Windows key not working

Help
1

What I’m trying to do

On Windows 11, fix the Windows key, so that it continues to work when Obsidian is open. When I close Obsidian, the Windows key works again after about ten seconds. After Obsidian is open for a couple of minutes, the keyboard goes awry; typing in any application seems to enact windows hotkeys for the settings.

Things I have tried

After reading this forum post, I have uninstalled and reinstalled Obsidian 3 times but the problem persists.

I have also updated all community plugins and the problem persists.

I have disabled community plugins and the problem persists.

I have disabled all core plugins and the problem persists.

Here is my debug information:

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.3.7
Installer version: v1.3.7
Operating system: Windows 10 Home 10.0.22621
Login status: not logged in
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Legacy editor: off
Base theme: dark
Community theme: LYT Mode v1.7.1
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 24
Plugins enabled: 13
1: Obsidian_to_Anki v3.4.2
2: Outliner v4.8.0
3: Templater v1.16.0
4: Tasks v4.6.0
5: Natural Language Dates v0.6.1
6: Zoom v1.1.2
7: Emoji Toolbar v0.4.1
8: Dataview v0.5.56
9: Reading Time v1.1.1
10: Periodic Notes v0.0.17
11: Awesome Image v0.1.2
12: Update time on edit v2.2.1
13: Zotero Integration v3.0.9

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

1 Like
2

Do you remap your Windows key? This sounds familiar to me. I use a Mac keyboard. So I use PowerToys to remap Alt and CMD, so that the “Windows” key is in the same location as usual.

But if I open any admin tools like Task Manager, or Resource Monitor, and some others, then the keys switch back automatically, and the Windows key seems to be stuck on.

So instead of just looking at Obsidian, can you give any info about the Windows side of things too?

  • What kind of keyboard?
  • What language/region are you set to?
  • Do you remap the keyboard with any tools, like PowerToys, or equivalent? Or do you have any apps like that installed? Investigate those too.
  • Are you running Obsidian in administrator mode?
2 Likes
3

Hi Rigmarole,

Thanks for the prompt response. I have;

Qwerty keyboard
English (United Kingdom)
I use PowerToys for Always on Top and for Fancy Zones
No, I do not use Obsidian in administrator mode.

Thanks for the suggestions. After posting this response, I’ll disable PowerToys and see if that makes a difference.

4

Hi Rigmarole,

Thanks again for the suggestion. I’ve been using my PC for about an hour now - Obsidian and other applications - and the Windows key continues to work.

Here’s what I did;

Closed Power Toys - problem remained
Restarted PC and closed Power toys (I forgot that it was a Startup App)- problem remained
Uninstalled Power Toys and Restarted PC - Windows key works

1 Like
5

I uninstalled PowerToys. Using SharpKeys instead. It doesn’t recognize all keys, though, alas. Not sure it works for Win 11 though.

1 Like
6

Hi Rigmarole and others,

Unfortunately, the error has occurred again. Here’s my debug information.

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.4.5
Installer version: v1.3.7
Operating system: Windows 10 Home 10.0.22621
Login status: not logged in
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Legacy editor: off
Base theme: dark
Community theme: LYT Mode v1.6.6
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 7
Plugins enabled: 6
1: Dataview v0.5.56
2: Templater v1.16.0
3: Tasks v4.6.0
4: Outliner v4.8.0
5: Omnivore v1.6.0
6: Periodic Notes v0.0.17

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

7

I have the same issue on Win 10 Pro.
No PowerToys and no remapping.
Swedish QWERTY keyboard.
English US language/region.
I wasn’t running Obsidian in admin mode (should I be? but when I try it, it makes no difference).
Thankful for any suggestions.

8

Running into the same issue here, have tried all solutions from this post and Windows key stops working after opening obsidian - Help - Obsidian Forum and nothing seems to work.

1 Like
9

I also have this issue. On Windows 11. Have tried re-installing and still the same.

1 Like
10

same problem on windows 10. Reinstallation of millions didn’t work.

1 Like
11

Same issue here, even after reinstalling using the new installer.

Debug info:

SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: v1.4.16
	Installer version: v1.4.16
	Operating system: Windows 10 Home Single Language 10.0.22621
	Login status: logged in
	Catalyst license: none
	Insider build toggle: off
	Live preview: on
	Legacy editor: off
	Base theme: dark
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

Before this, I was using Obsidian installer 1.4.13, and met the same issue. However, on that 1.4.13 version, it might be the case that the windows keys stays broken, even after closing the obsidian. On the 1.4.16 version, my windows key usually broke only few minutes after using it normally (taking notes, opening files, etc), and is able to start working again after closing the obsidian app. Note that this statement is not 100% accurate as I don’t completely remember.

As another detail, previously, I was using Obsidian from installer version 1.1.9 and upgraded it a few times until I was forced to install the new installer. On these older versions, as far as I can remember, the windows key has always worked without issues.

Also, IDK if this helps:

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /B /C:"OS Version"
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 11 Home Single Language
OS Version:                10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621
1 Like