Is there any way to retrieve the system-wide keyboard shortcuts currently in use?

[jason404]

Is there any way to get a list of the system-wide keyboard shortcuts currently in use, including what programs they are attached to?

I have noticed that some are overriding others unexpectedly and a couple are mysteriously tied up with something, on my main computer.

I was hoping that this could be possible using something like AutoIt or PowerShell.

I asked this question at Superuser.com as well:

http://superuser.com/questions/298484/is...tem-wide-keyboard-shortcuts-cu

Edited June 19, 2011 by jason404

[MrMitchell]

Used to be an app called HotKey Detective, Google for it and buy it or search for free alternatives. Not sure how one would do it in AutoIt but something like that sure would come in handy.

[Melba23]

jason404,

This seems to be a good app to get the active keys.

But note the comment:

Windows does not provide information about what program registered a particular global hotkey

So I do not think you can ever see what app has reserved which hotkey - just the fact that the key is reserved.

M23

[JohnOne]

I may be way wrong here, but looking at the RegisterHotKey function

"To avoid conflicts with hot-key identifiers defined by other shared DLLs, a DLL should use the GlobalAddAtom function to obtain the hot-key identifier."

GlobalAddAtom function seems to suggest that while not returning a list, it is possible to test if a hotkey is already reserved, by returning the same hotkey string tested.

I do not however know if you can use an ATOM type in autoit, and of course this post might be totally off the mark.

[Melba23]

JohnOne,

AutoIt already checks if a particular combination of keys is registered when you use HotKeySet. If the combination is already taken then the function returns 0. So you can get a list of used key combinations by trying to run HotKeySet on every possible key combination - although I am of the opinion that this "brute-force" method is far from optimal, it will work!

M23

[JohnOne]

Ah, I see, thanks Melba23.

Its probably how that app you linked works.

[jason404]

Thanks for the replies everybody. I had a look at all of those programs. I could not try Hotkey Detective without paying for it, but I suspect that it does the same as some others I have seen, which only show the user-set keyboard shortcuts on start menu and desktop shortcuts. Ethervane ActiveHotkeys seemed pretty good, although it could not give any information on the programs that are using the keys.

From looking at these programs I found the correct term for these keys are 'Global Hotkeys', and searching Google found this: Hotkey Commander/Explorer.

Hotkey Explorer is the free version, which lists hotkeys and programs, while Hotkey Commander lets you change things, but is not free (free trial). When you start the program, it executes all possible keyboard shortcuts, so it opens a lot of program, including everything in the Win7 taskbar and the Screen Magnifier - so it can make a bit of a mess of your desktop.

It looks like this is the program I am looking for - but the problem is that it hangs on my machine after it opens all the programs. I'm using Windows Server 2008 R2, through RDP and no Aero. I'm not sure if it works on Windows7/Server 2008 R2, as the website does not mention it. I have tried Vista and XP SP3 Compatibility Modes so far, but both result in the same hanging.

Does it work for anybody else on these operating systems?

Edited June 20, 2011 by jason404