Caps lock behavior not consistent

Hi, Deryn Heyan Iwamoto!

Welcome to the Microsoft Community!

Don't worry. I will work with you to resolve the issue.

I understand that you want to simplify the way Caps Lock works, make it more consistent and intuitive. This is indeed a common problem, especially when typing in multiple languages. Let me analyze the situation for you and provide some suggestions:

Cause of the problem: Keyboard layouts of different languages ​​may affect the behavior of Caps Lock. This is because some languages ​​may use the Shift key for additional characters, so the system changes the way Caps Lock works.

There may be other software that causes Caps Lock conflicts.

To do so, right-click Start->Task manager. Go to the "Startup" tab, and disable all startup items. Then, press Wondows+R and enter "msconfig". Go to the "Services" tab, select "Hide all Microsoft services", and then select "Disable all". Select Apply and reboot. See whether the issue persists.

Please refer to this support article for details, and how to pinpoint the application causing the issue.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

Disclaimer: A "clean boot" starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs.

It helps to determine whether a background service is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem.

These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance; however, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by-step, so that it will help you get back on track.

To do so, right-click Start->Terminal/PowerShell/Command prompt (Admin), and enter the following commands:

net user user1 pass1 /add

net localgroup administrators user1 /add

(Replace "user1" and "pass1" with the username and password of the new user.)

After creating the user, reboot the computer, select the new user, and log in. See whether the issue persists.

If you have created a system restore point before, you can try to use the system restore point to try to restore your system before the problem occurred.

Note: Before making any system changes, it is recommended to create a system restore point so that you can roll back the changes if problems occur.

I hope above information can help you. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. Tell me the results and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your understanding and support! 

Best regards

Yang.Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

I performed the clean boot, disabling all non-Microsoft services and disabling all startup items beforehand; then created and logged in a new admin user. But, sadly, even in the new user the caps lock inconsistent behavior persists.

Dear Deryn Heyan Iwamoto!

OK, thanks for taking the time to try and reply to me!

You have already tried clean boot and creating a new user account.

Let's test whether there is a problem with your keyboard itself.

You can try to open the on-screen keyboard. Search for OSK in the search box and then open the on-screen keyboard.

Then press Windows+X, open the device manager in the pop-up context menu, then select your keyboard and right-click to uninstall.

Remember to open your on-screen keyboard before this step, and then try to use the Caps key on your on-screen keyboard to switch uppercase and lowercase.

Check whether it can be used normally. If conditions permit, you can connect an external USB keyboard to try whether the Caps key can be used normally to switch uppercase and lowercase.

Thank you for your patience and support! 

Best regards

Yang.Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hello,

I uninstalled the keyboard, but the virtual caps lock, although it visually worked (whenever I clicked it, it toggled between on and off), when typing in any editor/text box it behave the same: caps lock key toggles uppercase on, but doesn't toggles it off, if you press shift while caps lock is on, it toggles it off (despite it still showing it on on the virtual keyboard). I then reinstalled the keyboard again and it still behaves the same too. When using virtual keyboard with the keyboard driver installed, the virtual keyboard caps state doesn't follow the physical keyboard's state, and the computer only recognizes the physical keyboard caps state. If you press shift on the virtual keyboard when caps is toggled on, it will toggle caps off (on PC and on the physical keyboard) despite the virtual keyboard showing it still toggled on.

Turning caps on (both keyboard's caps key lit up)

Pressing shift on virtual keyboard (physical keyboard caps lock turns off)

Typing on a notepad with virtual keyboard caps lock toggled on (PC is inheriting the caps state from the physical keyboard)