Windows 10 – Have to run calc/Calculator twice from the Run menu

calculatorwindows 10

I use Calculator in Windows 10 every once in a while. However, I'm facing an odd issue when launching it.

Short version
I often have to execute calc twice from the Run menu before Calculator shows up.

Long version
I always launch Calculator by typing calc in the Run menu, which has never been a problem for me on previous versions of Windows. In Windows 10, however, nothing appears to be happening when I run it the first time. If I open Task Manager, I can see that Calculator is listed under Background processes, but it doesn't show up. If I go to the App history tab, right-click Calculator and select Switch to, Calculator shows up twice. If I instead open the Run menu and run calc again, it shows up once as expected.

From this point on, I can launch Calculator just fine from the Run menu, until I haven't used it for a period of time. Then it's the same thing all over again.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, did you find a fix for it? I've found a couple of threads on Reddit with users complaining about this issue, but no solution so far.

Update: This appears to have been fixed. I have not had this problem for the past few weeks, but I have been unable to find any details on the update that fixed this.

Best Answer

Run "calculator://" instead of "calc". "calc" is in Windows 10 just a wrapper, and it's seems that it doesn't work all the time

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Finally figured out a solution!

UPDATE 2014

This has been tested on Windows 8 and 8.1 and works.

Using a VBS file will make the calculator instance keep focus.

Dim oShell
Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.Shell")
oShell.run "C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe", 0, False
Set oShell = Nothing

Just create a text file like calculator.vbs and copy/paste the above code and double click or link the file to your keyboard button.

[ORIGINAL ANSWER]

Hopefully this isn't specific to a version of IntelliType. However I'm using IntelliType 8.2 x64 for Windows 7 with my Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000.

Once you have installed IntelliType go to Control Panel -> Keyboard then Key Settings tab.

Find the Calculator button in the Key Name column and click Configure. It will be defaulted to "Starts Calculator" now choose "Start a program, Web page, or file" and locate your copy of calc.exe which should be in your system32 folder. In my case it's "C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe"

Click "Finish" and it's now assigned and working as it did on previous Windows.

Now when you click the calculator button it will open multiple calculators instead of just bringing focus to an existing one.

As part of owning a business I do most of the bookkeeping. And having the ability to rapidly open multiple calculators with the calc button is great!

Windows – Can’t launch apps from windows 10 start menu search results

This is a problem that drove me crazy ever since using Windows 10.

UPDATE 2017/09: The problem came back, and honestly, I was tired of this and now just installed Classic Shell which seems to work for me. Really, all I wanted is a working Start menu. Still, here is the first recommendation...

This genius here found a dead simple solution that worked like a charm for me:

Windows 10 'left click' EASY fix

Right clicked on start menu, went to notifications, select which icons appear in taskbar. Shut them all OFF. Shut down and restart, went back to notifications, which icons appear in taskbar, turned them back ON.

It's also mentioned in this Microsoft discussion, but drowned out by all the other complicated recommendations.

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