	-Phil Docking.