How to prevent Windows XP from stealing my input Ctrl-Space which is meant for Emacs?

Question

I am learning and using Emacs. What I found annoying is that Ctrl-Space input will be stolen by Windows XP to switch the language bar instead of setting the mark in Emacs.

Answer 1

The blog here seems to be discussing this exact issue. It appears that even disabling the hotkeys from the Control Panel doesn't work - they get automagically re-enabled due to some bug in the OS.

Two solutions offered there are:

• "using an alternative desktop shell such as GeoShell alleviates this issue." (Link)
• "install one more language. I install Japanese and Chinese on an English win XP. Then, XP does not response the Ctrl-Space any more." (Link)

Answer 2

The comments under the blog Sorting it all Out (mentioned in sundar's answer) mentions this solution:

• Open RegEdit and naviagate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method\Hot Keys
• Find the '00000070' (Chinese Traditional) or '00000010' (Chinese Simplified) key that has the values: Key Modifiers='02,c0' (Control) Virtual Key='20' (Space)
• Replace these values with, e.g. Key Modifiers='FF,c0,00,00' and Virtual Key='FF'.
• Log out/log back in (important).

This worked for me in Windows 7.

Answer 3

The following works for me:

There is a windows freeware AutoHotkey which let you, for example, bind F12 to Alt-a.

Install AutoHotkey and bind C-Space to C-@.

Binding C-Space to C-Space doesn't work.

Answer 4

The simple trick thats work for me:

Ctrl+Windows+Space

Buttons are both in one place, so they could be pressed togather at once. And they work as Ctrl+Space

Answer 5

After looking at and trying out Richard C's answer with the regedit...

I found that, after changing all my key sequences in the language settings window, that the registry values specified above were already changed.... So without editing the registry, I restarted and the Ctrl-Space sequence was disabled!!

Moral of the story: If something doesn't quite work in Windows, RESTART!

Answer 6

Stupid way, But had many applications open on my system, so just deleted Chinese language from the General tab - Installed services. It worked!