A great deal of the advice for this fault tells you to press Windows and R. Somebody pointed that out on Microsoft's own board. They were right to laugh. The key that opens that box is the one that stopped working.
The two second answer comes first, then the causes that need more than two seconds.
Most of the time the key is not broken. Something switched it off on purpose, and it can be switched back on the same way.
I have put these in the order that actually solves them. Which is not the usual order.
1. Hold Fn and press the Windows key
That is it. That is the fix for a large share of these. And it takes a second to rule out.
Many keyboards ship with a Windows key lock built into the Fn layer. It has a real purpose. Hitting Start mid-game throws you out of a game, and this stops that. Catch it by accident and the key simply stops responding.
Reported by an owner in October 2023, and over five hundred people marked that reply helpful: "Like I had it couple of minutes ago, during the gaming I accidentally hit Windows + FN and after quitting the game I've noticed that it stopped to work. So I hit again FN + Windows and it worked."
A second owner confirmed it in February 2024, in one line: "Win key + FN – and BINGO 🙂 it unlocked the win key."
⭐ Try it even if you do not game. The combination is easy to hit. You reach for a volume or brightness key and catch it.
2. Look at the key for a light
Some keyboards tell you the lock is on. People never look down.
An owner on the same thread came back to note a small padlock symbol showing on the key once it was locked. On other models a Windows key LED lights up or goes dark. That is the same signal.
⭐ A Windows key that glows white is showing you a state, not a fault. People search for that color without knowing it is the indicator.
Ours, and marked as ours: if there is any light or symbol at all on that key, work out what it means. Do that before you touch a driver. A lit indicator is your keyboard telling you the answer.
3. Your gaming keyboard disables it by design
On a Logitech G keyboard this is not a bug. It is not an accident either. It is a documented feature, working exactly as intended.
Documented by Logitech on its Game Mode page: "When you're in Game Mode, the Windows and Context Menu keys are disabled." The stated reason is the sensible one, keeping a stray keypress from dropping you out of a game.
Logitech on turning it off: "To enable/disable Game Mode, press the button highlighted in the image below, or customize it on G HUB."
⚠️ Note the second half of that sentence. G HUB can add more keys to the disabled set. So a keyboard where several keys have gone quiet is usually one Game Mode setting. Not several faults.
Ours: other gaming boards carry the same idea under other names, a Windows Lock or a Gaming Mode. Look along the top row of your own board for a key marked with a padlock or a Windows logo.
4. The manufacturer's own app may have switched it off
This one took an owner two days to find. Their machine told them nothing until it did.
Confirmed by an owner in March 2023, and it was the answer they accepted on their own question: "After 2 days, the ASUS Armory Crate app finally gave me a pop-up telling me that my Windows key was disabled. I sometimes use the app to turn on 'Eco Mode' when I'm using the laptop on battery, so must have mis-clicked and pressed the button to disable the Windows key."
⛔ The symptom is worth reading closely. The key was still detected by Windows. It just did nothing. That held on the built-in keyboard and on an external one. Every hardware test they ran came back clean.
⚠️ And ASUS's own published hotkey list does not mention a Windows key lock at all. I checked it.
The Fn combinations documented there cover volume, brightness, the touchpad, the camera and MyASUS. There is no Windows key entry. The vendor page will not lead you to this.
Ours: open whatever manufacturer app came with the machine. Armoury Crate, MyASUS, Lenovo Vantage, Dell's utility, the Logitech and Corsair software. Look for a keyboard or gaming section before you go near Device Manager.
5. A modifier key Windows thinks is still held down
Different symptom, same appearance. Every Windows shortcut fails while the key itself is fine.
If Windows believes Ctrl, Shift or Alt is stuck down, your Windows key presses become combinations that do nothing. This happens most often after unplugging a keyboard or undocking a laptop.
Reported by advisers on Microsoft's board, and the test costs nothing. Press Ctrl, Shift, Alt and the Windows key each once on their own. That clears whatever is stuck.
⚡ Then open the on-screen keyboard and tap the Windows key there. Press Start, type osk, and use the software key.
If Start opens from the on-screen keyboard and not from the physical one, you have separated the two possibilities in about ten seconds.
6. When the Start menu is the only thing that will not open
Now a narrower one. It has a genuine confirmation behind it.
If Windows and R still opens the Run box, and Windows and E still opens File Explorer, the key is fine. Only the plain Windows key does nothing. The Start menu is what has failed.
Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, find Windows Explorer in the Processes list, and restart it. Your taskbar blinks and comes back.
Confirmed by an owner in March 2024, who described themselves as thirty five years into using Windows. Restarting Explorer, then running SFC and DISM, then rebooting. That resolved it for them.
The two commands, in an admin Command Prompt, in that order:
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth⚠️ Others on that same thread reported none of this touching their fault, some of them a year in. It is a real fix for a real cause. It is not the only cause. That is why it sits at number six rather than number one.
7. Filter Keys, and the accessibility settings that swallow keypresses
Filter Keys tells Windows to ignore brief or repeated keystrokes. Switched on, it can swallow a normal press of yours entirely.
On Windows 11, go to Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard. On Windows 10 the same page is Settings, Ease of Access, Keyboard. Check that Filter keys and Sticky keys are both off.
⚡ Holding right Shift for eight seconds turns Filter Keys on, which is how it arrives on machines nobody deliberately configured.
8. When somebody else made the decision
On a work, school or second-hand PC, Windows key shortcuts can be switched off by policy rather than by anything on your desk.
An administrator can disable Windows key hotkeys centrally. There is no fault to fix and no driver to reinstall. Nothing you do locally will bring them back.
⛔ A second-hand machine still enrolled in a previous owner's management behaves identically. If several unrelated Windows behaviors are missing rather than just this one, that is the shape to suspect.
Ours, and marked as ours: before spending an evening on a managed machine, ask whoever runs it. Policy looks exactly like a bug and never gets fixed by troubleshooting.
9. When the key itself has actually died
Last, because it is last in likelihood, not because it never happens.
Plug in any other keyboard, USB or Bluetooth. Try the Windows key on that. If it works there and nowhere else, the fault is physical and sits in the one key.
⭐ A single dead key on a laptop is usually debris or a failed switch, not a board failure. Sticky and unresponsive keys have their own first half hour that is worth following before anybody quotes you for a keyboard.
And if your whole board is dropping characters rather than one key refusing, that is a different fault with different causes.
Status: put together 23 August 2026 for Windows 11 and 10. Logitech documents Game Mode disabling the Windows and Context Menu keys. The Fn plus Windows unlock, the Armoury Crate case and the Explorer restart all come from dated owner reports, each quoted. ASUS publishes no Windows key lock in its hotkey list, and this page says so.
Why is my Windows key not working?
Most often because something switched it off deliberately. A Fn layer lock on the keyboard, Game Mode on a gaming keyboard, or a manufacturer app such as Armoury Crate. Press Fn and the Windows key together first, because that reverses the commonest cause on your machine in a second.
What is the Windows key lock and how do I turn it off?
A keyboard feature that disables the Windows key so it cannot interrupt a game. It is usually Fn plus the Windows key, sometimes a dedicated button. Many keyboards show a padlock symbol or a light when it is active. Pressing the same combination on your keyboard again releases it.
Why does my Windows key work in shortcuts but not open Start?
Because the key is fine and the Start menu has failed. Restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager, then run sfc /scannow and DISM if it comes back. One owner reported that sequence fixing it, though others on the same thread reported it not touching theirs. Try it before you assume your key is dead.
Can a Windows update break the Windows key?
Owners report the fault appearing after updates. The confirmed causes on the threads read were a keyboard lock, a manufacturer app and a failed Explorer session, not the update itself. Work through those three on your machine before rolling anything back.
The Short Version
- Press Fn and the Windows key together first. It is the commonest cause and the fastest test.
- Look at the key for a padlock symbol or a light. Some keyboards say so outright.
- Logitech documents Game Mode disabling the Windows and Context Menu keys by design.
- A manufacturer app can disable it. One owner needed two days to find Armoury Crate had done it.
- Press each modifier key once, then test with the on-screen keyboard, to split hardware from software.
- If only Start fails and other Windows shortcuts work, restart Windows Explorer.
- On a work or second-hand PC it can be policy, which no local fix reaches.
- Test with a second keyboard last. That is what tells you the key itself has died.
Where to Next
Press Fn and the Windows key right now, before reading further or touching anything else. It costs a second and it settles a large share of these outright.
If that does nothing, open your manufacturer's app and look for a keyboard section. That is where the second commonest cause hides, and it will not show up in Device Manager.
If several keys have gone quiet rather than one, start with the wider keyboard fault instead, which sorts itself by what yours is doing.
And if you find a Windows key lock on a keyboard model I have not named here, drop it below. That list is worth building out and no vendor publishes a complete one.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.