A Second Keyboard Language Keeps Switching in Windows? Remove It and Stop the Hotkey

Your keyboard switches to another language on its own mid-sentence, and suddenly your symbols come out wrong.

Why: You have two or more input layouts installed, and a built-in hotkey is flipping between them. Win + Space cycles layouts, and an older shortcut (Left Alt + Shift or Ctrl + Shift) does too — easy to hit by accident. The permanent fix is to remove the layout you don’t want; if you need to keep it, disable the switching hotkey.

Fix 1: Switch back right now with Win + Space

To recover mid-typing without changing settings:

1. Press and hold the Windows logo key, then tap Spacebar to cycle layouts.
2. Land on the one you actually use (e.g. English (United Kingdom)) and release.

The current layout shows as an abbreviation (like ENG) in the taskbar near the clock — click it any time to switch.

Fix 2: Remove the extra layout you didn’t want

If you never use the second layout, delete it so nothing can switch to it:

1. Open Settings > Time & language > Language & region.
2. If it’s a whole extra language, click the three dots (…) next to it and choose Remove. (You can’t remove the current display language.)
3. If it’s an extra layout under one language, click the language, then Language options, find the unwanted keyboard under Keyboards, click it, then (…) > Remove.

Once only one layout remains, Win + Space has nothing to switch to.

Fix 3: Keep both languages but stop the hotkey

If you genuinely need two languages but want switching only when you choose:

1. Open Settings > Time & language > Typing.
2. Click Advanced keyboard settings.
3. Click Input language hot keys. In the dialog, select Between input languages > Change Key Sequence.
4. Set Switch Input Language and Switch Keyboard Layout to Not Assigned, then OK.

Now the Alt+Shift / Ctrl+Shift hotkey won’t fire by accident — you switch only via the taskbar (or Win + Space).

FAQ

The taskbar language button disappeared after I removed the second layout. That’s expected — the input indicator only shows when two or more layouts are installed.

It keeps coming back after I remove it. A specific app or your sign-in language may be re-adding it. After removing, go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region > Administrative language settings and make sure your preferred language is the system default, then reboot.

Sources: Microsoft Support — Manage the language and keyboard/input layout settings in Windows