Prevent Windows Key from Opening Start Menu in Windows 7

Question

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.

Solution 1

Here is a solution for Windows 7: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic55858.html

Use the following code in AutoHotKey:

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

See answer below for Windows 10 solution.

Solution 2

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.

Solution 3

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

LWin & vk07::return
LWin::return

Source

Solution 4

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

View more solutions

Comments

[Marc Bejarano]

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.

[Michael Z.]

Wouldn't this disable all the normal WIN shortcuts though? Like WIN+D, WIN+P WIN+R, etc.

[user598527]

@MichaelZ.: It doesn't.

[user598527]

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

[user76871]

This does not work on Windows 8.1

[MikMak]

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.

[KYDronePilot]

Any explanation for how/why the AHK script above works without disabling other Win key shortcuts? Been searching for this fix for a long time.

[MikMak]

It only disables the Windows key when you press it by itself (without any other modifiers or other keys). But since you can just use ctrl+esc to open the Windows start menu, the Windows key isn't needed to do so.