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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. The "language bar" is the native input languages selection such as Chinese keyboard other than English keyboard. Is there a way to temporarily prevent XP from stealing it? I have disabled the language bar from "Regional and language options" from Control Panel but the problem still exists. It doesn't happen on my Windows 2000 desktop at office but it happens on my work Windows XP laptop. Thank you very much.

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What do you mean by language bar? The input locale thing in the task bar? –  OregonGhost Oct 7 '08 at 15:45
I noticed that the bar is actually called language bar in Vista. In a German XP it was called Eingabegebietsschemaleiste, literally input locale bar :) –  OregonGhost Oct 7 '08 at 15:48

12 Answers 12

Found the solution to this problem as I just experienced it. So here goes even if the question is old.

Applies to Windows 7 and maybe others. I had added Chinese, Japanese and Korean input languages as I needed these for some development. After that I removed them again via Control Panel "Change keyboards...". I removed them all in one go and closed the dialog. After this all the languages still showed in the Language bar and I had the Ctrl-Space problem.

To fix it I did the following for each language one at a time: 1. Open Control Panel applet "Change keyboards..." 2. Add the keyboard for the language (i.e. chinese) 3. Click OK and exit control panel 4. Open applet again and remove the keyboard.

The problem seems to be a bug that appears when removing multiple keyboards at the same time.

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Thanks, this nailed it for me :) –  Miguel Ping Apr 21 '10 at 22:06
Worked for me in Windows 7 64-bit too! Marvelous! –  Johan Danforth Oct 6 '10 at 10:32
And I had the pleasure to use this trick again :) –  Johan Danforth Dec 3 '10 at 13:13
one more tips, please do this setting before you switch to any language, if anyone of the windows already using the IME, the change would not work. So please do this when you just restart your windows. –  Shiro Dec 20 '10 at 5:30
Unfortunately, this doesn't really help people that want to keep the foreign languages AND want to free up the hotkey. I'd recommend a few answers down or superuser.com/a/480723/161249 as a permanent solution. –  Kache Sep 28 '12 at 9:32

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.

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this is also the only solution worked for me. –  Bill Yang Aug 16 '11 at 6:55
Related question on SuperUser, along with my answer that specifically addresses the Chinese IME toggle hotkey: superuser.com/a/480723/161249. –  Kache Sep 28 '12 at 9:23

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)
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That bug doesn't happen to everybody. I've never seen it myself. –  cjm Oct 7 '08 at 16:39
These are kind of weak workarounds. For an actual solution, check Richard C's answer or superuser.com/a/480723/161249 –  Kache Sep 28 '12 at 9:47

I've been aware of this Windows bug for years. After tons of unsatisfying workarounds and fruitless searching the one or two times a year I attempt to find a solution, I finally have it!


  1. Go to Start > Type in regedit and start it
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Input Method/Hot Keys
  3. Select the key named:
    • 00000070 for the Chinese (Traditional) IME - Ime/NonIme Toggle hotkey
    • 00000010 for the Chinese (Simplified) IME - Ime/NonIme Toggle hotkey
  4. In the right sub-window, there are three subkeys.
    • Key Modifiers designate Alt/Ctrl/Shift/etc and is set to Ctrl (02c00000).
    • Virtual Key designates the finishing key and is set to Space (20000000).
  5. Change the first byte in Key Modifiers from 02 to 00
  6. Change the first byte in Virtual Key from 20 to FF
  7. Log off and log back on. I don't think it's necessary to restart.
  8. Do not change the Hot keys for input languages in Control Panel, unless you want to do this all over again.

Notes: Symptoms

Each registry key (thing that looks like a folder) is for each specific hotkey setting that you would normally find in Control Panel > Region and Language > Keyboards and Languages > Change keyboards... > Advanced Key Settings > Hot keys for input languages. The recurring bug is the hotkey being automatically reset to Ctrl+space even if changed via the GUI.

This is for Windows 7 64-bit, though from my research, it looks like it may work for XP and Vista as well.


Traditional Chinese Pocket IME Hot Key Registry Settings

Simplified Chinese MSPY 3.0 IME Hot Key Registry Settings

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Go to the Regional and Language Options Control Panel. Click the Languages tab, then the Details... button. Click the Key Settings... button. Double-click each entry in the "Hot keys for input languages" list and make sure the checkboxes are not checked. (If they are, uncheck them and click Ok.)

You do not need to disable the language bar, just the hot keys.

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Could you update this for Windows 7 some day? –  Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Dec 2 '10 at 10:30
@Thorbjørn, if I ever get Windows 7, sure. If you know the correct procedure for Windows 7, feel free to add it. –  cjm Dec 2 '10 at 21:11
You can't, actually. It's a superbly annoying bug specifically for the Chinese IME toggle hotkey that's existed for generations of Windows OSes. –  Kache Sep 28 '12 at 9:25

You can also change the hot key for the language bar.

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I've not seen this personally, but I also always disable the Language Bar.

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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.

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I found this post and it works for me on Vista.

  • open "regedit.exe" in run dialog
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I've found that this is a little heavy-handed. You only need to change two subkeys for the 00000070 key. See: superuser.com/a/480723/161249 –  Kache Sep 28 '12 at 9:29

The simple trick thats work for me:


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

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Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. –  Jack Oct 26 '12 at 15:36

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!

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