How to disable Windows Virtual Desktops Keybind (Or any keybind you can't specifically turn off)

I was running into an issue where I would accidentally hit control + windows + d, creating a new virtual desktop and switching to it. This can be horrible in the middle of a game if you can't readily remember how to get back to your original screen and by the time you could figure it out, it may already be too late.

All the different results I found while searching reddit were archived without my desired outcome, so I thought it might be useful to document all the different ways to achieve my goal with the downsides of each one.

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There are a few ways to work around this issue.

1. **disable Windows key**

You can do this, but then you remove all shortcuts or functionality associated with the windows key. Some gaming keyboards allow you to do this. You can also use autohotkey to achieve this. There are various other ways to do it, that I won't detail in this post.

**1a. disable windows key, but map another key to the windows key.**

You can do this using auto-hotkey. I'll detail how to do so later in this post. This can work for many, but may not be needed if it's only specific bindings you want to get rid of.

**2. Disable all WIN shortcuts**

This can be done via a registry edit.

HKEY\_CURRENT\_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer

create a new DWORD NoWinKeys > set its value to 1.

Similar to option 1, you may want these shortcuts.

**2. Disable all combinations of WIN + (any specific letters)**

This can be done via a registry edit.

HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced

select **New** \-> **String Value** from the context menu. select **New** \-> **String Value** from the context menu.

For example, set it to **S**. This will disable Win + S, Win + Shift + S, and other shortcuts that using Windows key and the disabled characters you specified. Set it to **SA** to disable both Win + S and Win + A hotkeys.

This poses a problem if you want another version of this keybind. For example, you may want WIN +D, but not Cntrl + WIN + D.

**3. Disable a specific keybind.**

This can be achieved using autohotkey. Once you create your .ahk script, place it in the shell:startup directory to make sure it runs when you boot your computer.

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**Disabling or Redirecting keybinds with AHK**

Create a script with your desired binding. AHK uses certain symbols to denote modifiers on your keyboard

control= \^

Windows key = #

alt = !

shift = +

**Example -**

\^#d::

This will intercept the combined keypresses of Cntrl + WIN + D and set it to do nothing.

You can also redirect individual keys or combos using this very same idea.

This would disable your left Windows Key

LWin::

This would redirect the F7 key to perform the same action as the left window key

F7::LWin

This would allow you to disable your windows key entirely, but still retain the functionality of windows keybinds if you need them.