WinKey + R not always working in Windows 10

When I press WinKey+R to bring up the run-command, it started not working all the time. I don't recall if it's been there since I've installed Windows 10 or appeared after, but I would like it if I didn't have to install it all over again.

I don't use a wireless keyboard.

Tests I've done:

WinKey+D (or L, A, X, K, M, Q) works fine all the time, as does the WinKey itself to open the Start Menu.
When I'm in Chrome browser (for example) and I scroll a page, it's enough for WinKey+R to be ignored. I have to change focus to another window (e.g., to Command Prompt) and only then can I press (WinKey+R) twice to open the Run dialog. (But it's not consistent when I have to do this – it might work first try!)
WinKey+X followed by WinKey+R, for example, doesn't yield any result.
If I click the taskbar (the one that used to contain the 'Start' button) and press WinKey+R, it works!

I was thinking that it could be due to some program catching the key-combination, but I can't seem to find any (did scans with S&D, AVG, Ad-Aware).

Any ideas what it might be or how I can debug this?

Emil

Posted 2015-11-12T03:32:40.320

Reputation: 1

WinKey + R has not changed. If it isn't working for you then something is unique about your system. Use AutoRuns to disable pretty much everything that automatically loads when you log into your profile to determine if its software that is doing it. – Ramhound – 2015-11-12T12:18:36.713

Answers

I encountered the same problem, that all other shortcuts with WinKey seemed to work perfectly fine, except for WinKey+R.

Symptoms
WinKey+R sometimes (rarely) worked on the the first try, sometimes after the 2nd or 3rd try, and sometimes it did not work at all; except when first focusing the Windows taskbar.

Cause
This occurred immediately after installing Windows 10 (more precisely upgrading from Windows 7 to 10). So, installing Windows 10 was most probably the cause (on my system) for this is.

~~Solution~~
~~For me, uninstalling Adobe Flash did solve this problem~~

[EDIT] my "solution" seems to have been a fluke: it seemed to work for a about a week, then it reverted to the old problem ... so I still have no idea what causes this problem

[EDIT 2] this problem is solved / does not occur anymore since updating to Windows 10 ver. 1607

russa

Posted 2015-11-12T03:32:40.320

Reputation: 101

This is very, very peculiar. – Kamen Minkov – 2016-08-18T11:30:48.697

as it turns out, it was not really a solution: – russa – 2016-08-24T10:04:52.123

... when the problem seemed to be resolved, I tested it multiple times, re-booted, again tested it multiple times, and it really seemed to be resolved; the thing that I did immediately before the problem disappeared was uninstalling Flash ... but a few days later, the problem appeared again, so uninstalling Flash was obviously not the solution to the problem... (I edited my initial answer above to reflect this turn of events) – russa – 2016-08-24T10:12:10.280

At the time when Win+R is not reacting, is Win+X still working? – miroxlav – 2016-08-24T11:52:06.693

yes -- as far as I can make out, all other WinKey shortcuts do work, except for Win+R – russa – 2016-12-14T12:15:22.030

(I speak broken English..) My symptom is the same as russa above. This is definitely caused by the hot key occupation. I suggest you can cancel something in msconfig and reboot, and when you find you can use win+r smoothly, check for the hotkey of the software you cancel. Or you can find the target software when you close this software, or the software works incorrectly. For me, I have found that when my WOX is working, I can't use win+R. And when I press win+R, my Wox will become a short bar, I can only restart Wox to let it recover. wox

So I untick this above, and solve the problem successfully.

Nuo Chen

Posted 2015-11-12T03:32:40.320

Reputation: 1