how to remove unused keyboard layouts? Missing in Lang&region

Question

how to remove unused keyboard layouts? Missing in Lang&region

Alex 20

Win11 24h2, display lang: English (US), added keyboards: PL, UA, JP. Regional settings: En(US)

Windows adds extra keyboard layouts that are useless (see screenshot), we can type 100% of English using PL layout only. Usually they appeared after an update, and reboot was enough to remove them. Now they stick here and I'd like to get rid of them. How can I do it?

Jonathan Zur 0 Reputation points

2026-02-05T07:49:55.52+00:00

I have the very same issue - see screenshot showing only one keyboard on the settings and three layouts on the taskbar. I tried to copy the setting of the region and sync it, but this didn't solve the issue.
Jonathan Zur 0 Reputation points

2026-02-05T08:04:14.7633333+00:00

I managed to get rid of the extra layouts by deleting them from the registry under: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload. Never delete the first one, which is the default that was installed on your PC. In my case, the default is English (US) - 00000409

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Jonathan Zur 0 Reputation points

2026-02-05T07:49:55.52+00:00

I have the very same issue - see screenshot showing only one keyboard on the settings and three layouts on the taskbar. I tried to copy the setting of the region and sync it, but this didn't solve the issue.
Jonathan Zur 0 Reputation points

2026-02-05T08:04:14.7633333+00:00

I managed to get rid of the extra layouts by deleting them from the registry under: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload. Never delete the first one, which is the default that was installed on your PC. In my case, the default is English (US) - 00000409

Answer 1

Jiří Vrabec 0

Changing Time & Language > Typing > Advanced keyboard settings > Override for default input method seems to help in getting rid of unwanted keyboard layouts. It removed 4 out of 5 unwanted layouts for me, though default layout of my first language still remains.

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Answer 2

Henry Mai 8,225 Independent Advisor

Hello Alex, I am Henry and I want to help you with your issue.

You can refer these steps below:

Navigate to Settings > Time & language > Language & region.
Locate the language associated with the keyboard layout you wish to remove.
Click the three-dot menu next to the language and select Language options.
Under the "Keyboards" section, find the layout you want to delete, click the three-dot menu next to it, and select Remove.[link1][link2]

Hope this clears things up. If you find this guidance helpful, you're welcome to click 'Accept Answer'—it helps others find useful solutions too.

Alex 20 Reputation points

2025-09-19T12:21:43.3733333+00:00

There's NO English in that menu. If it'd be so simple...
Henry Mai 8,225 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-21T01:20:04.2833333+00:00
In you case, English is NOT in the list

This is the default behavior on a clean installation.

Reason: English is set as the "Windows display language" and is the only English variant installed. Windows treats it as the fundamental system language, not an optional one you can remove, so it doesn't show it in the list.

If you remove Polish, Ukrainian, and Japanese, your computer will not be left without a keyboard.

It will default to using the keyboard layout associated with your Windows Display Language, which is English (United States).

You will only have the English (US) keyboard available for typing.
Alex 20 Reputation points

2025-09-22T06:38:45.82+00:00

I can ask AI too :) And this does not answer on how to delete them.

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how to remove unused keyboard layouts? Missing in Lang&region

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