How to Enable/Disable Windows Key [Tested on Windows 7]

When you press the windows key, it will open the Start menu minimizing any full screen program or game running. It can be very annoying if this happens while you are in middle of some game or work. Like, when I used to play Warcraft 3 (Dota) and it is really annoying if I accidently press the windows key rather than the hotkey I wish to use.

So, I decided to disable it. You can disable it easily by using a registry hack. Before proceeding, make sure you make a backup of your registry. If you don’t know how to make a backup of your registry, follow the simple steps below:

How to make a backup of your registry

1. Open Start Menu, type regedit and press Enter. This will open registry editor.

2. Go to File > Export and select the destination folder. Also change Export Range to All so it makes a backup of the complete registry.

3. Change Export Range to All so it makes a backup of the complete registry.

4. And you are done. Let’s proceed on how to disable the windows key.

How to Disable Windows Key

1. Open Registry Editor by typing regedit in Start Menu search and press enter.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.

3. Expand Control folder and open Keyboard Layout folder.

4. Look for this entry “ Scancode Map” and if it doesn’t exist, create a new binary key with this name. To create, On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in Scancode Map, click REG_BINARY as the Data Type, and then click OK. Or Right Click > New > Binary Value and change name to Scancode Map.

5. Right Click on the key and select Modify. Type 00000000000000000300000000005BE000005CE000000000 and hit Enter.

6. Close the registry editor and restart your computer. Now, you have successfully disabled the window key.

In order to enable it again, follow steps 2 and 3, delete the Scancode Map entry and close the registry editor. It will enable windows key again.

I made this tutorial on Windows 7 but this will work with Windows Vista as well.
Again, I would recommend you to make backup of you registry before trying any registry hack. I wont be held responsible if you mess up your registry.