Hello ktek78,
Good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, Rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you.
When was the last time it worked properly? Have you made any changes recently?
Please try the following methods below.
**Please try to open the On-Screen keyboard
Press the Windows key button twice to check if the start menu will open
**Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager then click File
Select "Run new task" then type: powershell
Make sure to put a check mark on the "Create this task with administrative privileges" box
Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete.
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "
_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "
_. InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
Restart your computer
**Please try creating a new local administrator account then check if the issue persists.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/cre...
Kindly let me know if this helps or if you have any further concerns.
Kind regards,
John DeV
Independent Advisor
Answer from John DeV on learn.microsoft.comWindows 11 Windows key not working
Windows key doesn't work solution for windows 11
Windows 11 Keyboard Shortcuts Not Working
Windows key shortcuts stops working with Windows 11
Q.1 How do I enable the Windows Key?
Why is my Keyboard not working in Windows 10?
Why is the Ctrl + E shortcut not working in Windows 11?
Hello ktek78,
Good day! I'm John Dev a Windows user like you and I'll be happy to assist you today. I know this has been difficult for you, Rest assured, I'm going to do my best to help you.
When was the last time it worked properly? Have you made any changes recently?
Please try the following methods below.
**Please try to open the On-Screen keyboard
Press the Windows key button twice to check if the start menu will open
**Repair all Windows apps via PowerShell
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager then click File
Select "Run new task" then type: powershell
Make sure to put a check mark on the "Create this task with administrative privileges" box
Copy and paste the command below one at a time then press Enter. Please ignore the red errors and let the process complete.
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "_. InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "_. InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
Restart your computer
**Please try creating a new local administrator account then check if the issue persists.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/cre...
Kindly let me know if this helps or if you have any further concerns.
Kind regards,
John DeV
Independent Advisor
Also, FN + Windows could resolve your issue. Like I had it couple of minutes ago, during the gaming I accidentally hit Windows + FN and after quitting the game I've noticed that it stopped to work. So I hit again FN + Windows and it worked.
You are a genius! I also had Armory Crate and was about to go into it when I saw your post. How the heck did it get "locked" in the first place I dont know but I do see that little 🔒 on that key which makes sense you need to press Fn to activate/deactivate. Thank you!
Weird way to fix the problem:
"Press Windows key+R to open Run then type: msconfig" ?????????
How we're suppose to press Windows key if the key is NOT WORKING?
AHAHAhahahhaa, seriously!!!!
Mine was golden on Restart Explorer, SFC, DISM and reboot. I'm a 35 year Win user and have never had this happen before. I use the Win key often enough, at least once a day, so this was a verrrry odd one. And a simple fix. But I wish I knew what messed it up. I have no other issues with anything. Thanks for the clues!
This is a solved problem but I wanted to share how I solved it because after an hour or 2 spread over multiple days, I finally figured out the solution and it wasn't listed by any other websites. I tried what every website said: I took off the key cap to look to see if it was a hardware problem, I restarted my laptop multiple times, I did everything with sticky keys and going through all of the listed software fixes, none of that worked. Turns out I was just silly and I had unintentionally turned on the windows lock and all I needed to do to reenable it was press fn+windows. Unfortunately a simple fix that I'm surprised that I didn't think of but I just wanted to put this out there in case someone else didn't think of/know about it.
Make sure the windows key is not disabled via fn+f6 or the windows key lock. If you have a windows lock key, it is undone with fn+windows key (at least that's what worked for my laptop but it is a gaming laptop so it might differ). You might need to press the keys more than once because I had to do it twice personally for it to work.
TL;DR: Double check you don't have a windows key lock on because that might be why. Try either fn+f6 (normal computers) or fn+windows lock key (gaming laptops).
Hey. Thanks for the reply. It turns out, after hours of searching, I found the solution less than 5 minutes ago by following this link. That link provided the first breadcrumb that lead me to the solution for my case.https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-key-not-working-already-tried-all-thing-on/0c796f79-0aa8-466e-ab44-802005d1791b,ItIt turns out, with my MSI laptop, I had to install the MSI Center (it didn't even come installed) just to configure whether the Windows key is activated or deactivated.
All in all, I recommend staying away from MSI laptop. The official website is hugely confusing to navigate, software (different software depending on your model) need to be installed to configure whether the Windows key is enabled (and finding which one you need based on your model while their website is confusing is quite a headache), and I had to create an account to access useful sections of their website and had to agree to sharing personal data just to create an account and run their software.
All in all, a terrible experience with MSI and I'd recommend anyone reading this to simple choose a different brand.
About the black screen, I tried several solutions I found online, none of which worked (until trying the factory reset) but should I get the issue again, I'll contact you in case. Thank you.
Hi Mickael. I'm Greg, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, here to help you.
The black screen at startup is a known issue with fixes I can give you if ever needed again.
- Try these fixes for Windows key shortcuts not working in Windows 11:
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/windows-key-no...
https://www.hawkdive.com/how-to-fix-keyboard-sh...
https://thegeekpage.com/keyboard-shortcuts-not-...
https://www.getdroidtips.com/windows-key-not-wo...
https://nerdschalk.com/laptop-hotkeys-not-worki...
https://www.digitbin.com/fix-laptop-hotkeys-not...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMAmBVEuhPs
- Change default keyboard layout in WIndows 11:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-keybo...
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/change-default-in...
Report back results for each step so I know what else to suggest.
Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the results you post back I may have other suggestions if necessary.
______________________________________________
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since the upgrade from 10 to 11 the windows key does nothing. oddly, everything else works (volume, brightness) etc.
Where is the keyboard mapping tool? or whatevs I need ot fix this