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When I have multiple keyboard layouts enabled, Windows 10 seems to switch between them randomly (similar to what's described here). I suspect I am accidentally pressing Win+Space, so I'd like to disable this shortcut.

However, looking at the "language options" page, I don't see any settings related to this keyboard shortcut, or a way to disable it. How can I disable this shortcut?

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  • As long as you don't need multiple keyboard layouts you can "disable" the shortcut by removing the unneeded keyboard layouts - This is one of the first things I do on a fresh install. – Klinghust Jun 25 '17 at 16:31
  • @Klinghust The default is to only have one layout, so I wouldn't have discovered this shortcut if I hadn't intentionally enabled a second layout! – Kyle Strand Jun 25 '17 at 21:05
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    The default in Norway is two keyboard layouts - Norwegian and US English that's why I suggested removing one. -Kling – Klinghust Jun 27 '17 at 15:25
  • @Klinghust Fair enough! – Kyle Strand Jun 27 '17 at 16:23
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    This has confused me for 15 years. Finally I know why the language kept changing. – Anders_K Feb 20 '20 at 9:14
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Disable Win+Space keyboad-layout swap

AFAIK this is the only way to disable Win+Space keyboad-layout swap without disabling all other Win+XYZ shortcuts:

This is how to do it:

  1. Download AHK (AutoHotkey)
  2. Install AHK

  3. Right click any folder and choose New > AutoHotkey Script Create new script

  4. Right click the script and choose Edit Script Edit Script

  5. Replace whatever is there with this (and save):

    #space::

  6. Right click the script and choose Compile Script Compile script

  7. Run script by double clicking the newly created .exe and do a test. Rename it whatever you want and store it for the next time you want to disable the Win+Space shortcut.

Additional step to make it persistent:

Copy the .exe to the startup folder. Below I've listed the path for the folders:

Current user:

C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

All users:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

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    I was assuming you'd tested it, but I like to test answers myself before marking them "accepted"! I just commented because I made an exception in this case. – Kyle Strand Jun 29 '17 at 21:30
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    I can confirm it works perfectly on a regular install. Thanks! – John Y Feb 16 '18 at 12:54
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    Isn't it great how Windows makes options like 'switch between input languages' configurable, but this one you must have and want at all times? Thanks for the answer, helped a lot! – Mave Jan 22 '20 at 9:24
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    I tested it on my Windows 10 Pro and it worked like a charm. Finally, I got rid of that annoying behavior. – Plicatibu Mar 3 '20 at 13:16
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    Last time I tried a hotkey mapper like this I was banned from some online games because they thought I was using it to cheat. So be carefull with this if you play games that try to detect this kind of stuff as cheat. I gave up on this solution just because of that. I know Blizzard games will try to detect this and kick/ban you. I wonder why they left the Win+Space kotkey on without the option to turn it off (for so many years and after so many complaints). – Gus Neves Mar 4 '20 at 1:36
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I found this while experiencing the same problem as the OP, on Windows 10. My findings were that Calsal's down-voted answer was what actually worked for me.

My problem had nothing to do with the Win+Space hotkey. Instead, it was switching "randomly" to "ENG INTL" because the hotkeys for "Between Input Languages" were configured by default to switch the keyboard layout if you pressed "Ctrl + Shift". As a programmer who uses lots of hotkeys, I end up hitting "Ctrl" and "Shift" at the same time a lot.

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    You are correct that those settings can work for your case, but this is not what the original question is about. – JBert Mar 1 '18 at 13:19
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    Still this answer may be helpful, because we not always ask what we should. – Jarekczek Mar 18 '18 at 15:45
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This is an addition to the answer from Calsal, as I had the same problem that he described, but in Windows 10.

For Windows 10:

  • go to Edit language and keyboard options -> Advanced Keyboard Settings -> Language Bar Options -> Advanced Key Settings
  • select Change Key Sequence for Between Input Languages
  • change "Switch Keyboard Layout" to "Not Assigned"

enjoy the good life.  The Windows+Space option still works; if you want that, see the upvoted answer.

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    Thanks a lot! I took some time to discover that "ctrl + shift" was a shortcut for that, it was driving me crazy! – Bruno Serrano Aug 21 '19 at 20:00
  • Gah no kidding I just kept assuming I was hitting the LOGO + spacebar without noticing the prompt. – mroselli Apr 29 '20 at 1:07
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You can also use the new PowerToys for Windows 10 to remap it. In my case I remapped it so that it brings up PowerToys Run when I press Win-Space enter image description here

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  • Thank you! I was trying to add the remapping to "Remap keyboard" and couldn't get it working. Your answer showed me I was a dumbass and looking in the wrong section 🤦‍♂️ – Arno Oct 14 '20 at 7:32
  • This should be the accepted answer. While it does require an installation of additional software, it's still a Microsoft product (and it doesn't need be running to work). While the shortcut cannot really be disabled, it can be remapped to something inert or inconsequential (I've remapped mine to Alt Gr). And from what I could find, there is no better option than this. – Karlovsky120 Jan 27 at 15:34
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    Helped me, I was able to remap "Win (left)" + "Space" to "Undefined" which effectively disabled the shortcut. – alx Feb 18 at 9:00
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You can directly open the dialog where you can configure the hotkeys using the following command:

Press Win+R and execute

"C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe" Shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL input.dll,,{C07337D3-DB2C-4D0B-9A93-B722A6C106E2}{HOTKEYS}
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    Explain more what this does and why it works, how do you know, and so forth. – Drink More Pimp Juice IT Aug 16 '19 at 22:58
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    This is literally the command that is executed to bring up the last dialog when you follow @koen's answer. From there you can unassign the Ctrl+Shift keybindings. – pix Dec 11 '19 at 10:57
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    There's no way to disable the Win+Space shortcut from that dialog. – David Ferenczy Rogožan Mar 18 '20 at 14:17
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If you DON'T have multiple keyboard layouts enabled, but Win+Space keeps switching to other options anyway as if you had, you can just add those languages/keyboards under Language Options, then remove them.

In my case, I only had pt-br ABNT2 enabled, but Win+Space would act as if pt-br ABNT and English US were enabled too. By adding then removing them, Windows finally realized they were disabled, and Win+Space stopped popping up on the screen for lack of other options.

This is not the exact situation the OP was in, but it's a correct solution for when Windows is behaving as if it were in that situation.

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  • This doesn't work if your keyboard layout belongs to the same language as the one you want to use. – Karlovsky120 Jan 27 at 15:33
  • This worked for me! En-US was always available, en-GB is my default everywhere, could not get rid of the US language until I forcibly installed then removed it. – Doug Feb 22 at 9:48
  • THANK YOU! At first when I started adding the wrong keyboard back to remove it, it exploded and added 4 more, but by adding and removing them, I was finally back at my single preferred locale with single preferred keyboard. – DennisK 2 days ago

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