Scott Hanselman

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How to get SlickRun to activate with Windows-R

November 29, 2006 Comment on this post [10] Posted in Tools
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It's funny, when folks see me using SlickRun, they always notice that I've bound it to Windows-R, replacing the standard Start|Run dialog.

This is one of the questions I get the most often. Unfortunately it's not very well documented in SlickRun, and if you try to set it via the options dialog, you'll get get a a message saying it can't grab the global hotkey.

You have to open SlickRun.ini in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\SlickRun and add an option under the [General] section "GrabWinR=1".  I also like to set ChaseCursor=1 so SlickRun will come up under the current mouse cursor position.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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Comment on this post [10]
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November 29, 2006 2:28
I have Slickrun bound to both Windows-R and Windows-Q. I only do that to completely remove the Run command from the Start menu, but I've found Windows-Q to be far more comfortable, especially being completely unable to use my pinky for key combo's.

I thought you were a notepad2-er though?
Ryan Cromwell
November 29, 2006 2:30
Ya, I am, but I lost my slickrun keys a while back, and I haven't hooked notepad2 up yet. Now I will. ;)
Scott Hanselman
November 29, 2006 2:49
Thanks for writing about this. I installed slickrun a while ago, but never could get used to hitting windows+q. Old habits die hard. Now I'm back on the slickrun train.
Chris Norris
November 29, 2006 4:06
Scott, are you still using slickrun with Windows Vista? I'm loving the new search/run feature in vista. Just press the Window key and start typing. It gives you all the functionality of run, with the added benifit of filtering down your start menu and searching your documents at the same time. All this with only one key to press.
Rob Boek
November 29, 2006 7:33
Hmmm, there's no SlickRun.ini file where you say so? I'm running 3.9.4.1.
Bil Simser
November 29, 2006 10:30
I use slimKEYS, and I use Win+Space as the hotkey for the launcher. The advantage of slimKEYS is that it's not just a launcher. It's a plugin-based hotkey manager, so you can pretty much assign any hotkey to any plugin (launching apps/documents, manipulating windows, ...)
Tommy Carlier
November 29, 2006 17:40
Bil Simser, I had the same problem. Go into your settings for SlickRun, and change one or two. This should then put the SlickRun.INI file in place, and you can edit the GrabWinR setting.
Eric D. Burdo
November 30, 2006 15:47
Scott, one problem to note (well on Vista anyway) if you set ChaseCursor but not GrabWinR then SlickRun seems to stop popping up on my Win+Q key selection. Bizzare.
Simon Wilson
December 01, 2006 21:50
Hey Scott,

I changed the GrabWinR value from 0 to 1 in my SlickRun.ini but it didn’t work. And when I shut down the SlickRun app and restart it, the value is reset to 0 in the ini! Have you heard of this?

Bob
Bob Uva
December 01, 2006 22:21
Bob,

Before you change the .ini file you must exit SlickRun. SlickRun saves .ini files when it exits and overwrites the changes you made. So do the following steps:

1. Exit SlickRun.
2. Modify and save SlickRun.ini.
3. Start SlickRun.

It should work.

Vadim
Vadim

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.