Pressing the Windows key accidentally can be an experience that runs the gamut between annoying and disastrous, depending on what you’re doing with your PC. If you’re doing something desktop-related it’s not the end of the world. If you’re gaming though, it could spell disaster, turning your raid or mission into a giant waste of time.
Luckily, there’s a way to disable the Windows key so that this never happens, or never happens again in the event that you have some familiarity with such unfortunate circumstances. Doing so requires you to tweak with Windows 7’s registry. Don’t panic! If you follow our directions to the letter, you can slip in and out of the registry without wreaking any havoc on your PC.
How to disable the Windows key in Windows 7
To start, when at the desktop, hold the Windows key and press R. Then, type in “regedt32” in the Run dialog box and press Enter. Under “Computer,” double click on “HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE,” then double click on “SYSTEM.” From there, right click on “Keyboard Layout,” highlight “New” and hit “Binary Value.” This will create a new entry on the left hand side of regedt32. Name this entry “Scancode map.”
Now comes the hard part. Right click on “Scancode map” and click “Modify.” Here’s what you’ll need to type in, and be sure to type in exactly the following, and no more or less, without the quotation marks or the period at the end: “00000000000000000300000000005BE000005CE000000000.” Once done, click OK and restart your PC.
When you boot back into Windows, the Windows key should be out of commission. Questions? Comments? Sound off below.
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