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For a long time I have been using Right Alt+U as a shortcut for starting an application in my OS. It's the one where you type the name of an app in the Start menu, open Properties and under Keyboard shortcut you bind a key to it (e.g. http://imgsrv.worldstart.com/shutdown_keyboard_shortcut_2.jpg).

But recently it stopped working for no apparent reason (I haven't changed anything). Today I found out that when I press Right Alt+U in any text editor/field it produces a euro sign: €. I don't know if it also did that before when my shortcut worked (i.e. launched my app).

My question is: how do I make my keyboard shortcut work again (i.e. start an app)?

NPS
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  • When you check the shortcut value what does it show? – bentek Nov 02 '15 at 19:11
  • What keyboard layouts do you have installed and enabled? – Ramhound Nov 02 '15 at 19:27
  • The shortcut still shows `Ctrl+Alt+U`. I have Polish (Programmer's), same as before. – NPS Nov 02 '15 at 21:06
  • What about trying CTRL + ALT + U instead ? – M. A. Nov 23 '16 at 18:48
  • And I susspect you are using an English Keyboard Layout, Double check the keybord layout you are using – M. A. Nov 23 '16 at 18:56
  • I'm using Polish (Programmer's) keyboard, is keyboard layout something else? How do I check that? As for Ctrl+Alt+U - € again, no shortcut working. – NPS Nov 23 '16 at 19:05
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    Are you sure `Ctrl + Alt + U` is properly associated to a shortcut (and that shortcut is working)? For me, this key combination was typing a special letter but when I associated it with a shortcut then it stopped typing that special letter and started launching the program. – PrashantKumar96 Nov 23 '16 at 19:30
  • Well, this is weird. Yes, the shortcut was properly assigned (it DID work, for a long time!). And then it suddenly stopped working. But now I tried removing the shortcut altogether and then assigning it again - and now it works. It's weird and I'd like to know what happened and why. – NPS Nov 23 '16 at 19:33
  • Was the shortcut working by double clicking on it? If yes, then maybe some update related to language settings might have caused it. Anyways, now that it is fixed, enjoy your hotkeys! – PrashantKumar96 Nov 23 '16 at 19:40
  • Oh, I meant keyboard shortcut, not a file linking to exe e.g. on my Desktop. And my OS had no recent update. Or any other significant change. – NPS Nov 23 '16 at 21:48
  • You asked this question an year ago. That's a very long time to commit 'no updates, no changes'. Anyways, I think we'll never be able to figure out the root cause of this problem so maybe ignore it and enjoy your hotkeys. – PrashantKumar96 Nov 24 '16 at 08:45
  • Have you tried selecting an other keyboard layout to see if `Alt Gr + U` still produces a `€` – Klinghust Nov 26 '16 at 15:55
  • No. But I'm afraid I can't now since resetting the keyboard shortcut made the problem go away. But if that happens again I'll try that. Although, I don't think my keyboard layout is the problem since it worked before (and now works again). – NPS Nov 26 '16 at 19:49

2 Answers2

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Since you stated that you use Polish Programmer keyboard layout, it is by default that AltGr+U produces the euro sign.

Source: http://eurosymbol.eu/keyboard & https://superuser.com/a/848007/481708\

As for why it changed, you might have pressed Left Alt + Shift or other combination that changed your input language accidentally and reset it to the default input for AltGr+U instead of your custom shortcut. Or as others stated it might have been a system update. I guess you should just choose a shortcut that does not conflict with those already assigned by the system, just to be safe that it won't be reset. A tool like ActiveHotkey(http://www.tranglos.com/activehotkeys/) would help view those already assigned.

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MrFregg
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Right-Alt was since always the AltGr key, defined by Wikipedia as:

a modifier key found on some computer keyboards and is primarily used to type characters that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as currency symbols and accented letters.

On the keyboard layouts I tested it on, it gave : English UK - ú, English US and French - beep.

Evidently something changed in your keyboard layout definition, but I don't believe it's worthwhile finding out what, because it can just come back. It this was the result of a Windows Update, then this is a lost cause.

To ensure that this key combination will always work, no matter what is the keyboard layout, I suggest to download and install AutoHotkey, the ultimate keyboard macro utility. You could create a a AutoHotkey script in your Startup folder, for example C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\AutoHotkey startup.ahk, and store inside the following mapping for Right-Alt+u to run your program:

RAlt & u::
Run, "\path\to\your\program.exe"
return
harrymc
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    AHK for launching a program (when such functionality is built into the OS) is really an overkill. – NPS Nov 23 '16 at 21:47
  • @NPS: Once one starts using AHK, one can find more and more uses for it. And it is a sure-fire solution for this problem, when OS changes disabled the old solution. – harrymc Nov 24 '16 at 06:39
  • Not saying AHK isn't good, it might just be, but if all I want to do is this one thing then it's still an overkill. – NPS Nov 24 '16 at 10:41
  • IMHO AHK is a better and more lasting solution than monkeying with Windows. There are utilities that will change your keyboard layout, and maybe you could use one of them to delete the new RAlt-u combination, but I think that AHK is a cleaner solution that does not involve hacking and can later more easily be modified or undone. – harrymc Nov 24 '16 at 11:07
  • I have looked into several keyboard layout editors: SharpKeys, Keytweak, Key Remapper, Microsoft keyboard layout creator. None of them can undo a key-combination. Meaning that one can nullify the RAlt or u keys, but not the RAlt-u combination. It looks like AHK is left as the only solution. – harrymc Nov 27 '16 at 16:09