Numlock

Index

Used to set the "Num Lock" key on or off on startup.

The NUMLOCK command can only be invoked from Config.sys.

Syntax:

To ensure the "Num Lock" key is on when the computer starts:
NUMLOCK=on

To ensure the "Num Lock" key is off (the default) when the computer starts:
NUMLOCK=off

Notes:

One of those harmless, almost trivial, options that has caused tremendous irritation ever since the introduction of the first keyboards with the built in numeric keypads. Some machines came with the numeric keys active by default, others with the cursor keys active. MS tried to help by enabling the NUMLOCK command so that the users preference could be set in Config.sys but, as I recall, different versions of DOS have had different defaults - so there you go.

This page last revised:
December 9, 1999.