Keyboard Ghosting Test
Click the test area, then hold each combination of keys. A key that will not light up while the others are held is being blocked by your keyboard.
Getting ready…
How It Works
A keyboard reads its keys through a grid of wires, and cheaper ones cannot tell some combinations apart. Hold several keys and one of them is never sent. That is ghosting, also called key blocking. It rarely shows when typing, but in a game it is the jump that does not happen while you sprint diagonally.
The test walks through 6 combinations that games and typing lean on: W + A + Space, W + D + Shift, W + A + Shift + Space, Q + W + E + R, A + S + D + F and ↑ + ← + Space. Every key lights while it is down, and a combination passes once all its keys are down together. Let go and the next one appears.
Keys are matched by their position, so any layout works. Inside the test area, Space and the arrows do not scroll the page; press Esc twice quickly to leave it. Nothing you type leaves your device.
Interpreting Your Result
Every combination passed: your keyboard handles the combinations games use. "Most keys at once" is how many it sent together at any moment. Many keyboards stop at six keys plus Shift; gaming keyboards with n-key rollover send every key you hold.
A failed combination names its blocked keys: keys that work alone but not with the others. That comes from the keyboard’s wiring, so it does not get worse and no setting fixes it. Rebind the action to a key that does not clash, or use a keyboard with n-key rollover.
A key marked as never registered did not reach your computer at all, even alone. Press it on its own in the keyboard tester: if it stays dark there, the key itself has failed.
Extra keys turned up while you held a combination without being part of it. Usually a finger brushed a neighbor. If the same key appears again on a retest without being touched, your keyboard is sending a phantom key, the original meaning of ghosting.
Laptops and many wireless keyboards block more combinations than desktop gaming keyboards, by design. Some gaming keyboards only send every key in a mode you switch on, often called NKRO, or over a cable rather than Bluetooth.
Inputs going missing on a controller too? The gamepad tester shows every button and stick as you press it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I test my keyboard for ghosting?
Click the test area on this page and hold each combination it shows. If every key lights up together, that combination works. If one stays dark while the others are held, but lights when pressed alone, your keyboard is ghosting on it.
What is the difference between ghosting and key blocking?
Strictly, ghosting is a keyboard sending a key you did not press, and key blocking is a keyboard dropping a key you did press. Most people say ghosting for both. This test reports dropped keys as failed combinations and phantom keys as extra keys.
What is n-key rollover?
Rollover is how many keys a keyboard can send at once. N-key rollover (NKRO) means every key, however many you hold; 6-key rollover means six keys plus modifiers such as Shift and Ctrl. "Anti-ghosting" on a box usually means the common gaming combinations work, not every key.
Can keyboard ghosting be fixed?
Not in software: it comes from how the keys are wired. Rebind game actions so they avoid the clash, switch a gaming keyboard to its NKRO mode or a cable if it has one, or replace the keyboard with one rated for n-key rollover.
Do laptop keyboards have ghosting?
Most do, on some combinations. Laptop keyboards are wired as cheaply and thinly as possible, and many drop a third or fourth key in clusters such as W, A, Shift and Space. Test the combinations you use in your games to be sure.