How to Permanently Disable The Touch Keyboard In Windows 8 and 10

This is the first step, and the step that should suffice for the majority of users. The touch keyboard loads as a Windows Service by default. The most direct way to get rid of the annoyance it is to simply disable the service.

To do so open up the Services menu by pressing Windows+R on your keyboard and typing “services.msc” in the resulting run dialog box.

In the Services menu that pops up, click on the “Name” column to sort the services by name, and then scroll until you locate the “Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service”. Double click on the entry.

In the resulting properties menu, look for “Startup type” and, in the drop down menu, change it to “Disabled”.

At the bottom of the window, under “Service status”, click “Stop” to halt the service.

Click “OK” and then, upon rebooting your computer next, the change should be permanent.

No more annoying icon in the system tray.