This page will explain how you can implement a Korean keyboard in Windows 10.

If you landed on this page from a search engine, you may also want to check out our Introduction page, which has a general introduction on the Korean keyboard available in the Windows operating system as well as a typing practice section.

Installing Korean Keyboard in Windows 10

STEP 1: Click the Windows Start button and then click the gear icon.

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STEP 2: Select “Time & Language”.

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STEP 3: In the left column, select “Language”.

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STEP 4: In the new panel that opens, there are many clickable icons. Just click the + sign, which is near the bottom of the view, under "Preferred languages". Adding Korean as a “preferred” language will not make Korean preferred over the existing default language (English). Unless you make the extra efforts of manually moving the newly added language to a position higher than English (which this article will not show), Korean will be placed at a position less “preferred” than English, and the Korean keyboard will only perform auxiliary functions.
Note: The current illustration is made with the October 2020 release of Windows 10 (version 20H2, build 19042). If your Windows 10 has not been updated from an earlier release, the interface may have a slightly different look. For example, in the November 2019 release (version 1903), the section title of the bottom half of the panel is simply "Language" and the phrase next to the + sign reads "Add a preferred language".

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STEP 5: Type “Korean” in the search box and hit the Enter key of your keyboard. The "Korean" option will appear. Click “Next”.

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STEP 6: There are 3 features that most of our readers would not need. Uncheck the options as indicated in the picture.
Note: If you have an older version of Windows 10 (such as version 1909), the 4 options may appear in a slightly different arrangement.

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STEP 7: The panel should now look as shown below. You are going to install only the bottom 3 features (Basic typing; Optical character recognition; Supplementary fonts), which are apparently obligatory installation requirements. Click “Install”.



At this point, the panel shows "Korean" as an available language (with only one icon displayed -- "abc" indicating the keyboard function). It also says "Language pack available", but most readers of this article would not need it (if you need the Korean spellcheck function in addition to simple typing, see our Installing Korean Spellcheck section).

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STEP 8: The installation steps are now complete. You will notice a tiny new icon (“ENG”) appearing in your taskbar, next to the clock. It is a toggle switch to move back and forth between the English-Only mode and the Korean-Enabled mode of your keyboard. How to use this switch is explained below.

How to Alternate Between the English and Korean Keyboards

Open an application that will give you a space to type something onto. You can open a blank MS Word, Notepad or Excel file or a browser window showing an input field such as a Google search window. (If your cursor is not actually on a typable space, the language icon will not behave as illustrated here.)

As long as the language icon is displayed as “ENG”, the keyboard is locked in the English-Only mode and typing Korean is not possible. If you click the language icon, it will let you choose between "ENG" and (Korean).

Pick the second row, (Korean Microsoft IME; IME stands for "input method editor"). (The third item simply shows the setup window again.)



Now, the language icon is changed to , and another status indicator (“A”) appears. You still cannot type Korean, yet. The icon indicates that the keyboard is now in the Korean-English dual mode (it's no longer in the English-Only mode). But the “A” indicator shows that the keyboard language at the moment happens to be English.



When you are ready to type Korean, click the “A” symbol, which will then change to a Korean letter "가" . While the symbol is shown as "가", the keyboard is in the Korean mode and you can type Korean.


You can hit the symbol again at any time to change it back to “A” to type English.

If you prefer, you can also hit the ALT key to alternate between "A" and "가". (A keyboard has two ATL keys, but only the ALT key on the right side will work for this purpose.)

To go back to the English-Only mode, click and select the top line ("ENG").

Undoing This Installation

To remove the Korean keyboard availability, repeat Steps 1 through 7. Under “Preferred Language”, click “Korean” – the line then expands to reveal a “Remove” button. Click “Remove”.