How do you disable the F1 key for whole system?

Question

Is there a way to temporarily disable the F1 key?

I do not want to permanently disable it, but perhaps a toggle switch so that I can enable it for certain actions.

The problem is I'm trying to solve is that I have never intentionally pressed the F1 key, but occasionally press it accidentally (which can be a pain because most help systems use F1 to activate).

Answer 1

The simplest solution: use this Autohotkey macro

f1::Return

would do just that.

You can disable it by closing the application in the system tray, and renable by opening it again.

Answer 2

To disable the F1 button in all programs (just for the currently logged in user), save this file as disable.reg and run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Typelib{8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}\1.0\0\win32]
@=""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Typelib{8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}\1.0\0\win64]
@=""

Or:

1. Open regedit
2. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Typelib
3. Create a Key (folder) named {8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}
4. Create a Key inside that named 1.0
5. Create a Key inside that named 0
6. Create 2 Keys inside that named win32 and win64
7. Open each of the winXX Keys, double click (Default) and then press OK
8. Observe that the Data has changed from (value not set) to be blank

---

To re-enable the F1 key, save this file as enable.reg and run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Typelib{8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}]

Or:

1. Open regedit
2. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Typelib
3. Delete the folder named {8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}

Answer 3

With Sharpkeys, you can disable or remap most keyboard keys. To use it to disable the F1 key:

1. Open the program.
2. Click Add.
3. Under the left panel, click Type Key and press F1 on the keyboard.
4. In the right panel, select Turn Key Off.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Write to Registry.
7. Log off or restart the computer.
8. To restore the original state, delete the entry and repeat the previous 2 steps.

Answer 4

If you want to completely deactivate the key (so that even the Chrome help doesn't open or whatever program uses it), you can remap the key to nothing. The downside is that it's disabled for the whole system and any program that might use it for something else, you can not map any action in a program to it anymore. It's as if you removed the physical key (except that it's easier to revert).

You have to change a registry key like in this tutorial: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-caps-lock-key-in-windows-vista/ (archive)

The actual key number for F1 was hard to find, but this table should have it: http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~microlab/MicroLab/Labs/ScanCodes.htm (archive)

Otherwise this table has a lot of other formats: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa299374(v=vs.60).aspx (archive)

And if even that doesn't work, you can install a program from here to get the code: Where to find windows keyboard scancode registry information?

To get a toggle, you have to first export the key without changes and call it "F1 on" or whatever and after you made the changes, export it again and call it "F1 off" or whatever. The problem with this is that whenever you change something in that key, you have to export it again or you would revert that change the next time you open the file.

Answer 5

Other answers have addressed how to disable the F1 key. I will address the underlying problem:

I have never intentionally pressed the F1 key, but occasionally press it accidentally (which can be a pain because most help systems use F1 to activate).

Back when I used Windows, I had the same complaint. Rather than attempt to disable it, my approach was to assign F1 as a hotkey to run a shortcut to a frequently used program. Since I am intentionally using it, I am less likely to accidentally hit it because I have a better sense of where it is located. Even if I were to accidentally press it, it would just run a program I'm likely to need soon anyway.

See Windows 7 - Assigning hotkeys to applications

Answer 6

Follow the below steps,

• Create a restore point.

• start > run > regedit

• search for this registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\HELPCTR.EXE

• Double click on Default and change the path to any dummy executable that does nothing.
• Click ok and restart.

You can find dummy.exe here:

http://www.ehow.com/how_8053450_disable-f1-windows-xp.html