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My Windows 10 laptop thinks that the Windows key is stuck. I have tried to clean it, but my guess is that it may be a heat problem. I tried booting a Ubuntu OS, but this gave the same results.

If I press any key that is part of a Windows key shortcut, it will perform the shortcut. I tried to uninstall the drivers, but the keyboard had the same problem. I would like to run RegEdit, but pressing the "r" or the "e" takes me to the relevant shortcut window. If I do not touch the keyboard, then (about a minute later) a random shortcut window appears and it has focus.

If I could somehow delete all copies of the i8042.sys file (using a USB OS), and reboot without a Wi-Fi connection, then there wouldn't be any driver, and I could possibly use an external USB keyboard.

The on-screen keyboard shows the Windows key as being pressed.

I cannot move the SSD drive to another laptop, because of the skills required to disassemble it.

Peter Mortensen
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ubnewb
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1 Answers1

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The problem is probably hardware. It's possible to disable this key, but this will cause some difficulties with useful key-combinations that use it.

To disable the Win key:

  • Run regedit
  • Navigate to this key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
  • Right-click on an empty spot on the right "New | DWORD (32-bit) Value" and name it NoWinKeys
  • Double-click the NoWinKeys item and change its value to 1
  • The change will become effective after restart.

Additional methods may be found in the article
How to disable the Windows Key in Windows 10 [FULL GUIDE].

harrymc
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