RegisterHotKey method not registering the hotkey with high privilege.

Question

RegisterHotKey method not registering the hotkey with high privilege.

Smrithi Surendran 61

I am creating one overlay and registering hotkey( Ctrl+O) to open the overlay.
Same key ( Ctrl+O) has been mentioned for opening Microsoft edge in my system.
Currently Microsoft edge is getting opened by click on those keys but overlay is not getting opened.

While click on keys which is registering hotkey( Ctrl+O) for overlay, I want to open the overlay, not other application.

Could you please suggest here that how to identify the existing hotkey before registering and unregister it.
Or Could you please suggest a way to registering hotkey with high privilege ?

1 answer

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Answer 1

RLWA32 49,641

If Ctrl+O is already assigned you should pick a different hotkey. According to the documentation at RegisterHotKey function "RegisterHotKey fails if the keystrokes specified for the hot key have already been registered by another hot key."

Smrithi Surendran 61 Reputation points

2023-02-25T17:11:44.7166667+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

But I want to understand that, is it possible that, can we unregister the hot from already registered for other app and register the hotkey with high privilege for my app.

So that the registered hotkey will be used for my app.

Could you please help here?
RLWA32 49,641 Reputation points

2023-02-25T19:21:44.73+00:00

A hotkey registered by a thread in a different process that calls RegisterHotKey can only be unregistered by the UnregisterHotKey function if it is called from the thread that registered it. This is specified in the documentation which says "Frees a hot key previously registered by the calling thread." So if you didn't register it you can't unregister it.
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-02-27T05:30:16.8366667+00:00

@Smrithi Surendran You should also check the return value of RegisterHotKey.

Sunil A M 171

In the below scenarios we are getting this issue.
1.First we will assign the hot key to Microsoft edge to get open - ctrl+shift+O
2.Same time we tried assigning ctrl+shift+O hot key to open our wpf application.
3.when i press ctrl+shift+O, Microsoft edge is getting opened
4.We need our application to get first preference to open when we press hot key.

Could u please suggest.
1.How to give first preference to our app to get it opened when we press hot key.
2.If possible coould you please suggest us how to unregister the hot key which is 
  assigned to Microsoft edge and assign the same hot key to our app.(C# code to search for     the app which is assigned for same hot key, Unregister it and register the same hot key to our app).

Smrithi Surendran 61 Reputation points

2023-02-27T07:46:17.8133333+00:00

@Xiaopo Yang - MSFT
RegisterHotKey is returning false.

Can we unregister the hotkey value from existing thread.
Could you please help here
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-02-27T08:42:20.67+00:00

@RLWA32 has answered that if you didn't register it you can't unregister it.
Smrithi Surendran 61 Reputation points

2023-02-27T08:57:11.3366667+00:00

@Xiaopo Yang - MSFT
Can we unregister the shortcut key for edge and register it as the shortcut key for overlay?
Could you please help here
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-02-27T09:03:00.08+00:00

@Smrithi Surendran The normal answer is no.
Castorix31 90,686 Reputation points

2023-02-27T11:56:47.1833333+00:00

If the Edge shortcut is created form a link (from Explorer Desktop for example), you could change it with IShellLink::SetHotkey
Smrithi Surendran 61 Reputation points

2023-03-03T05:08:42.2266667+00:00

Could you please provide a sample example
Castorix31 90,686 Reputation points

2023-03-03T12:25:45.6733333+00:00

But is it a link ?

Like for example, if I set Ctrl + O for Notepad, I can change it by code :

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RegisterHotKey method not registering the hotkey with high privilege.

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