We have an application that uses custom key combinations for copy/paste operations. Before we deployed Windows 10 1703 build, users where able to use 'Win-C' combination in the application.
As Cortana now uses Win+C combination, application is unable to reuse these keys.
What have I tried so far on clean 1703 deployment:
Disabled Cortana in Group Policies : Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
Added registry value of type DWORD and set it to 0 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
VoiceShortcut
The Cortana seems to be disabled now but application still believes Win-C combination is used.
Is there way to find out if Win-C is really in use by Cortana?
2 Answers
Hotkeys involving the Windows logo key are reserved by the system
Applications shouldn't use shortcuts where the Windows Key is involved, it's simply not supported: the behavior will be unpredictable and it may stop working at any time.
The Windows Logo keys are reserved for system level functions. Software developers should not implement support for the Windows Logo keys[...]
EDIT : Just saw this part:
The Cortana seems to be disabled now but application still believes Win-C combination is used. Is there way to find out if Win-C is really in use by Cortana?
It doesn't solve this question, but it does allow you to reuse the key.
I believe you could send an event from AutoHotKey to your application process, or send another keystroke (such as ctrl+c) to a specific window.
I don't know of a builtin way, but you can use AutoHotKey if you'd like:
For example, save the following as hi.ahk and start it - press winkey + C and you'll get the hiiii message:
<#C::
MsgBox, hiiii
