Keyboard Manager Doesn't Work in Task Manager

[charlesarthurrice]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.71.0

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Keyboard Manager

Steps to reproduce

Remap a key that you can use while Windows Task Manager is open, for example Caps Lock -> anything. Verify that it works at the desktop or in another application, then open Task Manager. Pressing Caps Lock while Task Manager is the focused application will now enable caps lock instead of whatever you mapped it to. This also happened with keys remapped to play/pause and next track.

✔️ Expected Behavior

Keyboard Manager should work the same regardless of the focused application.

❌ Actual Behavior

It does not.

Other Software

Task Manager in Windows 11 Pro Insider Preview Build 25905.rs_prerelease.230707-1739.

[XyKER1]

I can confirm this, I have a shorted key that is always pressed down and keyboard manager stops working when task manager is in focus. If it isn't the focused window (even if it is on screen) then the keyboard manager will still work.

Edit: Running powertoys as admin fixed the issue for me

[crutkas]

Can we verify powertoys is run as admin? /reportbug

[microsoft-github-policy-service[bot]]

Hi there!

We need a bit more information to really debug this issue. Can you add a "Report Bug" zip file here? You right click on our system tray icon and just go to report bug. Then drag the zipfile from your desktop onto the GitHub comment box in this issue. Thanks!

[XyKER1]

PowerToysReport_2023-08-10-11-08-49.zip Here's the .zip file, I'm not having any issues once I run as admin, just seems strange that I need to considering task manager is not being run as admin.

Edit: Sometimes other apps running in admin can stop keyboard manager from working (even when running that in admin). For example, when Techpowerup GPU-Z is loading (showing only splash screen), when a "allow this app to make changes to your pc" prompt is on screen, and when the left click menu is opened for the Nvidia icon in the taskbar.

[microsoft-github-policy-service[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

[XyKER1]

@charlesarthurrice Would you mind replying to @crutkas? It looks like the Powertoys team won't pay attention to this issue unless the author (you) responds. I would also like them to fix this since there are still several occasions even when running as administrator that the keyboard manager will not work, but I'm not the author of the original post.

[charlesarthurrice]

Can we verify powertoys is run as admin? /reportbug

I have tried it both ways, and it behaves the same when admin or not admin.