Windows – How to see which application is intercepting certain key combinations

keyboard shortcutswindows

Yesterday, I noticed that "Alt+R" wasn't working. Anywhere. Other key combinations with Alt were working normally.

So I fired up Eclipse, went to keyboard shortcut settings and saw that I can't map "Alt+R" to anything. From these findings it was obvious that something, somewhere has globally registered this key combo.

After some trial and error, I found a non obvious thing: when Chrome is launched, the combo doesn't work. When it's closed, it works. It turned out a certain Chrome Extension was trapping this very combo. After disabling it, everything was back to normal.

Now, I'm wondering, is there a tool or utility that could help me pinpoint problems like this in the future? Something that says "this key combo is being intercepted by application or process XYZ"?

Best Answer

There is small, freeware application called ActiveHotkeys, but it just shows active key combinations.

From ActiveHotkeys webpage:

Windows does not provide information about what program registered a particular global hotkey. Therefore this information is not available through ActiveHotkeys either.

Related Solutions

Windows – Reliable custom Windows shortcut keys

Use Autohotkey. The scripting language is non standard and can be difficult to learn, but if all you're wanting to do is reliably launch programs, its simple. Plus you can base shortcuts off the Windows key! Use following sample script and modify it to your needs. (Lines starting with ; are comments.)

;win + alt + e ... unload ipod
#!E::
   run d:\Downloads\Apps\deveject\eject ipod.bat
   return

;win + w ... launch winamp
#w::
    run c:\program files (x86)\winamp\winamp.exe
    return

;win + a ... launch AS400
#a::
    run C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Client Access\Emulator\Private\1.ws
    return

;win + Shift a ... launch AS400 Printer
#+a::
    run C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Client Access\Emulator\Private\3.ws
    return

;win + ctrl + Shift a ... launch 2nd AS400 
#^+a::
    run C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Client Access\Emulator\Private\2.ws
    return

Save this as a .ahk file on your desktop, install autohotkey and run it.

Every time you press any key combination, AutoHotkey will scan this script. If it matches any of the key combinations that preceed a ::, it will execute the next command. If the return statement is missing, the AHK will continue to scan the script for matches after executing your statement. The key combinations are described below.

# = Windows Key
+ = Shift
^ = Control
! = Alt

You can use these in any combination with the letters of your keyboard. One combination I find extremely useful is as follows.

; ALT Backtick ... ctrl f4
!`::
    Loop, parse, RcvCtrlW, `,
    {
     IfWinActive %A_LoopField%
     {
        sendinput ^w
        Return
     }
    }
    sendinput ^{f4}
    return

; win Backtick ... alt f4
#`::
   sendinput !{f4}
   return

This is Alt + ` and Win + `. When this script is running and I press alt + `, the script sends ctrl + F4. Win + ` becomes alt + F4.

Autohotkey is basically its own programming language. I have scripts set up that simulate "Rocker Gestures" system wide. I have GMail like shortcuts for my email. If you spend the time to learn some of its tricks, you can get nuts with it. Lifehacker has a whole bunch of useful scripts for Autohotkey. Have Fun!

Windows – Determining which program trapping which hot key shortcut

Caution: If you use Win 8 or later, do not use this utility as it will create some trouble - see comments.

Hotkey Commander displays a list of programs with registered hotkeys in addition to other functionality.

It's shareware, so if you only need to see what program has registered which key, you can use free utility Hotkey Explorer, download link is on the same page.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Reliable custom Windows shortcut keys

Windows – Determining which program trapping which hot key shortcut

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