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usually AltGr Works fine on my computer but latelly it stops working. I can still use Ctrl+Alt but it's a pain as I need it to write {} and I'm a c# programmer :S

Any idea on what can happen? If I reboot the laptop everything Works fine. It's not a failure of the key itself becasue when I press it the menus get the _ drawn, so the keyboard is sending the message to the OS.

Thanks in advance.

poqdavid
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Ignacio Soler Garcia
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5 Answers5

169

There are many blog posts out there, which try to explain what the issue could be. Many times specific programs are the cause of the problem.

For me it was a Windows Remote Desktop connection I had running, that prevented the key from working. I didn't have to close it, just opening the window and clicking anywhere inside it somehow made my [AltGR] key work again!

EDIT: It seems to the related to the full-screen mode of RDP.

Just try to close all your applications one by one to find out what could be the cause.

Ishmaeel
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GameScripting
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11

Here it turned out to be a running VirtualBox-instance that had tampered with my keyboard setup. After shifting focus to the VM and back to the editor the AltGr-key worked as expected.

I'm running Windows 7 SP1, so AltGr acting as Alt is a problem not only on Windows 8.

mariusnn
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10

For me, it was caused by Hyper-V (Microsoft virtualization). When I go to virtual machine, press AltGr it works. Return to desktop, works again!

Andrea
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user275219
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3

My problem with this key was sometimes when I am in a remote desktop session. As in, not a problem on the host. I am seeing the problem on the client, in the remote session.

I tried the following - without luck:

  • Switching and clicking on the remote desktop session: Didn't work.
  • Minimizing the remote desktop session: Didn't work.
  • Restarting the remote desktop session: Didn't work, it just re-attaches to the existing session - which still has the issue.

But, minimizing all application windows in the remote desktop session and then restoring (maximizing) the window where I needed the @ key it works.

I am actually writing this entry in the remote desktop session, and the @ key works as it should.

Spiralis
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0

The questioner have a laptop, so this is not probably answer for him/her. But nevertheless:

One possible reason of AltGr problems is Gigabyte EasyTune. It adds some own shortcuts to keyboard (or something else), which causes the problem.

Atleast with nordic keyboard maps: it causes problems with '@' [AltGr+2] and '€' [AltGr+5].

With Win8.1 solution was: uninstalling of EasyTune.

SKi
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