How to Enable and Disable the Windows Key

Windows key is located on every keyboard, and we are using this key for various actions. If you press Windows key, you will open the Start menu. Also, you can use Windows key in combination with another key. For example, if you press Windows key + E you will open Windows Explorer or File Explorer, if you press Windows key + R, you will open a Run dialog box and many others combination keys. If Windows key is not working properly, you will not be able to to this actions. So, why this problem occurs?

There are different reasons why Windows key is not working, including keyboard issue, system settings, game settings or application settings.

We will show you how to solve the issue by using 5 different methods. These methods are compatible with operating systems from Windows XP to Windows 10. I hope you are using minimum Windows 7 because previous operating systems are not anymore supported by Microsoft. If you are one of the users who want to disable Windows key when playing games, you will be able to do it after reading this article.

Method 1: Press Fn + F6 or Fn + Windows Keys

In the first method, we will use combination keys to activate or deactivate Windows key. Please, press Fn + F6 to activate or deactivate Windows key. This procedure is compatible with computers and notebooks, regardless which brand are you using. Also, try pressing “Fn + Windows” key which can sometimes get it working again.

Method 2: Press Win Lock

Are you using gaming keyboard? If not, you should read next method. If you are using gaming keyboard, please check is there Win Lock key located on your keyboard. If yes, you should press this key to enable or disable Windows key. Few users solved their problem by pressing Win Lock key on their gaming keyboard, including keyboard model Logitech G15. If you can not find Win Lock key, please read the technical documentation of your gaming keyboard.

Method 3: Change Registry settings

If combination keys are not working well, you will need to enable Windows key through Registry Editor. Before you do any registry configuration, we are recommending you to backup registry database. Why do you need to do registry backup? In the case of some misconfiguration, you can revert registry database to the previous state when everything worked without any problems. For this method, you will need to use a user account with Administrator privilege, because Standard user account is not allowed to do any system changes. How to do registry backup? Please read instructions on this LINK, and follow the procedure of on the method 4, from step 1 to step 7. After that, you will need to download and run registry file from this LINK. Also, if you want to disable Windows key, you will need to download and run registry key from this LINK.

Method 4: Clean the keyboard

If your keyboard is dirty and if there is dust between your keys, you should clean your keyboard. Sometimes, dust can block some of your keys, including Windows key. Based on that, we are recommending you to clean your keyboard. Please follow the procedure below.

For Computer:

1. Unplug keyboard from computer
2. Clean the keyboard
3. Plug keyboard back
4. Test Windows key

For notebook:

1. Turn off your notebook
2. Unplug AC DC adapter from notebook
3. Unplug battery from notebook
4. Clean the keyboard
5. Plug battery back
6. Plug the AC DC back
7. Turn on your notebook
8. Test Windows key

Method 5: Replace the keyboard

If cleaning your keyboard did not solve your problem, we are recommending you to replace your keyboard with the new one. Before purchasing new keyboard you should test your computer keyboard on another machine or plug another keyboard to your current computer or notebook. If you are using a notebook, please plug USB keyboard on your notebook and check is working properly. If another keyboard is working properly on your machine, you will need to purchase a new keyboard. Before purchasing a new keyboard, please check is your brand name computer, keyboard or notebook under warranty. If yes, the vendor will replace your keyboard for free.

How to disable the Windows key

By Tyler Wilde 18 January 2015

Ask PC Gamer is our weekly question and advice column. Have a burning question about the smoke coming out of your PC? Send your problems to letters@pcgamer.com.

Look, See? I am a PC Gamer. I am impressed—really!—by the knowledge the Windows key does all that. However, due to my empirical knowledge of how aggravating the Windows key is to my PC Gaming I will continue to remove the Windows key from my keyboards. —Klimek Shannon

OK, so that wasn’t a question, but it brings one up. That was a response to my post from last week, in which I offered a few of my favorite Windows shortcuts and tricks. While the Windows key can be useful for the highly efficient PC gamer, Klimek points out that it can also be the cruelest key of them all. Accidentally dumping yourself to the desktop in the middle of a competitive game is worse than accidentally hitting Insert and typing over a sentence. Thankfully, there are ways to disable it.

As commenters pointed out, some keyboards (like the one pictured) include a button to disable the key. On my Thermaltake keyboard, the left Windows key is replaced with an Fn key, so I don’t worry about it. If you’re out of luck with your keyboard, though, you can still disable the key in Windows 7 with a bit of registry editing. Here, directly from Microsoft support, is how to do it:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedt32, and then click OK.
2. On the Windows menu, click HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE on Local Machine.
3. Double-click the System\CurrentControlSet\Control folder, and then click the Keyboard Layout folder.
4. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in Scancode Map, click REG_BINARY as the Data Type, and then click OK.
5. Type 00000000000000000300000000005BE000005CE000000000 in the Data field, and then click OK.
6. Close Registry Editor and restart the computer.

If you don’t want to mess with your registry yourself, which can be dangerous, Microsoft will do it for you with a little download on the support page. Or you can try a different method, with a program that’s handy to have anyway, and keep the shortcuts. [The following has been revised thanks to solliddd’s great comment.]

AutoHotkey is what you want. Download the program (it’s free and open source) and run it, then right click on its icon in the taskbar. Select ‘Edit This Script’ and it’ll open the default script in Notepad. Somewhere between the comments (which are marked with semi-colons) add the following:

Now just save the file, right click on AutoHotkey again, and select ‘Reload This Script.’ Both Windows keys should now do nothing when pressed on their own, but shortcuts will still work. Now you’ll never end up looking at the desktop when you meant to crouch. Whew.

Note: Some online games may detect AutoHotkey as a potential cheating application, though I always have it running and have never had a problem. Obviously, if you’re creating scripts to automate in-game actions, the game’s moderators may not approve. Use it at your own risk!

How to disable Windows key or WinKey in Windows 10

Pressing the Windows keys opens the start menu. Using combinations of WinKey with other keys on your keyboard lets you perform many actions and commands that you perform with the mouse. These are the WinKey or Windows Key shortcuts, and they are very useful.

But when one is gaming, and if one presses the Windows Key, any open PC game where the taskbar is not shown, will minimize without exiting the program! This often becomes a nightmare for PC gamers, and as such, while playing PC games, most prefer to disable this key.

Let us see how we can disable the Windows key on the keyboard to improve the Gaming experience.

Disable Windows key or WinKey

There are five ways to disable the WinKey or Windows Key:

1. Use WinKey Killer or WinKill
2. Edit the Registry manually
3. Use the Group Policy Editor
4. Use the Registry.
5. Use RemapKeyboard PowerToy.

1] Use WinKey Killer or WinKill

Download and use WinKey Killer, a freeware app. But this does not appear to be working on later Windows versions.

I have, however, tried WinKill on my Windows 10 and it worked.

WinKill sits in the system tray where you can toggle On or Off the killing of the Windows Key. You can download it here.

2] Edit the Registry manually

To completely disable the Windows key, follow these steps:

• Open regedit.
• On the Windows menu, click HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE on Local Machine.
• Double-click the System\CurrentControlSet\Control folder, and then click the Keyboard Layout folder.
• On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in Scancode Map, click REG_BINARY as the Data Type, and then click OK.
• Type 00000000000000000300000000005BE000005CE000000000 in the Data field, and then click OK.
• Close Registry Editor and restart the computer.

To enable the Windows key, follow these steps:

• Open regedit.
• On the Windows menu, click HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE on Local Machine.
• Double-click the System\CurrentControlSet\Control folder, and then click the Keyboard Layout folder.
• Right-click the Scancode Map registry entry, and then click Delete. Click Yes.
• Close Registry Editor and restart the computer.

You may want to backup your registry first.

3] Using the Group Policy Editor

You can also do this using the Group Policy Editor. Run gpedit.msc and navigate to the following setting:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer

In the right pane, you will see Turn off Windows+X hotkeys. Double-click on it and select Enabled.

Keyboards with a Windows key provide users with shortcuts to common shell features. For example, pressing the keyboard sequence Windows+R opens the Run dialog box; pressing Windows+E starts File Explorer. By using this setting, you can disable these Windows+X shortcut keys. If you enable this setting, the Windows+X shortcut keys are unavailable. If you disable or do not configure this setting, the Windows+X shortcut keys are available.

This should do the job!

4] Using Registry Editor

If your Windows, does not have the Group Policy Editor, you can use the Registry Editor to turn off the Windows key.

Create a 32-bit DWORD value, name it NoWinKeys and give it a value of 1.

5] Using Remap Keyboard PowerToy

1. Download and install Microsoft PowerToys.
2. Launch PowerToys
3. Go to Keyboard Manager
4. Select Remap a key
5. Click the ‘+’ button
6. Under Key click on the Type Key button
7. Press your Winkey and click OK.
8. Under Mapped To, select Undefined from the drop-down.

Check this post for a Fix-It that will help you if your WinKey or Windows key has become disabled, and this one if you’d like to only disable Win+L Shortcut Key.

Date: August 21, 2020 Tags: Hotkeys, Registry

Disable the windows key in Windows 10

Replies (14) 

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Thank you for posting your query at Microsoft community.

I would like to inform you that disabling the Windows key is not recommended by Microsoft. However if you are comfortable editing the registry, we might be able to disable the key. But please do bear in mind that any wrong step in the Windows Registry will cause the system to crash.
A much easier way would be to go inside the settings of the game and change the keyboard key settings. Map Windows key for some important action in the game.

Please let us know if it helps or if you want further assistance. We will be glad to help.

2 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for posting your query at Microsoft community.

I would like to inform you that disabling the Windows key is not recommended by Microsoft. However if you are comfortable editing the registry, we might be able to disable the key. But please do bear in mind that any wrong step in the Windows Registry will cause the system to crash.
A much easier way would be to go inside the settings of the game and change the keyboard key settings. Map Windows key for some important action in the game.

Please let us know if it helps or if you want further assistance. We will be glad to help.

Thank you for your reply. I attempted several times to reassign the windows key as you suggested. This would be satisfactory for me if it worked. In the game «Call of Duty Black Ops II» you are not able to reassign the windows key.

When you attempt to do so the game window collapses and reassignment does not occur.

I suppose eventually someone will write a script which will disable the keyboard key. If you could post the procedure for disabling the key in the registry it would be appreciated. I have read the procedure for earlier windows versions but the file selections in the registry editor are not the same in Windows 10. Seems to me someone at Microsoft could include in an update the option to disable the key.

2 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for posting your query at Microsoft community.

I would like to inform you that disabling the Windows key is not recommended by Microsoft. However if you are comfortable editing the registry, we might be able to disable the key. But please do bear in mind that any wrong step in the Windows Registry will cause the system to crash.
A much easier way would be to go inside the settings of the game and change the keyboard key settings. Map Windows key for some important action in the game.

Please let us know if it helps or if you want further assistance. We will be glad to help.

Thank you for your reply. I attempted several times to reassign the windows key as you suggested. This would be satisfactory for me if it worked. In the game «Call of Duty Black Ops II» you are not able to reassign the windows key.

When you attempt to do so the game window collapses and reassignment does not occur.

I suppose eventually someone will write a script which will disable the keyboard key. If you could post the procedure for disabling the key in the registry it would be appreciated. I have read the procedure for earlier windows versions but the file selections in the registry editor are not the same in Windows 10. Seems to me someone at Microsoft could include in an update the option to disable the key.

have we figured out how to disable the windows key, and is there a way to do it in the registry editor? I too hit the windows key while gaming and its so irritating, and it wont allow that key to be assigned in a game to something.

2 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

19 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for posting your query at Microsoft community.

I would like to inform you that disabling the Windows key is not recommended by Microsoft. However if you are comfortable editing the registry, we might be able to disable the key. But please do bear in mind that any wrong step in the Windows Registry will cause the system to crash.
A much easier way would be to go inside the settings of the game and change the keyboard key settings. Map Windows key for some important action in the game.

Please let us know if it helps or if you want further assistance. We will be glad to help.

Thank you for your reply. I attempted several times to reassign the windows key as you suggested. This would be satisfactory for me if it worked. In the game «Call of Duty Black Ops II» you are not able to reassign the windows key.

When you attempt to do so the game window collapses and reassignment does not occur.

I suppose eventually someone will write a script which will disable the keyboard key. If you could post the procedure for disabling the key in the registry it would be appreciated. I have read the procedure for earlier windows versions but the file selections in the registry editor are not the same in Windows 10. Seems to me someone at Microsoft could include in an update the option to disable the key.

have we figured out how to disable the windows key, and is there a way to do it in the registry editor? I too hit the windows key while gaming and its so irritating, and it wont allow that key to be assigned in a game to something.

Microsoft’s response is no help at all just dodged the question and ignored my response.