Hello, the Windows key on my keyboard in Windows 11 suddenly stopped working for 99% of inputs. Problem seemed to start when I walked away from PC for a bit. Weirdly, the key still works when I hit 'Win+L', but nothing else. The issue isn't at the keyboard level, as I've tried hitting the Win key on both the laptop and external keyboard. Here are some things I've tried/ruled out: Problem persists across Restarts Sticky keys and Filter Keys are switched off Tried uninstalling and reinstalling all keyboards in Device Manager sfc /scannow doesn't fix the problem. Tried restarting Explorer.exe process I don't have Win Lock on my keyboard, but maybe there's some other secret keyboard shortcut that I accidentally hit that caused this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello ktek78, Thank you for updating me and sharing that information. Glad to hear the issue has been resolved. You're most welcome and have a great day. Kind regards, John DeV Independent Advisor

Hello ktek78, Good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, Rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you. When was the last time it worked properly? Have you made any changes recently? Please try the following methods below. **Please try to open the On-Screen keyboard Press the Windows key button twice to check if the start menu will open **Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager then click File Select "Run new task" then type: powershell Make sure to put a check mark on the "Create this task with administrative privileges" box Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete. Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode} Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_. InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} Restart your computer **Please try creating a new local administrator account then check if the issue persists. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/cre... Kindly let me know if this helps or if you have any further concerns. Kind regards, John DeV Independent Advisor

Windows key not working (but is detected by Windows 11)

Anonymous

Hello, the Windows key on my keyboard in Windows 11 suddenly stopped working for 99% of inputs. Problem seemed to start when I walked away from PC for a bit. Weirdly, the key still works when I hit 'Win+L', but nothing else. The issue isn't at the keyboard level, as I've tried hitting the Win key on both the laptop and external keyboard.

Here are some things I've tried/ruled out:

Problem persists across Restarts
Sticky keys and Filter Keys are switched off
Tried uninstalling and reinstalling all keyboards in Device Manager
sfc /scannow doesn't fix the problem.
Tried restarting Explorer.exe process
I don't have Win Lock on my keyboard, but maybe there's some other secret keyboard shortcut that I accidentally hit that caused this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Also, FN + Windows could resolve your issue. Like I had it couple of minutes ago, during the gaming I accidentally hit Windows + FN and after quitting the game I've noticed that it stopped to work. So I hit again FN + Windows and it worked.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Thanks John. I've now solved the issue. After 2 days, the ASUS Armory Crate app finally gave me a pop-up telling me that my Windows key was disabled. I sometimes use the app to turn on 'Eco Mode' when I'm using the laptop on battery, so must have mis-clicked and pressed the button to disable the Windows key.

Cheers,

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John DeV 170.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2023-03-30T09:06:27+00:00

Hello ktek78,

Thank you for updating me and sharing that information. Glad to hear the issue has been resolved.

You're most welcome and have a great day.

Kind regards,

John DeV

Independent Advisor
Was this answer helpful?

6 people found this answer helpful.

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John DeV 170.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2023-03-29T08:09:42+00:00

Hello ktek78,

Good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, Rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you.

When was the last time it worked properly? Have you made any changes recently?

Please try the following methods below.

**Please try to open the On-Screen keyboard

Press the Windows key button twice to check if the start menu will open

**Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager then click File

Select "Run new task" then type: powershell

Make sure to put a check mark on the "Create this task with administrative privileges" box

Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete.

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_. InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Restart your computer

**Please try creating a new local administrator account then check if the issue persists.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/cre...

Kindly let me know if this helps or if you have any further concerns.

Kind regards,

John DeV

Independent Advisor
Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments