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My keyboard has a Power button that when pressed turns off the machine. I sometimes press it by accident, and lose everything I was doing in adition to having to wait for the PC to turn off and then turn it on again.

How can I disable this button in Windows XP?

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Go to Control Panel → Switch to Classic View → Power Options → Advanced tab. There you can select what the power buttons (Power, Sleep, etc.) should do when pressed:

  • Shut down
  • Do nothing (this solves your problem)
  • Ask me what do do.

This will also affect the physical power button on your computer, though.

Power Options Properties

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    Better than this is to set it to ask what to do. This way he has an escape route if the button is pressed by accident, but can still use the button on purpose as well.
    – eleven81
    Commented Oct 15, 2009 at 17:19
  • I prefer not to be asked. Confirmations don't help for potentially dangerous operations. Consult Raskin, Cooper, &c. on that :-)
    – Joey
    Commented Oct 15, 2009 at 17:25
  • I do read the dialog boxes unlike a lot of people, so this is probably the best thing to do. I'll try to see if it works.
    – Javier
    Commented Oct 15, 2009 at 18:19
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I'd try looking into AutoHotKey. The software is excellent and I use it for this exact purpose. The software is free and consumes almost nothing in resources.

I remapped the Sleep Key (in my case) to do absolutely nothing, and it's trivial to do yourself.

Just open up the script in notepad

  1. Open up the script you're using in notepad.
  2. Try entering Sleep::

If this doesn't disable it - then there a couple more steps you need to take.

  1. Install a keyboard hook by entering #InstallKeybdHook
  2. Find out what key it is by looking at the key history in the main window.
  3. Enter KEY:: where KEY is the key's name.
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  • SharpKeys can also be used to remap a key to another key or do nothing.
    – Cristian Ciupitu
    Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 17:13
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Pop it off with screwdriver. Works with any OS.

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    Sure, because people love to tear apart their keyboard.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Oct 26, 2009 at 10:56
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Try Tweak UI and look under the Explorer > Command Keys section for a key assignment.

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  • The link you have provided above no longer works.
    – Simon
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 13:42

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