Disable Windows HotStart in Windows 7

Microsoft Windows HotStart is a new technology introduced in Windows Vista and Windows 7, which enables you to turn on your computer and run an application at the press of a button. For example, if you have a laptop with media playback button, then pressing the media playback button will start the Windows 7 and then launch the default media player application. This technology is available only for supported hardware.

But this can be a nuisance because many times you accidentally press the media playback button (or some other HotStart enabled button) and the computer starts up. This can become a total headache for some of us. If you want to disable Windows HotStart, then follow these steps :

Note : This requires you to have administrator level access.

Method 1

  1. Press the key combination Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. In the Run Dialog, type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.

    Run Dialog in Windows 7

  3. In the Group Policy Editor, open User Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Windows HotStart as shown.

    HotStart options in Policy Editor

  4. Double-click on Turn off Windows HotStart in the right side pane. In the window that opens up, select Enabled option.

    Turn off HotStart in Policy Editor

  5. Click OK to save the settings.

Method 2

  1. Open an elevated command prompt. You might see the UAC (User Account Control) window – choose Yes.
  2. In the elevated command prompt, type the following exactly as shown and press Enter.
    REG ADD “HKLM\Software\policies\Microsoft\System\HotStart” /v “NoHotStart” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  3. Now you can close the command prompt window.

Method 3

  1. Press the key combination Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. In the Run Dialog, type regedit.exe and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

    Open Registry Editor in Windows 7

  3. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key :
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\policies\Microsoft\System\HotStart
  4. In the right-side pane, you would find a DWORD value NoHotStart as shown.

    Turn off HotStart in Registry Editor

  5. Double-click on NoHotStart and set its value to 1.