Really weird password problem in W11

This is a strange password problem that has affected two computers I own. If I run a third-party app such as Google Remote Desktop, and it requests admin permission (I always work from a joe-user account), a dialog will pop up asking for my admin password. It doesn't accept the password. OK, maybe I typed it in wrong. I click on the "eye" icon to expose what I typed in clear text. It reveals that no matter what I really typed, the input it received was literally "asdfghjkl", the sequential keys on a QWERTY/US keyboard.
In clear text mode, typing "cccccccccc" or any key repeatedly will also show up as "asdfghjkl", "zxcvbnm", or whatever, in keyboard order. The error disappears if I go into a text editor, or log in to anything else as I have just done to this forum.
If this is a virus, it has now spread to two machines that are not really connected.
Any idea how to tackle this one?

Hello @pking123 and welcome to ElevenForum.

I don't know anything about remote desktop, but I can give you ten points, just for filling out your computer specs.
That's always appreciated.

If you mean Chrome remote desktop then I don't believe it can interact with UAC and the secure desktop which is why you can't type the password

I wouldn't say the problem is specific to remote desktop apps, I think it generalizes to third party apps which might require raised permissions and ask me to enter the admin password. I remember it happening last week on another computer I have - but I forget what I was running that needed it. I have just been using remote desktop for the first time in some years on this laptop, and was trying it out. Then the same permission problem happened here.

This is from my Google Gemini: Hope it helps
This behavior is a symptom of anti-keylogger or keystroke encryption software running on your local machine (the computer you are physically sitting at, not the remote one).

When a Windows User Account Control (UAC) prompt or administrative password box appears, it often switches the system to a Secure Desktop. Many third-party security suites feature "Secure Keyboard Input" or "Anti-Keylogging" tools designed to scramble keystrokes into default patterns like asdfghjkl or zxcvbnm to prevent malware from capturing your actual password.

Because tools like Google Remote Desktop operate across a network, or because the security software fails to correctly hook into the Secure Desktop isolation window, the software scrambles the keys but fails to decrypt them on the receiving end of the prompt. This leaves you with a literal row of keyboard keys instead of your password.

---

How to Fix It​

You will need to temporarily disable or adjust the settings of the security software on the computer you are physically typing on.

1. Check Your Third-Party Antivirus / Security Suite​

Look for features related to "Banking Protection," "Secure Data Input," or "Anti-Keylogging."

• ESET (NOD32 / Smart Security): Go to Setup > Security Tools and look for Banking & Payment Protection or Secure Keyboard. Try disabling it or removing the browser/remote application from its protected list.
• Kaspersky: Go to Settings > Privacy Settings > Secure Keyboard Input and uncheck it.
• Webroot: Look for the Identity Shield settings and turn off the keyboard blocking features.
• Other Suites (Bitdefender, Avast, etc.): Check for similar "SafePay" or "Anti-Keylogger" options.

2. Workarounds if you can't find the setting​

If you need to get past the prompt immediately and cannot find the toggle:

• Use the On-Screen Keyboard: Open the Windows On-Screen Keyboard (osk.exe) on the local machine and click the keys with your mouse. Keystroke scramblers usually ignore mouse clicks on virtual keyboards.
• Type into a text editor and copy/paste: Because the scrambling only triggers inside sensitive password fields, typing the password into Notepad, copying it, and pasting it into the prompt often bypasses the key-scrambler.

pking123 said:

If I run a third-party app such as Google Remote Desktop, and it requests admin permission

Click to expand...

What happens when you use a purely-Windows item to call up an Admin password, e.g. Disk management
C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc
Does it accept the correct password?


Denis

Try3 said:

What happens when you use a purely-Windows item to call up an Admin password, e.g.
Disk management
C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc
???


Denis

Click to expand...

In those cases, passwords appear to behave normally. For example, actually logging into windows as admin works fine. I insist on using a joeuser account for security reasons when I am doing normal computing.

pking123 said:

I wouldn't say the problem is specific to remote desktop apps, I think it generalizes to third party apps which might require raised permissions and ask me to enter the admin password. I remember it happening last week on another computer I have - but I forget what I was running that needed it. I have just been using remote desktop for the first time in some years on this laptop, and was trying it out. Then the same permission problem happened here.

Click to expand...

Actually I remember I was trying to run Firefox, which was updating. Because I have a joeuser account, it asked me for my password to do the upgrade. I entered it and it had the same problem I was describing. Unlike Chrome Remote Desktop, it seemed to have corrected itself after a couple of tries. Chrome Remote Desktop still has the problem.

Try3 said:

What happens when you use a purely-Windows item to call up an Admin password, e.g. Disk management
C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc
Does it accept the correct password?


Denis

Click to expand...

I just tried the actual command, and with my "standard" account, it flat-out tells me I have no permission and doesn't ask me for a password. Logging into my admin account is no trouble, though. But I just remembered the machine I am using is running Windows 10 Pro. My laptop (running W11 Home) does the same thing. I can run cmd with raised permissions (requiring an admin password) on both machines and run diskmgmg.msc that way without a problem.

pking123 said:

I just tried the actual command, and with my "standard" account, it flat-out tells me I have no permission and doesn't ask me for a password

Click to expand...

Then you have a Windows fault.
- Perhaps posting a screenshot of the error msg you are shown might help.
- I suggest creating & trying out another standard user account to see if the current user profile is the cause of the problem.


Denis