What is preventing ctrl-alt-m from reaching IntelliJ on Windows 10?

Question

I'm using IntelliJ in Windows and Ctrl-Alt-M is a shortcut that is very useful but right now it's doing nothing. The shortcuts just don't reach IntelliJ. My suspicion is that some other app registered it as a global shortcut or something like that.

In IntelliJ, it seems correctly set:

and if I add another shortcut to "Method...", such as ctrl-alt-shift-r, I can properly use it in the editor in IntelliJ.

I'm running the latest Windows 10 and the latest IntelliJ.

Any ideas how I can find that out?

I followed the process described here:

How can I determine which process owns a hotkey in Windows?

using Visual Studio tool Spy++ and apparently the M-key-down event is never triggering.

This is what happens for ctrl-alt-t:

a shortcut that works as expected in IntelliJ. And this is what happens with ctrl-alt-m:

I have two keyboards connected to this computer: a Kinesis Advantage and a Logitech K120. They both behave the same way in regards to ctrl-alt-m.

@DavidPostill: I added some more information that renders this question, I believe, no longer a duplicate. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 07 '18 at 19:10
Apparently Windows does not send a scan-code for it, so you can't see it in VS Spy. Why don't you map Ctrl-Alt-M to another shortcut that works (and is easier to type)? The keyboard mapping used to be under menu File / Settings / Keymap. — harrymc, Jan 09 '18 at 14:38
@harrymc: I'm used to ctrl-alt-m and it's the default for creating a new method on IntelliJ, so, if I'm pairing with somebody else, I can do it on their machine and they can do it on my machine as well. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 09 '18 at 14:39
Windows 10 has added lots of new keyboard shortcuts. I would suggest a workaround instead: Change the IntelliJ keyboard shortcut to something else, then use [AutoHotkey](https://autohotkey.com/) to map Ctrl-Alt-M to the new shortcut. More details if you are interested. — harrymc, Jan 09 '18 at 14:49
@Pablo: What keyboard layout are you using? Try changing to standard US layout and see if it works. — Shaido, Jan 10 '18 at 08:23
@Shaido: I'm using United States-International. I changed it to US and it behaves exactly the same. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 10 '18 at 09:33
@Pablo: Would it be possible to try another (physical) keyboard? I have had problems with some key combinations not working due to the keyboard itself. — Shaido, Jan 10 '18 at 09:40
@Shaido: yup. I have two keyboards on this computer. I'll add this to the question itself. Long story short, they behave the same way. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 10 '18 at 09:41
@Pablo: For the Visual Studio tool Spy++ did you use the 32-bit version? A comment to the answer (in the linked question) says: the 64-bit version of Spy++ catches only messages for 64-bit applications. However, another comment says that for 64-bit systems you need the 64-bit version... — Shaido, Jan 10 '18 at 09:47
@Shaido: I don't remember, but I probably did. Let me try again. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 10 '18 at 09:48
@Pablo: Check if it's possible to install the 32-bit version and test again with it. If it's an 32-bit application using the ctrl+alt+m hotkey it's possible you can't see it with the current one. — Shaido, Jan 10 '18 at 09:51
@Shaido: I just tried the 32-bit and it's not showing anything. I'm quite sure I'm using the 64-bit of IntelliJ and it can log ctrl-alt-t, so, I don't think lack of logging is the issue. — Pablo Fernandez, Jan 10 '18 at 09:53

score 85 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

85

I had the same problem. Turns out NVidia's shadow play catches this shortcut by default as stated here. Apparently all the JetBrains products react the same way. So this will fix the same experience in Android Studio, Rider, CLion, and so on ...

Just follow the steps below.

Open GeForce Experience settings
Open in-game overlay settings
Open shortcut settings
Replace the microphone mute shortcut
Enjoy!

edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Community

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answered Feb 10 '18 at 23:50

TeddybearCrisis

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Solved the problem for me. You're a lifesaver! – Joffrey Feb 12 '18 at 20:02
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Thanks. Same issue with visual studio for the unity documentation shortcut. Now if I could figure out how to just unbind instead of replace it ... update: it's backspace – Daniel B. May 25 '18 at 05:23
@DanielB. I didn't quite unterstand it. You experience a similar issue in unity engine where a shortcut is captured by visual studio? – TeddybearCrisis Jun 03 '18 at 08:40
same goes for the shortcut ALT+F7 for "find code usage". As seen in the last screenshot above it is caught by Pause/resume broadcasting. So basically I removed all NVIDIA shortcuts. – TeddybearCrisis Aug 08 '18 at 12:39
In my case I have no NVidia. You can select a text in IDE and check other hotkeys like Alt + F1, Alt + F8. If they work, NVidia doesn't capture hotkeys. – CoolMind May 24 '19 at 09:39
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This is just ransomeware, isn't it ? They sneek in and remap your keyboard. They change the way your battery behaves. What a bunch of idiots. – bvdb Aug 15 '21 at 20:12

harrymc · Answer 2 · 2018-01-10T12:05:59.637

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I have access to IntelliJ IDEA 10.5.4, so I tested the shortcut on a JavaScript file, and it worked perfectly well when a viable piece of code is selected. The problem seems local to your computer, although you are surely using another version than my old one.

What I can suggest :

The Microsoft article Windows keyboard shortcuts for accessibility shows that this shortcut is used by the Magnifier. You may disable the Magnifier, if it is enabled.
Check that the shortcut is well defined in your IntelliJ version. In mine this is located under menu File / Settings / Keymap, and I used the keyboard filter to isolate it :

Check further by adding another keyboard shortcut to this item and seeing if the new one works.
Check even further by Booting Windows in Safe Mode. If the problem disappears then this shortcut is indeed blocked by some third-party product. You could use autoruns to turn startup products off in bunches and booting, until the product is found, finally turning them back on.
If you cannot absolutely find why this is happening, I suggest a solution using AutoHotkey, involving the mapping in IntelliJ IDEA of Ctrl-Alt-M to another shortcut, then using AutoHotkey to map Ctrl-Alt-M to the new shortcut.

edited Jan 10 '18 at 12:05

answered Jan 10 '18 at 11:52

harrymc

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Thanks @harrymc. Addressing some of your points: I'm not using the magnifier glass. I checked the config and there doesn't seem to be a way to disable shortcuts, only to turn off magnifying glass, which it is. I updated the question regarding IntelliJ's config. – Pablo Fernandez Jan 10 '18 at 12:00
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Magnifier is probably not involved, but see [this article](https://www.top-password.com/blog/turn-off-disable-magnifier-in-windows-10/). – harrymc Jan 10 '18 at 12:08
And what happens when booting in Safe Mode? – harrymc Jan 11 '18 at 07:05
in safe mode IntelliJ doesn't start, so, I couldn't test it. – Pablo Fernandez Jan 13 '18 at 10:10
Weird. Maybe you could try Safe Mode with Network. – harrymc Jan 13 '18 at 10:45
If Magnifier was involved, we also couldn't use Ctrl + Alt + L, etc. – CoolMind May 24 '19 at 09:36

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 05 '18 at 17:37

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The following similar question may help: How can I determine which process owns a hotkey in Windows? There is an answer for Windows 10 in there.

Additionally, in this question, the user finds that Ctrl+M was being intercepted by the Bing toolbar. Not sure if Ctrl+M works for you, but it's something to investigate.

answered Jan 05 '18 at 17:37

BoffinBrain

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In Firefox Ctrl + M minimizes current window. If it works there, then Bing toolbar has nothing to do with it. – CoolMind May 24 '19 at 09:41

score -3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 13 '18 at 03:57

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navigate to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/

download process monitor and run it

see if anything becomes active when you press Ctrl-Alt-M

answered Jan 13 '18 at 03:57

jsotola

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By process monitor, do you mean sysmon? – Pablo Fernandez Jan 13 '18 at 10:30
i did not say sysmon – jsotola Jan 14 '18 at 00:56
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon. Thanks but I still haven't found a needed process. – CoolMind Jul 24 '18 at 07:42

What is preventing ctrl-alt-m from reaching IntelliJ on Windows 10?

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