How To Turn Off Keyboard Shortcuts And Hotkey Windows 10

You are using a Windows PC and suddenly press some shortcut by mistake that randomly opens a program or activates a strange feature. Even worse, you may have accidentally closed your software programs by accidentally pressing a hotkey.

How do you solve such problems? It's easy - all you need to do is temporarily disable Windows hotkeys. Today's article will show you how to disable Windows shortcuts.

1. Disable Shortcuts Using Local Group Policy Editor

Local Group Policy Editor allows you to troubleshoot your PC or adjust system settings. Interestingly, you can also use this tool to enable or disable Windows taskbar settings.

But the problem is that you cannot access this tool on Windows Home devices. This tool is only available on Windows Pro, Enterprise and Education editions.

However, you can access Local Group Policy Editor on Windows Home by applying some tricks. But if that sounds complicated then you might want to move on to the next method.

Now, here's how to disable Windows shortcuts using Local Group Policy Editor:

1. Type Edit group policy in the Start menu search bar.

2. Right-click on the best match and select Run as administrator.

3. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.

4. Double-click the Turn off Windows Key Hotkeys option on the right side.

To disable hotkeys, select Enabled on the next screen. Finally, close the Local Group Policy Editor and reboot the device to save these changes.

And if you decide to re-enable hotkeys, follow these steps:

1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to the File Explorer option following the previous steps.

2. Double-click the Turn off Windows Key Hotkeys option and select Not Configured or Disabled.

3. Close Local Group Policy Editor and restart your PC to save these changes.

2. Disable keyboard shortcuts using Registry Editor

You can also disable hotkeys by tweaking a few Register keys. But before you begin, consider backing up your registry. That way, you'll be able to restore the tool if it crashes.

Here's how to disable keyboard shortcuts using Registry Editor:

1. Type Registry Editor in the Start menu search bar.

2. Right-click on the most suitable result and select Run as administrator.

3. Copy-paste the following command into the address bar and press Enter:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

4. From there, click the Explorer key. If there isn't one, create a key by right-clicking on the Policies key and selecting New > Key. Name this key Explorer.

5. When you're using the "Explorer" key, right-click in the empty space to the right and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Next, name this value NoWinKeys and press Enter.

To disable the hotkeys, double-click the NoWinKeys value and set the Value data to 1. Otherwise, set the Value data to 0 (zero) to enable the hotkeys. Finally, close Registry Editor and restart the device to save these changes.

3. Disable keyboard shortcuts using system settings (for certain hotkeys)

System settings can also help. However, this tool will only help you disable some specific Windows shortcuts. This includes hotkeys for Windows Narrator, Sticky Keys, Print Screen options, Filter Keys, Toggle Keys, and color filters.

Here's how to disable hotkey using system settings:

1. Type Allow the shortcut key to start Filter Keys in the Start menu search bar and select the best match.

2. Uncheck the box Allow the shortcut key to start Filter Keys to disable this option. (When this option is enabled, you must press and hold the right Shift key for about eight seconds to enable Filter Keys.)

3. Next, scroll up and find the Use Sticky Keys option. From there, uncheck the box Allow the shortcut key to start Sticky Keys to disable this option. (When this option is enabled, you must press the Shift key 5 times to enable or disable Sticky Keys).

4. From there, scroll down to the Use Toggle Keys option. Next, uncheck the Allow the shortcut key to start Toggle Keys box to disable this option. (When this option is enabled, you must press and hold the Num Lock key for about 5 seconds to enable Toggle Keys).

5. Now, scroll down and find the Print Screen Shortcut option. Turn off the Use the PrtScn button to open screen snipping button to disable this option.

Next, configure the color filter shortcut through these steps:

1. Type Allow the shortcut key to turn color filters on or off in the Start menu search bar and select the most suitable result.

2. Next, uncheck the Allow the shortcut key to toggle filter on or off box to disable this option. (If this option is enabled, you must press Win + Ctrl + C to enable or disable the color filter).

Next, let's see how you can disable the keyboard shortcuts for the Narrator option. Simply put, Narrator refers to a feature that describes the content that appears on your screen.

Here are the steps to disable the Narrator shortcut:

1. Type Allow the shortcut key to start Narrator into the Start menu search bar and select the most suitable result.

2. Next, uncheck the Allow the shortcut key to start Narrator box to disable this option. (When this option is enabled, you must press Win + Ctrl + Enter to enable or disable Narrator).

Disable unwanted shortcuts without hassle

You can access various Windows tools and system settings by using the appropriate keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys). But if you want to disable hotkeys, try any of the methods we mentioned.