Prevent Windows Key from Opening Start Menu in Windows 7

I'd like to be able to stop the Windows Key from activating the Start Menu on Windows 7. I don't want to disable the Windows Key completely. I'd like Ctrl + Esc to still open the Start Menu.

I know that you can use AutoHotKey to disable the Windows Key completely.

The reason I want this functionality is that I have a lot of shortcut keys linked to the Windows key and this often results in accidentally opening the start menu.

Jeromy Anglim

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 642

Answers

Here is the solution: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic55858.html

Use the following code in AutoHotKey:

~LWin Up:: return
~RWin Up:: return

Jeromy Anglim

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 642

Thanks! Worked a charm in my Fusion XP guest, too. It had been driving me crazy that <CMD>-<TAB>'ing out of Fusion opened the Start Menu. – Marc Bejarano – 2014-09-11T21:07:00.067

Wouldn't this disable all the normal WIN shortcuts though? Like WIN+D, WIN+P WIN+R, etc. – Michael Z. – 2017-04-14T04:32:52.610

@MichaelZ.: It doesn't. – user598527 – 2017-06-10T17:56:41.013

The script worked fine on Windows 10 since installing six months ago, but has recently stopped functioning, maybe after I received the 1709 update.

– user598527 – 2018-01-09T01:00:38.073

This does not work on Windows 8.1 – user76871 – 2018-05-29T19:21:55.983

Not working for Windows 10 using an Apple USB keyboard with SharpKeys swapping the Win and alt keys. But the solution I posted below works. – MikMak – 2018-06-12T14:43:34.260

This worked for me on Windows 8, while the current answer did not:

LWin & vk07::return
LWin::return

Source

user76871

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 791

The following AutoHotkey script will disable the ⊞ Win key activating the start menu for both left and right ⊞ Win keys in Windows 10.

LWin & vk07::return
LWin::return
RWin & vk07::return
RWin::return

If you also follow the instructions here, you can disable most of the other ⊞ Win key shortcut combinations:

Method 1: Disable Win + keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10 through Group Policy Editor

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to disable ⊞ Win+Tab ↹ and ⊞ Win+L functionality. I'll come back and edit this if/when I do.

MikMak

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 1 372

; disable windows start menu hotkey while retaining the windows key as a modifier key.

LWin::return

;~ #w::SoundBeep  ; fails
<#w::SoundBeep  ; works
;~ LWin & w::SoundBeep  ; works

SSpeed

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 1

For some reason, if you assign a letter shortcut (any letter shortcut) to the Win key, it makes all the shortcuts work again, while still permitting the blocking of just the single key itself.

Additionally, to prevent activation of the start menu in the event that the mouse is clicked while the Windows key is down, that event can be blocked too.

This is how I've managed to get it working properly in Windows 10 1809 (I've only blocked the left Windows key here):

vk5b::return              ;Block the Win key from opening Start Menu
LWin & E::run explorer    ;Allow other ⊞ Win+whatever hotkeys to still work
#LButton:: Return         ;Avoid a mouse click mid-way activating Start

hmedia1

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 101

I believe you can only unregister a global hotkey if you're the application that registered it, and since explorer.exe registers the global hotkey, you probably would need a modified version of that, which I think would be impossible to find.

Darth Android

Posted 2010-06-11T03:59:38.383

Reputation: 35 133