"Failed to send Ctrl+Z"

Question

Hello!

For some weeks now, I've had a problem with using the Ctrl+Z key combination. I've already searched the community for similar problems, but didn't find a solution.

It appears when I try to use Ctrl+Z: On the first try, nothing happens. Then, on second and all following tries of pressing Ctrl+Z, only z is written. Furthermore, the focus is somehow "stolen" and I can barely click on anything anymore. Going to power saving mode and back out of it again helps: I get the following Error Message, but everything is back to normal:

I only have Windows AntiVirus. Of course I could run everything as admin and switch off my AntiVirus, but that would kinda be a bad solution?

So far, I've tried deinstalling and reinstalling my keybord drivers, running sfc /scannow, which found and repaired files, I've used another keyboard. Through everything, the problem persisted.

Windows Version - Windows 11 Home, 21H2, build 22000.1335

Thanks in advance for the help!

Best regards,

Julia

Answer 1

Hi Julia,

CSRSS.exe is a core system process that can't be terminated. There are two different ways to find the offending process (or service) that has locked the Ctrl key.

Option 1: Perform a clean boot. Basically, you disable all third-party programs or services via MSCONFIG. Pls see this Microsoft article for more information.

Option 2: Close all running programs. Run a Process Monitor trace and reproduce the issue by pressing Ctrl+Z a number of times until the above error window appears. After the error message appears, stop the trace and save "All events", zip the PML trace log file, upload it to OneDrive/Dropbox/WeTransfer.com and share the link here.

Answer 2

Great work, Julia. Glad the tool helped, and thanks for the update.

Answer 3

Hi Ramesh,

Thanks to your help, I found the culprit! It is an app called GestureSign. I used Process monitor trace and a little trial & error.

Best regards,

Julia

Answer 4

Hi Ramesh,

thanks for the help! Unfortunately, the error message comes from "csrss.exe", so I can't just kill the process. I checked that it's not a virus.

Do you have any idea what to do now?

Answer 5

Hi Julia,

A background app may have hijacked the Ctrl + Z keyboard hotkey.

Try to find the source app that generated that error message dialog. To do so, you need to download Process Explorer from Microsoft. See How to Find Which Program Owns an Error Message Window for more information.

Once you find the process name, kill that process and test the Ctrl + Z hotkey to see if it works.