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I need to use the ⊞ Win+Tab ↹ shortcut for something else in another program (Reaper). Is there some way to disable the ⊞ Win+Tab ↹ key combination from bringing up Task View without disabling the key functionality? I tried using the following script with AutoHotkey, but then I get no input from typing the shortcut, so I just can't use it at all.

#Tab::Return

Is there some way to simply disable the Task View feature in Windows 10 via group policy change or regedit? I really have no use for it, and would like to be able to use ⊞ Win+Tab ↹ to do something else.

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If Reaper will let you assign a shortcut other than WIN+TAB to the desired function: do that. That's the easiest way to avoid conflicting shortcuts. Here's what looks like an old article about that.

I assume Reaper still lets you change shortcuts. I suggest downloading Windows PowerToys (search for that and you'll get their github page, software by Microsoft) and using its Keyboard Shortcut settings to reroute any OS WIN+ shortcuts that cause trouble. I used it to route WIN+TAB to a non-existent F24 to disable it completely because I kept hitting WIN+TAB instead of ALT+TAB on a new keyboard.

Routing the shortcut in Reaper to some unused combo, then routing WIN+TAB using PowerToys to the same combo should do what you want. Even though I doubt you'll use WIN+TAB in other programs, be aware of possible side-effects.

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    Thanks! Never heard of Windows PowerToys before but will try it. And the only reason I don't just change hotkeys is because I've been using the same ones for many years while running Reaper on Mac. So far, rather than having a ton of different keymaps between the two platforms and trying to keep them in sync, or retraining years of solid muscle memory, I ended up using EventGhost and Pulover's Macro Creator on Windows and Karabiner-Elements and QuicKeys on MacOS.
    – MikMak
    Jan 27, 2021 at 9:27
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If you don't want to mess with the registry, you can use AutoHotkey along with #IfWinActive statements to define actions for different programs (for example, you can have multiple definitions for the same hotkey, but they will only fire for the given #IfWinActive program). You would keep your original statement but apply an empty #IfWinActive to capture/ignore keystrokes when made to any undefined program, and then add secondary #IfWinActive / hotkey definitions for additional programs/actions where you actually want to use that key combo to do something.

A second approach would be to rewrite your hotkey definition to send some other little-used hotkey combo via SendInput or similar Send command, and then trigger off of the redefined keys if you need to. This is less efficient but may be easier to understand (or not).

For example, you could send Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12, which most programs probably don't use. If you wanted to recapture the hotkey however for certain programs, you might also need to pay attention to the SendLevel.

In general I would recommend the first method above and just define that key combo to do whatever you actually want it to do for the programs you care about, and ignore all the rest with a duplicate / generic hotkey such as the one in your original post, but with an #IfWinActive statement in front of it.

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  • Aha. Hopefully this will override Windows 10 default behavior for ALL of the annoying Win+key hotkeys. I don't want to use ANY of them. Just want Win+any key to do NOTHING, except where I have them set for action shortcuts in REAPER.
    – MikMak
    Jun 14, 2018 at 9:59
  • The problem with this is the win+key shortcuts work regardless of which application is active. So in order to disable them, or to have them ONLY be enabled when Windows Explorer was active, wouldn't I need to disable them for every other program I use, and then have every win+key shortcut set up with #IfWinActive for Windows Explorer?
    – MikMak
    Jun 15, 2018 at 9:41
  • Another problem is the window title will always be different depending on which project I have open in REAPER. So I need to somehow deactivate all of the win+key shortcuts simply from being captured by Windows 10 to perform various functions, and ensure that the shortcuts are still sent to REAPER to trigger various actions.
    – MikMak
    Jun 15, 2018 at 9:57
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try this:

...for Windows 7

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
"DisallowFlip3d"=dword:00000001
  • copy/paste this into Notepad
  • save it as r.reg ... (NOT r.reg.txt)
  • right click on this .reg file, and click on Merge
  • click on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK when prompted
  • log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply

WIN+TAB future is called "Aero Flip 3D"


...for Windows 10

  • press WIN+R
  • type regedit
  • go to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
  • in the right panel create a new string value named DisabledHotkeys
  • set its value data to characters Tab
  • log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

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  • Did this, and the shortcut is still causing the same "Task View" behavior. Are you sure this fix works for Windows 10? See the info here online-tech-tips.com/windows-7/… "If you liked this feature a lot, it got removed in Windows 8 and Windows 10. The key combo still works, but it does something different in Windows 8 and something else in Windows 10!"
    – MikMak
    Jun 13, 2018 at 8:57
  • @MikMak I upgraded my answer... well, if this didnt help then your only option is to disable win key - support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/216893/…
    – gamer0
    Jun 13, 2018 at 12:02
  • Ok giving this a try for Windows 10. I already had a key for this, with the Data set as "SX". This disabled the win+s shortcut to do a screen capture for OneNote. But win+x still brings up the same menu as right-clicking the start menu. Maybe the keys need to be comma separated (or some other delimiter)?
    – MikMak
    Jun 13, 2018 at 15:30
  • Looks like I should be able to add multiple hotkeys to disable using the multi-string value as described here superuser.com/questions/1239166/…
    – MikMak
    Jun 13, 2018 at 15:41
  • Tried the multi-string value. Doesn't work.
    – MikMak
    Jun 14, 2018 at 9:58

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