Share via

Change functionality of the calculator button Win8.1

Anonymous
2014-06-16T20:45:07+00:00

How do I make my calculator key open calc.exe? (rather than the metro calculator)

Recently made the switch from 7 to 8.1 and the biggest negative impact on my experience is the giant, barn-sized calculator that comes up when I hit the calculator key on my keyboard. How do I get the key to open up good ol' calc.exe rather than... that thing? For the sake of discussion, no, I do not want to pin it to the taskbar and click it or type Win+"calc"+Enter every time I want to use it. I want to press a single key to do this, just like I have since the dawn of the calculator key.

Interesting side note: when I use the metro calculator, it prints every key I press, twice.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Apps

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous
2014-06-29T14:10:39+00:00

Just use the search charm, and search for calculator. It will show the calculator metro app, and the desktop app.

If you don't want to use the metro app at all, search calculator in the search charm, right click on the metro app, and uninstall it.

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

21 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-29T15:44:55+00:00

    Hi,

    Just thought I would point out to you directly the solution that Tristan posted. No mucking about with reprogrammable keys. All it involves is uninstalling the metro calculator. And then Windows, upon hearing the calculator key being pressed, says (for the purpose of a good narrative, it speaks in a deep Liverpudlian accent), "Oh, where's my favourite calculator? Doesn't seem to be around... oh well. Here's this other calculator. I think I'll just pull that one up instead. The user shouldn't mind."

    So I guess I just changed the radio station by switching to 10% ethanol.

    Hope this helps.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-29T13:08:43+00:00

    I wasn't talking about the ASUS problem. I've been keeping tabs on that, nothing yet. I'm bumping for the original problem that my post was about. If you don't have a solution, don't be obnoxious and condescending.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-06-17T13:59:24+00:00

    Hello Doreauxgard,

    Thank you for your response.

    I would suggest you to try following steps and check if it helps.

    a. Press Windows + R keys, type regedit in run window and press Enter.

    b. Go to the registry location:

    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\18

    c. Right click in right pane and select new and then select string value.

    d. In the name field, type "ShellExecute" without quotes.

    e. Right click on this string value and click modify.

    f. In value data box, type calc.exe and click ok.

    g. Close registry editor and restart the computer.

    Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

    I hope this helps.

    Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-17T09:17:02+00:00

    Hello Doreauxgard,

    Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft community forum.

    I understand that you want desktop calculator to open when you press calculator key on the keyboard.

    Unfortunately, in Windows 8, calculator app opens when you press calculator key.

    However, you may follow these steps to create a keyboard shortcut to open calc.exe:

    a. Press Windows + X keys and select file explorer.

    b. Go to following Windows explorer location:

    C:\Windows\system32\calc

    c. Right click "calc", highlight "send to" and select desktop(create shortcut). This will create calculator shortcut on the desktop.

    d. Right click on the calculator shortcut and select properties.

    e. Left click inside shortcut key box, press "Ctrl+Alt+c" keys together. You may choose another letter(from a to z) as per your requirement.

    f. Click apply and ok.

    I hope this information helps.

    Please do let us know if you need any further assistance.

    Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments