Windows 7: Custom keyboard shortcut key not working properly

I had the same problem. Here's what worked for me:

The issue seems to be that Windows won't look just anywhere for shortcut files when it is restoring hotkey (shortcut key) assignments after login. It DOES seem to look in the Start Menu for these. So I created a folder called C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\_hotkeys

Hotkey assignments within shortcuts in there are remembered/restored at next login.



Hope that works for you!

David thanks for the post.... I will try putting them in a folder like you mentioned in the start menu. Thanks again. If this works for me I will put this fix in another forum I was posting in too. Thanks again.

EDIT:

This worked for me too David. What I found to be the problem before was windows wouldn't read the hotkeys unless they were on the desktop. I'm gald you found this little fix....

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, that method only works for program and file shortcuts, not for FOLDERS.

When you add a shortcut TO A FOLDER to "_hotkeys", the "Shortcut" tab is not in the properties box of that FOLDER, so no Shortcut Key can be assigned (unlike when a shortcut to a FOLDER is placed on the desktop, where that tab is available).

I have several frequently accessed folders on different partitions that I enjoyed the quick access to (back on XP). I suppose my only option is to place FOLDER shortcuts on the desktop, but the Shortcut Key function is unreliable that way.

Any other ideas for FOLDERS?

OK, I figured it out. If you use the "Create New Shortcut" right click context menu, within the "_hotkeys" folder, then point that shortcut to the folder you want, you can set the Shortcut Key. And so far, it's working.

I'm sorry I should have come back here to reply before.

The solution we used was to place the shortcuts in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories". We hide access to All Programs in the Start Menu anyways so it worked well enough for us.

Hi all, I'm having a very similar problem. I created a shortcut for Flip 3d and placed it on the desktop.

(To save confusion, the reason I had created a shortcut for Flip 3d is because I have a mouse that allows me to program macros. Programming the standard Flip 3d shortcut of 'Windows key + Tab' into the macro proved to be useless as the stack of documents would just continuously scroll).

Next, I set a keyboard shortcut of 'Ctrl + Alt + N' in the properties of the Flip 3d shortcut, and programmed my macro key for that same key combination. It worked great, but only for a short period of time. Once it stopped working, the only way I could get it to work again was by rebooting my system. Then it would only work for a short while, and then break again. I've tried this many times while using the actual key strokes as opposed to the macro to no avail. I get the same results either way.

I tried moving the shortcut to this folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\_hotkeys, however I am experiencing the same result. It works at first, but then stops working until I reboot, then it works fine again.

Can anybody tell me why the keyboard shortcut only works for a short while? Is there a keyboard shortcut that doesn't break (that isn't being used already)?

Thanks

I think I may have found a solution, or at least the cause of the Flip 3d shortcut breaking. Because I have it set to a macro, when Flip 3d is launched sometimes I mistakenly press the macro key a second time. It seems that when the key combination Ctrl + Alt + N is pressed a second time after the program has launched (and only when the program is still active), the shortcut doesn't work again until the system reboots. I hope this helps anyone else who has this issue.

The behavior of subsequent shortcut key presses for an already-running application seems to be dependent on the application itself. I suspect Windows generates some particular Event that the application can handle (or ignore) as it is programmed.

Some applications will ignore it (e.g. Calc), some will open additional instances (e.g. Firefox), some will just give focus to the already running process (e.g. Notepad).

After dogging this same problem for hours it appears that in Windows 7 "Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu" needs to be enable (checked) for shortcuts to persist across logoff/logon events.

Reference this post for more information

Windows 7 - Custom keyboard shortcut key not working properly [SOLVED] - [H]ard|Forum

Enabling this setting cleared the problems while all other suggested remedies did not.

This work like a charm David, Thank You!