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Keyboard Tester

Test every key on your keyboard and instantly spot dead, sticky, or ghosting keys.

Privacy: your files never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser.

How to use

  1. 1.Click or tab into the on-screen keyboard so it becomes active and starts capturing your key presses.
  2. 2.Press each physical key on your keyboard one at a time and watch the matching on-screen key light up and stay marked as tested.
  3. 3.Read the last-key panel to check the key, code, and keyCode values reported for the key you just pressed.
  4. 4.Look for any on-screen keys that never light up after you have pressed them — those are likely dead or failing keys.
  5. 5.Click Reset to clear all tested marks and the last-key readout when you want to run a fresh test pass.

About Keyboard Tester

A keyboard tester lets you check whether every key on your keyboard actually works, using nothing more than your web browser. Press any key and its matching button lights up on the on-screen QWERTY layout. Held keys glow while you hold them, and every key you press stays permanently marked as tested, so after running your fingers across the whole board you can see at a glance which keys never lit up. Those unlit keys are your suspects: the ones that may be dead, unresponsive, or failing.

This tool is built for a few very common situations. Maybe you just bought a used or refurbished laptop and want to confirm the keyboard is fully functional before the return window closes. Maybe a specific letter has started skipping, doubling, or not registering at all, and you need proof of the fault before contacting support or filing a warranty claim. Maybe you spilled coffee near the keys, or crumbs worked their way under the keycaps, and now something feels off. Or maybe you are a gamer chasing an elusive input problem and want to check for key rollover and ghosting, where certain combinations of keys pressed together cause some presses to be silently dropped. By holding several keys at once you can watch which ones actually register and which ones vanish.

Each time you press a key, the tool shows you three pieces of information about that event. The key value is the character or name the key produces, such as the letter a, Enter, or ArrowUp, and it changes with modifiers and layout. The code value is the physical position of the key on the board, such as KeyA or Space, and it stays the same no matter which language layout you use. The keyCode is an older numeric identifier that some software and games still rely on. Seeing all three together helps developers, gamers, and anyone remapping keys understand exactly what the operating system reports for each press.

Stuck, sticky, or chattering keys show up clearly too. If a key stays highlighted after you release it, or fires repeatedly on a single tap, you have found a mechanical or switch problem worth cleaning or repairing. If a key produces the wrong character, your layout or remapping may be misconfigured rather than the hardware being broken.

Everything happens locally. The page listens for key events directly in your browser and never records, stores, or transmits what you type. There is no logging and no upload, so it is safe to test even while passwords or other sensitive text would normally be a concern, because nothing you press leaves your device. Keys that could otherwise scroll or navigate the page away, like Space, Tab, Backspace, the arrow keys, and the function keys, are held in place only while the on-screen keyboard is focused, so your testing session is not interrupted by the page jumping around, yet you can always click away or press Escape to leave.

To use it, focus the on-screen keyboard, then press each physical key one at a time and watch the display. When you are done, the Reset button clears every tested mark and the last-key readout so you can start a fresh pass, for example after cleaning under a troublesome key. It works on desktops and laptops across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chromebooks in any modern browser, with no install, no sign-up, and no extension required.

Frequently asked questions

Which keys can it detect?
It detects standard keys your browser reports as keyboard events, including letters, numbers, symbols, function keys, modifiers like Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Meta, the arrow keys, Space, Tab, Enter, Backspace and Escape. A few keys are handled by the operating system or hardware before the browser sees them (for example some laptop Fn combinations, media keys, or certain lock keys), so those may not register — that is a browser and OS limitation, not a fault in your keyboard.
Why doesn't my key light up?
If a key stays dark after you press it, first make sure the on-screen keyboard is focused, since detection only runs while it is active. If it still will not light up, the key may be physically dead, dirty, or disconnected — a common sign of a failing keyboard. It can also mean the press was intercepted by the operating system or a global shortcut before the browser received it, so try the key in a plain text field to compare.
Is anything I type recorded?
No. All key detection runs locally in your browser. The tool never records, stores, saves, or sends anywhere the keys you press — there is no keystroke logging and no network upload. When you close or refresh the page, everything is gone.
What is the difference between key, code, and keyCode?
The key value is the character or name a key produces, like a or ArrowUp, and it changes with your layout and modifiers. The code value is the fixed physical position of the key, like KeyA or Space, and it stays the same across layouts. The keyCode is an older numeric identifier kept for compatibility with software and games that still use it.

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