Ctrl + Win + Num stopped working after Windows 10 updated to ver. 1803

Ctrl + Win + Num suddenly stopped working for me one day..

My Windows version is

Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 1803
Installed on 6/10/2018 
OS build 17134.112

I am on a Dell laptop. I have confirmed that there is nothing wrong on hardware. This is merely a software issue. For example, Win + Num hotkey works just fine. Inspecting with Ethervane ActiveHotkeys shows that Ctrl + Win + Num is just inactive. I suspect somehow the setting is wiped from my windows registry. I am hoping to locate where it is from windows registry and manually restore it. Can anyone help?...

Much thanks!

--- update: my work PC received an update today (2019Jan24), ALSO Ver 1803, OS 17134.523, and it's broken as well!! Ver 1803 looks suspiciously... suspicious!

--- update 2: I can confirm that it's due to Windows update now. Checked with a colleague that's on 1809, that this hotkey no longer works neither. Either Microsoft has had it removed or it's broken since the updates. I wonder how I can fix it.

--- update 3: Thank you everyone for the attention gathered, I think we created a lound enough voice that MS finally fixed it. It's finally again now at V1903. (But I don't know how to properly close this thread as it's fixed by a patch, if you know please leave comment or PM me.)

user2884164

Posted 2018-06-20T16:48:47.137

Reputation: 99

In Control Panel => Ease of Access Center => Make the keyboard easier to use, under "Make it easier to manage windows", set "Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen". The free WindowPad might be useful.

– harrymc – 2018-06-20T20:11:31.610

1"arrange windows to edge of screen" is win + arrow keys, it's not what I am asking about... win + num is selecting the first 10 apps on task bar, and ctrl + win + num is bringing the apps to focus. It stopped working on my laptop after the latest upgrade. – user2884164 – 2018-06-22T04:50:23.250

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro/ OS Version: 10.0.17134 N/A Build 17134. Win+Ctrl+Num doesn't work as described here.

– Farid Cheraghi – 2018-09-14T13:27:29.933

1I just upgraded to 1803 and have the same issue. build 17134.472. This shortcut worked fine when I had 1709. – DanGordon – 2018-12-27T15:46:15.100

According to this post, this is caused by NVidia Geforce experience. Do you have it installed?

– harrymc – 2018-12-27T19:26:30.663

1That post is a different issue. The shortcut discussed there is not even a global windows shortcut. I do not have NVidia GeForce experience. I also do use AHK, but I disabled all my AHK scripts and still had the same issue. The only thing that changed to make this broken is the OS upgrade from 1709 to 1803. – DanGordon – 2018-12-27T19:45:14.490

I have tested Ctrl+Win+Num on Windows 10 1607 and even Windows 7, and I have not found any difference between it and Win+Num. Are you sure that there was ever any difference between the two? – harrymc – 2018-12-27T20:45:49.937

@harrymc, with ctrl, it will pop each window to active while you circulate the list; without ctrl, it won't bring any window to active. – user2884164 – 2019-01-24T21:43:02.997

See comments in answers below. This issue has been fixed in 1903. – DanGordon – 2019-12-31T15:01:31.293

yes it's working now. – user2884164 – 2020-02-06T23:34:30.440

Answers

Updated answer:

This seem to be a bug when perusing the official list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 10. Ctrl + Win + # is intended to

Open the desktop and switch to the last active window of the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.

The correct behavior can still be accessed using its alternate shortcut of Ctrl + Mouse Click on an app icon on the taskbar.

The original answer assumed the functionality was removed since it seemed to have an identical functionality as pressing Win + # followed by Shift + Win + #, and have therefor been corrected.

Aemony

Posted 2018-06-20T16:48:47.137

Reputation: 116

Yes the main difference was not having the taskbar preview - and just simply switching to the window as soon as the key is pressed. Although I do not follow what you are suggesting about shift. But yeah I think you underscored the difference about the order. win + # will always select a specific window. It doesn't even matter which instance of that app you were looking at last. It will always go to a specific one. I am assuming it will always go to the instance of the app that you opened first. This is the behavior I don't like. Along with the preview. – DanGordon – 2018-12-27T20:04:15.530

There's apparently a bit more to it than that. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but Ctrl + Win + # is supposed to open the last active window of an application, and then cycle back among the application windows in the order of how they were activated.

You can recreate this behavior using the alternate way of holding down Ctrl while clicking on the application window in the taskbar. It'll do the same thing (even on v1803) as Ctrl + Win + # is, or at least was, supposed to do. – Aemony – 2018-12-27T20:19:10.103

1ctrl + click on the application does the exact same thing. That is correct. One thing about this answer - I imagine that this is a bug and not just 'removed', as the official Microsoft website still lists it as a shortcut here – DanGordon – 2018-12-27T20:55:32.217

Yeah, my fault -- This is clearly a bug. I've updated the answer to reflect that. – Aemony – 2018-12-27T22:35:20.357

Does anyone know if this bug still exists after version 1803? – DanGordon – 2019-01-14T15:52:33.200

2I can confirm that issue still persists on 1809. – user2884164 – 2019-01-24T22:43:21.197

That is quite unfortunate. Is there a way to get Microsoft's attention for this? I can't do it with my computer because of the policies on my work laptop. – DanGordon – 2019-02-06T20:21:31.600

I can confirm that this issue has been fixed. Using version 1909 (18363.535). – DanGordon – 2019-12-31T15:00:13.380

1And now I can confirm this is still not fixed, and this shortcut does not work as intended. In the case where you have 3 windows open, this shortcut seems to hold on to the order of windows visited forever. Example: open window 1. Hit shortcut. 2nd window pops up. Wait 10 seconds. Hit shortcut again: windows 3 pops up. This is wrong. This even happens in the following case (much worse): Open window. Hit shortcut. 2nd window pops up. Alt tab back to 1st window. Hit shortcut. GOES TO WINDOW 3. This is messed up. No matter what you do, it goes to window 3 the 2nd time you use the shortcut – DanGordon – 2020-01-14T03:19:58.220

Interesting observation @DanGordon, from what I figured it is going by showing the last active window, whenver you hit the hotkey. I honestly can't remember how it used to behave. I am just glad that the hotkey is no working again. – user2884164 – 2020-02-06T23:34:19.527

Through Microsoft's "Feedback Hub" Windows Store app, you can upvote an existing bug report about this. See https://aka.ms/AA3xqjj. Please vote there so MS becomes aware of this issue and hopefully resolves it. Please note that you may need to install the Feedback Hub app first in order for the link to work.

(Sorry for a non-answer "answer", but I don't have enough reputation yet to simply comment on Aemony's existing answer.)

Update Nov 2019: As noted in priscian's answer, this appears to have been fixed in version 1903.

Robert

Posted 2018-06-20T16:48:47.137

Reputation: 71

Fixed in 1909 for sure. – DanGordon – 2019-12-31T15:00:36.110

This hotkey appears to work normally again on 1903 (I have Build 18362.239), though I can't find any KB articles mentioning the fix.

priscian

Posted 2018-06-20T16:48:47.137

Reputation: 11

1Thanks for providing the update. Since the solution is to update to v1903 or later, and Microsoft does that automatically, the problem will already be solved without needing any user action. So this post is really a comment about the problem no longer being relevant. With a little more rep, you will be able to post comments; one could be added to the question for historical context. Answers are reserved for solutions. – fixer1234 – 2019-07-11T00:24:14.630

1That's reasonable; I'll change this to a comment when I've got the rep. – priscian – 2019-07-11T14:06:45.617