In Windows 10, by default, pressing CTRL+SHIFT (or for some ALT+SHIFT - thanks madmenyo ) will cycle through any keyboard layouts that you might have mapped and it's surprisingly easy to do this by mistake.

If you keep pressing CTRL+SHIFT (or whatever you might have changed it to) then soon you should get back to the correct setting. (alternatively reboot which is what I did first time ;-) )

You can disable this default keyboard action as follows:

Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Language > Advanced settings > Switching input methods > Change language bar hotkeys > Change key sequence... > Switch keyboard layout > Not Assigned

from 2016 onwards location has changed. (from comments)

Control panel > Language > Advanced settings > Switching input methods > Change language bar hot keys

Be warned, the above doesn't always work - Restarts and Sleep mode can both change keyboard default (usually to US) - I've found no cast-iron solution though creating a new profile can help, though not a particularly satisfactory answer IMHO.

In an emergency

WIN+R  

osk

to bring up the On Screen Keyboard might help temporarily.

Also note that it's possible to disable this so that no key combination will change the language - change the keys to "Not Assigned" - see answer below from Mort for more info

If you click on the "Change language bar hot keys" link, visible in your last screenshot, you should be able to see which keys are bound to change the keyboard language.

The default settings are very easy to hit, when using the keyboard, thus suddenly changing the keyboard language. Changing the keys to "Not Assigned" will prevent the keyboard language from switching accidentally.

The direct registry setting to disable the keyboard layout toggle hotkeys is:

reg add "HKCUKeyboard LayoutToggle" /v "Layout Hotkey" /d 3

You might also want

reg add "HKCUKeyboard LayoutToggle" /v "Language Hotkey" /d 3

reg add "HKCUKeyboard LayoutToggle" /v "Hotkey" /d 3

And for new users, try this (in an elevated prompt):

reg load HKEY_USERStemp "%USERPROFILE%..DefaultNTUSER.DAT"

reg add "HKEY_USERStempKeyboard LayoutToggle" /v "Layout Hotkey" /d 3

reg unload HKEY_USERStemp

2018 answer:

I had the same issue, trying to use Polish keyboard with English UI language of Windows.

Every time I locked the computer, it came back to US keyboard.

The problem was that I was having Polish keyboard under Polish language, where in fact, what I really wanted was a Polish keyboard under English language.

I removed Polish language pack, added Polish keyboard under English language, and removed American keyboard from English language - see the screenshot below:

So in short, the trick is to add your desired keyboard as the only keyboard under the default language.

(This works for me because I generally type in English, only sometimes I want to input in Polish, but I can do it without changing the keyboard, since Polish keyboard is fully compatible with US QWERTY).

Solution1

use this solution- How to disable automatic keyboard layout change in Windows 8?

Solution2

Choose the second language as default. then,when you switch to the first one, it will remain switched.

(thanks to @SimonSeyock):

win + space changes between all language/keyboard pairs.

alt + shift only changes language

ctrl + shift only changes keyboard

My problem: I have 3 languages (keyboard layouts) installed. When going to sleep in Windows 10, then waking up, it always defaults back to the "main language", instead of keeping the last one set. I consider this a bug.

Solution:

1. Open Control PanelAll Control Panel ItemsLanguage.


2. Click on Advanced Settings.


3. Under Switching input methods, check the Let me set a different input method for each app windows.

This will keep the language when going to sleep and coming back.

This top Google result worked on my new Windows 10 laptop:

Set a default keyboard layout:

1. Click the Start menu and select Settings.


2. Select Time & language.


3. Click Region & language in the left column.


4. Under Languages click the language you want as default and click Set as default.

December 2018

The same issue occurred to me and I followed the following steps to fix it on Windows 10.

Step #1: Go to Language Preferences

Step #2: Click on Advanced keyboard Settings

Step #3: Click on Language bar Options

Step #4: Perform following :
4.1 Select Advanced Key Settings Tab
4.2 Choose Between input languages option in the list.
4.3 Click on Change key Sequence... button

4.4 Change both the options to Not Assigned.