Windows key shortcuts stopped working

Solution 1:

For others encountering this issue, you might have a fancy keyboard with a "gaming mode" switch of some sort that disables the windows key. In my case I had a Logitech G110 and had no idea what the switch did :/

The fact this is the top voted answer and this page has 100K views should tell keyboard designers something... Certainly it was a feature added with good intentions to prevent accidentally losing focus on a game when hitting the Windows key by accident, but the keyboard should beep or something when you hit a key and it ignores it.

Solution 2:

1. Quick check Win+Tab, Win+P, Win+L and Win+R - are they also not working?

2. Now check Ctrl+Alt+Del, which should bring up the Windows Security screen (menu), and Ctrl+Shift+Esc, to open Task Manager - are they working (malware test)?

3. Hit Shift 5 times quickly - is Sticky Keys working?

4. Now reboot the computer, and test again.

Go to Microsoft KB216893, and do NOT run the "fix it" (XP). Instead, go halfway down the page to "Let me fix it myself", run regedit, and see if the following key exists there:

• Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
• Value: Scancode Map
• Type: REG_BINARY (Binary Value)
• Data: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00
• That value disables it, you would remove the key completely to have it work normal.

Then check this key as well while you're in there:

• Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
• Value: NoWinKeys
• Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
• Data: 0 to disable restriction, or 1 to enable restriction

Check for other software running. Do you have any AutoHotkey scripts running? Do you have any shortcut programs running, like special launcher software, or special mouse or keyboard or touch drivers/software? Temporarily stop that software in Task Manager, and/or temporarily stop the services that it runs on. Or disable the driver, without disabling your last input device, and test again.

I also wonder, because the Win key can mess up a game pretty badly, maybe some games have ways of disabling that while they are running?

Solution 3:

In my specific case, I had played around with the Windows Game Bar to record a JavaScript animation. I think that this Game Bar disables the shortcuts. In my case, I had to first press only Win to popup the start menu. After that, the Win+R shortcut worked because the browser (of which Windows now thinks it's a game), lost focus.

Somehow the problem disappeared after reading through this question and successively pressing Win+Tab, Win+P, Win+L and Win+R, but obviously, one should be able to disable it by telling the Game Bar that the application (in my case, the browser) is not a game.

Solution 4:

I had the same problem, and fixed it with Combofix.

I wouldn't have guessed that I had malware, as I had no symptoms. I had thought a bad keyboard, so I tried using this keyboard testing software, and it said my keyboard was fine, but the shortcuts didn't work.

Thanks Psycogeek for leading me the right way.