How to Fix Emoji Panel Keyboard Not Working in Windows 10/11

Windows has a built-in feature called emoji panel which allows users to insert various emojis in any apps to express themselves. Usually, it can be launched by pressing "Win+." or "Win+;", but some users have complained emoji keyboard shortcuts not working. The emoji panel doesn't appear and emojis fails to show up after pressing these keys. If you are running into the same situation, this tutorial will help you to solve the problem of not being able to access emoji panel with the keyboard shortcuts. Try restarting your PC at first, and if it doesn't work, then follow the below guide.

1. Update Windows

Checking for pending Windows update can fix some common issues in Windows since every update can bring improvements to your system.

Step 1: Press Windows+I to open Settings and select Windows Update.

Step 2: Click Check for updates and install the latest version.

2. Change region and language settings

Emoji panel is only available to those who use English(United States) US keyboard as the input language when it was introduced at the beginning. Though this feature can be used for all keyboard input languages now, changing the region and language to the United States may help fix your problem.

Step 1: Press Windows+I to open Settings and select Time & Language.

Step 2: Click Region in the left pane and choose United States from the Country or region section.

Step 3: Then click Language and choose English (United States) from the Windows display language section.

3. Run CTFMon.exe

If CTFMon.exe stops running, then emoji keyboard shortcuts won't work.

Press Windows + R to open run dialog, copy and paste C:\Windows\System32\ctfmon.exe to the box and then click OK.

Then the CTFMon.exe will run and it allows you to use the emoji panel.

4. Tweak registry settings

Step 1: Press Windows+R to open run command and type regedit in the open box. Click OK to open Registry Editor.

Step 2: Navigate to the following path:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Input\Settings

Step 3: Right-click on an empty area in the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Step 4: Name the newly created entry as EnableExpressiveInputShellHotkey. Then double-click on it and set the Value data to 1.

Step 5: Restart the system and check if you can open emoji panel.

5. Enable Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service

Step 1: Press Windows+R to open run dialog, type services.msc  in the open box and press Enter to open Services.

Step 2: In Services window, scroll down to find a service named Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel, right-click on it and select Properties.

Step 3: Choose General tab in the pop-up window, select Automatic form the drop down menu next to Startup type. Then click Apply to save changes and OK to close the window.

Step 4: Reboot your PC.