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I frequently plug a USB keyboard into my laptop to use instead of the laptop keyboard. However, when I do this, the OS (Windows Vista) then accepts input from both the laptop keyboard and the USB keyboard. I want to place the USB keyboard on top of the laptop keyboard and that might result in accidental keypresses if the laptop keyboard is still enabled. So, is there any way to disable the laptop's built-in keyboard when a USB keyboard is plugged in? My laptop is a Dell Inspiron.

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Don't you have function key for that? –  rohan-patel Nov 26 '11 at 12:56
Nope; there's a function key to switch screen output, but not to disable laptop keyboard output (to my knowledge?) –  Jez Nov 27 '11 at 11:04
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You could create 2 batch files for enabling/disabling your keyboard using its device id with the command line tool devcon.

From Microsoft Support website:


Then you could have shortcuts to these files on your desktop or on any other accessible location of your preference.

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Good to know, thanks. (Perhaps there's a way to get notified of hardware plugs/unplugs, which would allow for automatic script execution? (I don't know if such notification API exists in Windows Vista, but I'd suspect it should)) –  Piskvor Dec 13 '11 at 10:05
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