single App Kiosk mode on Windows 11, on-screen Keyboard does not appear

Question

single App Kiosk mode on Windows 11, on-screen Keyboard does not appear

Ayse Topal 0

We are experiencing an issue with Single App Kiosk mode on Windows 11 where the on-screen keyboard does not appear when input is required. This is critical for our touch-only devices that rely on the virtual keyboard for user interaction.

Windows 11 23H2, 24H2, 25H2 tried all versions

App:Remote Desktop Session (RDS) application delivered to users in html format. We only make it accessible via edge browser for the kiosk devices

Ensured: Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service is running. Set EnableDesktopModeAutoInvoke to 1 in the registry

When tapping on a text field, the on-screen keyboard does not launch automatically. Manually launching it is not possible in kiosk mode.

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3 answers

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Answer 1

dridley 181

@Ayse Topal

Did you solve this? I have exactly the same problem in ShellLauncher mode (running MSFT Edge).
I've tried running OSK and the newer Touch Keyboard, neither work.

Ayse Topal Erol 0 Reputation points

2026-08-21T06:05:57.26+00:00

Unfortunately, I couldn't solve it. I tried all suggested workarounds and pretty much everything I could find, but none of them worked in our environment. If you find a solution, please share it here. It would be greatly appreciated.
dridley 181 Reputation points

2026-08-21T06:16:11.3566667+00:00

Good news @Ayse Topal Erol as I have been working on this all day. Solved it for my scenario at least, which is a Win11 25H2 ShellLauncher Kiosk running MsEdge app.

I found that on a traditional tablet it worked just of the box when device was detached/undocked from keyboard. But on AIO devices it didn't, so for them I set the following via Intune remediation running under USER context as 64bit and it worked but only when you select an input/text field within MsEdge (eg address bar). And it's not OSK that shows up, it's the Touch Keyboard.

EnableDesktopModeAutoInvoke & DisableNewKeyboardExperience = Dword:1

Let me know your mileage once you try out the above. Good luck.
Ayse Topal Erol 0 Reputation points

2026-08-21T06:52:04.2366667+00:00

I'm happy it worked for you! @dridley I already tried those registry settings without success. My guess is that it works in your case because you're using Shell Launcher. We only have Windows Pro licenses, and our RDS application must remain in place.

At the moment, the only potential alternative I see would be moving to a Shared Device configuration.
Thanks for sharing your findings!
dridley 181 Reputation points

2026-08-21T06:56:53.4033333+00:00

Yeah ok.

Worth mentioning that I tried creating those regkeys manually under HKU{KioskUserSid} when i logged on as local admin account (keeping Kiosk account logged in), and for whatever reason it never worked. Only Intune remediation method would.

But I'm conscious I discovered & implemented all this today so info is fresh, and time will tell if we hit other road blocks. ie We need more QA time to lapse.

Answer 2

Ryan Scott 0

Onscreen keyboard works IF you assign Kiosk to an existing user, who logs in with their credentials. Once logged in to the single app, works perfect. If you just assign the Kiosk to run without assigning a user, it does not (haven't tried these workarounds). I really hope it gets addressed.

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Answer 3

Joseph Tran 4,095 Independent Advisor

Hi, There

As I known, that’s a known Windows quirk. In Single App Kiosk with Edge + RDS HTML, the on-screen keyboard just won’t pop up for Windows treats it like a desktop app.

I suggest fixes for you in this situation, it might be helpful for yoy:

Switch to ShellLauncher v2 or Multi-App Kiosk > works better with touch keyboard.
Wrap your RDS site as a PWA/WebView2 app so it triggers the keyboard.
Or use a tiny script to auto-launch TabTip.exe when a text box is tapped.

Joseph Tran 4,095 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-11-04T01:46:14.61+00:00

Hi, Ayse Topal

I haven't received any message from you yet? Are you satisfied with my solution above?
Ayse Topal 0 Reputation points

2025-11-04T09:38:21.99+00:00

Hi Joseph,

Thanks for the suggestions — much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to wrap the RDS site, so that option is off the table for now. I'm currently testing Multi-App Kiosk using the Kiosk Browser app, but I haven't seen any improvement yet with the touch keyboard behavior.
Joseph Tran 4,095 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-11-06T03:37:50.9733333+00:00
Sorry for let you waitting, I have been sicked for few days and couldn't reply you.

Well, even in Multi-App Kiosk with Kiosk Browser, the on-screen keyboard still doesn’t pop up like it should. It’s basically the same Edge engine underneath, and Windows just isn’t great at detecting text fields inside web apps yet.

Can you try this fix, I think it might be helpful for you:

Keep TabTip running. Add this to startup:

start "" "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ink\TabTip.exe"

Or use a small PowerShell script that restarts it when it closes.

Double-check these registry keys:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7] "EnableDesktopModeAutoInvoke"=dword:1 "EdgeTargetMode"=dword:1

**If that still doesn’t help, you might need to go with a ShellLauncher setup it gives you a bit more control to call the keyboard manually.
Ayse Topal 0 Reputation points

2025-11-06T08:25:52.8633333+00:00

Hi Joseph,

I hope you're feeling better now. I wish you a speedy recovery! Thank you for getting back to me with detailed workaround, it's much appreciated!

I'll definitely try those steps later. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to the device, so I won't be able to try the workaround right away. I don't have a test device available at the moment either.

Once I have the opportunity to test it again, I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your support!
Joseph Tran 4,095 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-11-06T08:33:51.5133333+00:00

Hey, It's my pleasure to help you, I always be here tho. If you find this answer it's helpful, you can vote for it so people who's struggling with this issue is more breathable