A Method to Disable The Left Windows Key

[TnT]

In another topic the following was stated.

One that note, I oh so hate it when games require the -ctrl- key but not disable the windows key ... (and yet I still havent looked for a work around )

The left Windows-Key can be quite annoying especially when playing on a server that does not tolerate alt-tabbing and you hit it by mistake; so I thought that I would share this little bit of Windows Registry Voodoo with the forum on how to disable the left Windows-Key. This is all based on the Microsoft documentation referenced in the code block.

Open up you favorite text editor (Notepad., NotePad++, etc.) and paste the following into it.

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
;Ref: Scan Code Mapper for Windows, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463447
;1st 4 bytes: Header - All Zeroes[hex:00,00,00,00,00]
;Next 4 Bytes: Flags - All Zeroes[hex:00,00,00,00,||00,00,00,00]
;Next 4 Bytes: # of mappings (including null entry terminator) [hex:00,00,00,00,||00,00,00,00,||02,00,00,00]
;Next 4 Bytes: Individual Mapping(4 bytes per mapping) [hex:00,00,00,00,||00,00,00,00,||02,00,00,00,||00,00,5B,E0]
;ScanCode Ref: download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/translate.pdf 
;Use PS/2 Set 1 Make Column
;Finally 4 byte null terminator [hex:00,00,00,00,||00,00,00,00,||02,00,00,00,||00,00,5B,E0,||00,00,00,00]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,5B,E0,00,00,00,00

Save the file to something that you will remember like "LeftWindowKeyDisable.reg". The go to the folder in which you stored the file and double click on it. You will need to have administrator privileges to run the file. After executing the file, log off or reboot.

To re-enable the key use place this in a file and follow the procedure described above.

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=-

[Red Devil]

or this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216893

[Red Spot]

Stupid person that didnt know that ... and too lazy to look it up ... ahem ...
Thanks, will play around with it once the lazy bit wears off

[HitchcockGreen]

Alternatively....

[Red Devil]

[Ded10c]

Or

[Red Spot]

Oh, I love my current keyboard. Logitech Ultra Flat Keyboard. Its about 4 years old now, dip it in the bath, clean it, dry it for a day, and it looks as if it just came out of the box ... and I get no issues with sore wrists if I do end up spending the day leaning over it
It has absolutelly no extras though, a different layout as the keys got cramped into less space, but that just leaves me more deskspace