Can't assign certain hotkey combos on Win10 *only*

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devolve
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:10 am

Can't assign certain hotkey combos on Win10 *only*

Post by devolve »

Win 10 Pro 1709 x64
Everything ver 1.4.1.877 (x64)

All my Windows machines at work use Win7, and before I installed Win10 at home I used Win+Alt+F to open a new Everything search window. On Win10 at home it won't accept that combination. It *will* accept Win+Shift+F for reasons I don't understand. There are also several other combinations including the Win key that are not accepted. I really want to use Win+Alt+F because I've used Everything for years and it's pretty much a matter of muscle memory now. :)

I don't *think* I have any software hijacking that key combo, but how could I tell if I did? Is there some sort of utility or method I could use to find out if that combo is being used by something else? It doesn't do anything when I press it.

I was also wondering if maybe Win10 reserves certain key combinations for whatever reason. I have had no success Googling for that info, nor for info on how to tell if something is sitting on that key combo.
horst.epp
Posts: 1443
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 3:24 pm

Re: Can't assign certain hotkey combos on Win10 *only*

Post by horst.epp »

Windows 10 has a lot of reserved hotkeys.
Its no problem to find a list of them, don't know what you are googled
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/new-keybo ... windows-10
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/keyboard- ... windows-10
NotNull
Posts: 5458
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Can't assign certain hotkey combos on Win10 *only*

Post by NotNull »

devolve wrote:Win 10 Pro 1709 x64
Everything ver 1.4.1.877 (x64)

All my Windows machines at work use Win7, and before I installed Win10 at home I used Win+Alt+F to open a new Everything search window. On Win10 at home it won't accept that combination. It *will* accept Win+Shift+F for reasons I don't understand. There are also several other combinations including the Win key that are not accepted. I really want to use Win+Alt+F because I've used Everything for years and it's pretty much a matter of muscle memory now. :)

I don't *think* I have any software hijacking that key combo, but how could I tell if I did? Is there some sort of utility or method I could use to find out if that combo is being used by something else? It doesn't do anything when I press it.

I was also wondering if maybe Win10 reserves certain key combinations for whatever reason. I have had no success Googling for that info, nor for info on how to tell if something is sitting on that key combo.
Recently I did some experimenting with hotkeys and had the same questions as you have. Didn't find all the answers I wanted, but found the ones I needed.

Win-Alt-F is reserved by Explorer on Windows 10 (from a recent build on). There are ways to "steal it back". I did it low-level (registry; but that was for another key combination), but there are also more convenient tools out there. You could try Hotkey Commander. It is a bit unstable on Windows 10 (the first time you start it, it opens Narrator and Magnifier; close those and start the program again to get it working). Here you can "free" Win-Alt-F. After that, you can use this shortcut in Everything.
2018-03-10 16_15_37-Hotkey Commander 2.1 - Not Registered.png
2018-03-10 16_15_37-Hotkey Commander 2.1 - Not Registered.png (63.38 KiB) Viewed 2531 times
void
Developer
Posts: 16684
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Can't assign certain hotkey combos on Win10 *only*

Post by void »

To unbind the built-in Windows Key shortcuts, please see:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5304
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