[Mac] Add an option to disable Windows key

Dec 28, 2006, 01:46 PM #1
Zhou Junior Member Join: Dec 2006 Posts: 5	[Mac] Add an option to disable Windows key It irritates me when I see that start menu popping out when I press Cmd+Tab to switch to another application. It would be good if there was an option to disable the windows key. Another useful option would be to make Cmd become a Ctrl key. Many default shortcuts in MacOS and Windows are same except for modification key (Ctrl+S in Windows is Cmd+S in MacOS)
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Dec 28, 2006, 01:46 PM

Zhou
Junior Member

Join: Dec 2006
Posts: 5

[Mac] Add an option to disable Windows key

It irritates me when I see that start menu popping out when I press Cmd+Tab to switch to another application. It would be good if there was an option to disable the windows key.
Another useful option would be to make Cmd become a Ctrl key. Many default shortcuts in MacOS and Windows are same except for modification key (Ctrl+S in Windows is Cmd+S in MacOS)

Dec 29, 2006, 10:54 AM #2
tacit_one Parallels Team Join: Mar 2006 Posts: 435	Please, check out our latest beta of Parallels Desktop - this feature was already added.
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Jan 2, 2007, 06:09 AM #3
jwiegley Junior Member Join: Dec 2006 Posts: 19	Oh please tell me, how can this be done? I've looked everywhere! John
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Jan 3, 2007, 06:39 AM

Zhou
Junior Member

Join: Dec 2006
Posts: 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwiegley

Oh please tell me, how can this be done? I've looked everywhere!

John

Check preferences, Keyboard.

The preference is there. And it does work. But...
I'm using Eclipse (it's Java IDE) and the most common shortcut I use is Ctrl+Space. It doesn't work for some reason if I swap Ctrl & Cmd keys. Can you add a preference so both Cmd & Ctrl keys work the same?

Jan 3, 2007, 06:44 AM #5
Zhou Junior Member Join: Dec 2006 Posts: 5	Another thing to integrate Windows Apps more closely to MacOS X would be to remap the text navigation shortcuts - Cmd+Left to Home, Cmd+Right - End, Alt+Left-Right - Ctrl+Left-Right. I'm starting to think that some UI for custom key mappings would be really great.
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Jan 3, 2007, 11:34 AM

palter
Senior Member

Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 245

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zhou

It probably doesn't work because Cmd+Space is the default shortcut for Spotlight. Try turning that off in the Spotlight preferences.

__________________
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo) 15", 3GB RAM, 160GB HD, 10.4.9
VMWare VMs: Win XP (x64, 512MB), Win Vista (x64, 1GB), Win 98 (128MB), Fedora Core (x64, 1GB)
Parallels VMs: None

Jan 14, 2007, 05:46 PM

ericchiu
Junior Member

Join: Dec 2006
Posts: 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by tacit_one

Please, check out our latest beta of Parallels Desktop - this feature was already added.

I did check the 3120 RC1, in Keyboard preference there are just four options for toggoling different screen modes, no words on disable windows:confused: key?

Jan 18, 2007, 02:17 PM #8
bfiller Junior Member Join: Jan 2007 Posts: 1	Please, please, please add a specific option to disable the Windows key. Remapping ctrl/cmd does not work for me, because I want to keep the cmd key where it is because I'm used to it there, but I do want to disable the Windows key. Specifically, I am running Fedora Core 6 Linux in Parallels and the left cmd key and right cmd key work differently. I would like them to work the same. The right cmd key always displays a popup menu on the Linux desktop, which is annoying and not what I want (because when I cmd-tab to switch to a Mac OS app, it pops up a Linux popup which I later have to dismiss when I switch back). Also, I'm a big emacs user and the special mapping Parallels does with the right cmd key messes emacs up into thinking I pressed "meta-x" which is NOT what I want. Is there any undocumented way to disable this under the covers? Any conf files or anything like that?
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Jan 18, 2007, 02:17 PM

bfiller
Junior Member

Join: Jan 2007
Posts: 1

Please, please, please add a specific option to disable the Windows key. Remapping ctrl/cmd does not work for me, because I want to keep the cmd key where it is because I'm used to it there, but I do want to disable the Windows key.

Specifically, I am running Fedora Core 6 Linux in Parallels and the left cmd key and right cmd key work differently. I would like them to work the same. The right cmd key always displays a popup menu on the Linux desktop, which is annoying and not what I want (because when I cmd-tab to switch to a Mac OS app, it pops up a Linux popup which I later have to dismiss when I switch back). Also, I'm a big emacs user and the special mapping Parallels does with the right cmd key messes emacs up into thinking I pressed "meta-x" which is NOT what I want.

Is there any undocumented way to disable this under the covers? Any conf files or anything like that?

Jan 21, 2007, 10:39 AM #9
mpatel696 Junior Member Join: Apr 2006 Posts: 4	I use Parallels mostly for excel in Windows- the major advantage of which is that all of the quick shortcuts (alt-e>r>d, etc.) that I've been using for years work right out of the box. The only problem is that most windows keyboards have the alt key net to the space bar, which is the apple key on the mbp. Is it possible to either have the ability to custom map keys (as per some of the earlier posts) or just have an option to redundantly map that key as the alt key?
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Jan 21, 2007, 10:39 AM

mpatel696
Junior Member

Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 4

I use Parallels mostly for excel in Windows- the major advantage of which is that all of the quick shortcuts (alt-e>r>d, etc.) that I've been using for years work right out of the box. The only problem is that most windows keyboards have the alt key net to the space bar, which is the apple key on the mbp. Is it possible to either have the ability to custom map keys (as per some of the earlier posts) or just have an option to redundantly map that key as the alt key?

Feb 25, 2007, 06:59 AM #10
mmulin Member Join: Feb 2007 Posts: 34	as for my part, i just disabled the windows key in xp. it might not help all of you but at least you get rid of the annoying pop of the window start menu: instructions: - open "regedit" - go the the key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Keyboard Layout" - select "New" -> "Binary value" from the "Edit" menu - name it "Scancode Map" - give it the value binary value "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00" - restart xp since i dont use bootcamp, i am not sure if this will also kill the windows key under bootcamp boot. does it use the same registry? anyways, you probably can work around it hitting <ctrl+esc>
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Feb 25, 2007, 06:59 AM

#10

mmulin
Member

Join: Feb 2007
Posts: 34

as for my part, i just disabled the windows key in xp. it might not help all of you but at least you get rid of the annoying pop of the window start menu:

instructions:
- open "regedit"
- go the the key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Keyboard Layout"
- select "New" -> "Binary value" from the "Edit" menu
- name it "Scancode Map"
- give it the value binary value "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00"
- restart xp

since i dont use bootcamp, i am not sure if this will also kill the windows key under bootcamp boot. does it use the same registry? anyways, you probably can work around it hitting <ctrl+esc>

Mar 20, 2007, 12:52 PM

#11

pigwiggle
Member

Join: Jul 2006
Posts: 34

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmulin

Worked like a charm. Great tip.

Jan 12, 2009, 07:12 AM #12
ABR Junior Member Join: Jan 2009 Posts: 1	Another vote I too would like an option to disable the Windows key. I'm using PD 4.0 and in the prefs for Keyboard & Mouse I unchecked the mapping of "Cmd" to "Win", but it didn't seem to do anything -- press and release Command and the Start menu annoyingly pops up, as it often will when trying to alt-tab in/out. If this change requires a virtual machine restart (which sucks), it should say so.
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Jan 12, 2009, 07:12 AM

#12

ABR
Junior Member

Join: Jan 2009
Posts: 1

Another vote

I too would like an option to disable the Windows key. I'm using PD 4.0 and in the prefs for Keyboard & Mouse I unchecked the mapping of "Cmd" to "Win", but it didn't seem to do anything -- press and release Command and the Start menu annoyingly pops up, as it often will when trying to alt-tab in/out. If this change requires a virtual machine restart (which sucks), it should say so.

Mar 20, 2007, 10:34 AM

#13

lupus
Junior Member

Join: Feb 2007
Posts: 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfiller

Definitely could do with an option to disable the windows key. I have gone down the route of disabling the key in windows, but it is a fiddly way to do it.

When the windows key is there, it seems to disable the option for remapping CMD-ZXCVAF as all those key combos bring up the pesky windows menu....

Cheers,

Joel

Sep 15, 2009, 12:27 PM #14
nvrmore100 Junior Member Join: Jun 2007 Posts: 15	One thing to note, I did the disable reg value thing, and it does work. However, when in coherence mode, you no longer able to click the Parallels icon to bring up the start menu... I have ended up having to do a mix of the two. First, you can use the reg key item from this URL to do the work for you: http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuf...e_windows_key/ Second, I added a new keyboard shortcut for ALT --> CONTROL-ESC This does not re-enable the Parallels icon from working, but at least now my Win key on my keyboard brings up the start menu, and I am not plagued by it popping up any time I Apple-TAB away from Parallels.
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Sep 15, 2009, 12:27 PM

#14

nvrmore100
Junior Member

Join: Jun 2007
Posts: 15

One thing to note, I did the disable reg value thing, and it does work. However, when in coherence mode, you no longer able to click the Parallels icon to bring up the start menu... I have ended up having to do a mix of the two.

First, you can use the reg key item from this URL to do the work for you:

http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuf...e_windows_key/

Second, I added a new keyboard shortcut for ALT --> CONTROL-ESC

This does not re-enable the Parallels icon from working, but at least now my Win key on my keyboard brings up the start menu, and I am not plagued by it popping up any time I Apple-TAB away from Parallels.

Nov 5, 2009, 03:48 PM #15
arkaycee Junior Member Join: Apr 2007 Posts: 4	I found a workaround that doesn't involve registry hacking. After unchecking the Cmd to Windows mapping and finding it it still happened, I finally tried mapping Cmd to Alt, and Shift+Cmd to Windows. Of course, now I must hit Shift+Cmd (I guess I could've done something like Option+Cmd if I need to really Shift+Cmd in Windows, though I don't use the Windows key for anything but to bring up the Start Menu anyway).
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Nov 5, 2009, 03:48 PM

#15

arkaycee
Junior Member

Join: Apr 2007
Posts: 4

I found a workaround that doesn't involve registry hacking. After unchecking the Cmd to Windows mapping and finding it it still happened, I finally tried mapping Cmd to Alt, and Shift+Cmd to Windows. Of course, now I must hit Shift+Cmd (I guess I could've done something like Option+Cmd if I need to really Shift+Cmd in Windows, though I don't use the Windows key for anything but to bring up the Start Menu anyway).

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[Mac] Add an option to disable Windows key