{"id":3785,"date":"2016-08-31T12:12:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T12:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=3785"},"modified":"2026-04-11T19:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T14:09:21","slug":"disable-f1-key-help-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-f1-key-help-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stop F1 Key from Opening Help (Bing) in Windows 10 and 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you press the F1 key in Windows 10 or 11, it opens Microsoft Edge and loads the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bing.com\/search?q=how+to+get+help+in+windows+10&amp;filters=guid:%2203c74175-94be-40b2-af68-b6db9be6258d%22%20lang:%22en-us%22&amp;form=S00028\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">How to get help<\/a> Bing search page showing a video on &#8220;how to get help in Windows 10&#8221;. Using a registry edit, you can stop F1 from opening your browser especially if it obstructs when gaming or performing other tasks.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/f1-key-help-windows-10-1.png\" alt=\"disable f1 help key windows 10\" width=\"650\" height=\"315\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As of now, Windows 10 or Windows 11 doesn&#8217;t have an official help page either online or offline. When you press F1 with no application selected and the focus currently on the desktop, it runs the file HelpPane.exe in your Windows directory. This file in turn opens Microsoft Edge. (In the earlier versions of Windows 10, it launched the default web browser.)<\/p>\n<p>If and when Microsoft releases a proper help page or locally stored help and support system, the executable HelpPane.exe might get updated to redirect you to the correct place. Until then you can disable the key if you wish to.<\/p>\n<div id=\"toc\">\n<p><strong>Disable the F1 (Help &amp; Support) key:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#regedit\">Method 1: Using a Registry edit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#autohotkey\">Method 2: Using an AutoHotKey script<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#permissions\">Method 3: Using NTFS permissions on helppane.exe<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Stop F1 Key from Opening Help<\/h2>\n<div class=\"qt\"><strong>Editor&#8217;s Note:<\/strong> The methods discussed in this article help you prevent the F1 key from opening the Bing Search page, without affecting the F1 key functionality in individual programs.<\/div>\n<h3><a id=\"regedit\"><\/a>Method 1: Using a registry edit<\/h3>\n<p>To prevent F1 from opening Bing search,<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Download <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/f1_key_disable_help.zip\">f1_key_disable_help.zip<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Unzip the archive and extract the registry files to the desktop.<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>f1_key_disable_help.reg<\/code> to apply the registry settings.<\/li>\n<li>Click Yes when asked for confirmation.<\/li>\n<li>Click OK.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it! Now, the F1 key will do nothing when you&#8217;re in Desktop or folder view.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Note: Later on, if you plan to reverse the changes, run the undo registry file named <code>undo.reg<\/code>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Here is what the REG contains<\/h4>\n<pre><code>Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\r\n\r\n;Disables F1 key - Help and Support - in Windows 10\r\n;Ramesh Srinivasan, Winhelponline.com\r\n\r\n[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\Typelib\\{8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}\\1.0\\0\\win32]\r\n@=\"\"\r\n\r\n[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\Typelib\\{8cec5860-07a1-11d9-b15e-000d56bfe6ee}\\1.0\\0\\win64]\r\n@=\"\"\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"autohotkey\"><\/a>Method 2: Using AutoHotKey script<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-file-folder-path-clipboard-using-shortcut\/\">AutoHotkey<\/a> is a free, open-source scripting language for Windows that allows users to easily create small to complex scripts for all kinds of tasks.\u00a0If you&#8217;re an AutoHotKey user, you can create the following script to disable the F1 key on your keyboard.<\/p>\n<p>Copy the following lines and paste them into Notepad.<\/p>\n<pre>#HotIf WinActive(\"ahk_class ExploreWClass\")\r\nF1::return\r\n\r\n#HotIf WinActive(\"ahk_class Progman\")\r\nF1::return\r\n\r\n#HotIf WinActive(\"ahk_class CabinetWClass\")\r\nF1::return\r\n\r\n#HotIf WinActive(\"ahk_class Notepad\")\r\nF1::return<\/pre>\n<p>Save the file wish the <strong>.ahk<\/strong> extension. To avoid double extensions, use double-quotes when creating that file.<\/p>\n<p>Double-click to run the .ahk script file. And to run this script at every login, place a shortcut of this .ahk script file in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/shell-commands-to-access-the-special-folders\/\">Startup folder<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> The above script disables the F1 functionality in File Explorer, Notepad, and the Explorer shell environment. The F1 key would still work in all other programs.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"permissions\"><\/a>Method 3: Lockdown helppane.exe using NTFS permissions<\/h3>\n<p>Another option to prevent the F1 key from opening the Bing search is to lock down the file <code>HelpPane.exe<\/code> using NTFS permissions. HelpPane.exe is the file that launches the Bing search help and support page in Microsoft Edge, using the <code>microsoft-edge:<\/code> protocol association.<\/p>\n<h4>Lockdown helppane.exe<\/h4>\n<p>Open an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-elevated-command-prompt-windows\/\">admin Command Prompt<\/a> window and run these commands:<\/p>\n<pre>taskkill \/f \/im HelpPane.exe\r\ntakeown \/f %WinDir%\\HelpPane.exe\r\nicacls %WinDir%\\HelpPane.exe \/deny Everyone:(X)<\/pre>\n<p>The above commands prevent users from running the helppane.exe file. The F1 key would still work in all other programs.<\/p>\n<p><em>With the above permission entries, when F1 is pressed, <code>explorer.exe<\/code> will get <code>Access Denied<\/code> error when launching <code>helppane.exe<\/code> and silently fail. This the Bing search page won&#8217;t be launched.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Unlock helppane.exe<\/h4>\n<p>To revert the helppane.exe permissions to defaults, run these commands from admin Command Prompt:<\/p>\n<pre>icacls %WinDir%\\HelpPane.exe \/remove:d Everyone\r\nicacls %WinDir%\\HelpPane.exe \/setowner \"NT Service\\TrustedInstaller\"<\/pre>\n<p>If the 2nd command fails to execute and throws the error:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"err\">C:\\WINDOWS\\HelpPane.exe: Access is denied.\r\nSuccessfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1 files<\/pre>\n<p>Then, use the Permissions GUI to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/take-ownership-of-file-or-folder\/#trustedinstaller\">change ownership<\/a> to <code>NT Service\\TrustedInstaller<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p>Hope one of the above methods proved useful in disabling the F1 help &amp; support key without disabling the F1 functionality in other programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you press the F1 key in Windows 10 or 11, it opens Microsoft Edge and loads the How to get help Bing search page showing a video on &#8220;how to get help in Windows 10&#8221;. Using a registry edit, you can stop F1 from opening your browser especially if it obstructs when gaming or &#8230; <a title=\"How to Stop F1 Key from Opening Help (Bing) in Windows 10 and 11\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-f1-key-help-windows-10\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Stop F1 Key from Opening Help (Bing) in Windows 10 and 11\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[762,441,480],"class_list":["post-3785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-autohotkey","tag-registry","tag-scripts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4320,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cortana-web-results-google-search-default-browser\/","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":0},"title":"Open Cortana Web Search Results in Google and Default Browser","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Clicking on a web search result in Cortana would always launch Microsoft Edge regardless of your default browser. 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