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Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys

Written by

Mark Wilson

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My new notebook PC has an Intel X3100 integrated graphics chipset and it seems that Intel graphics drivers include a feature whereby holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys together with a directional arrow key will rotate the display:

Ctrl+Alt+left = rotate display to lie down to the left (270° position)
Ctrl+Alt+right = rotate display to lie down to the right (90° position)
Ctrl+Alt+down = flip display upside down (180° position)
Ctrl+Alt+up = rotate display to normal position (0° position)

I’ve never come across this before but it’s a real pain as the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection also uses Ctrl+Alt+left by default to release the mouse when integration components are not installed. Luckily Alt+Tab will also break out of the VM and the hotkey can be changed in the Hyper-V settings.

Comments

6 responses to “Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys”

  1. Andrew Duffin avatar
    Andrew Duffin

    This is a common feature on some models of Dell Optiplex too. Sure as hell confuses users when they hit the magic key combination by mistake…

  2. LeeH avatar
    LeeH

    Hi Mark,
    School kids love this. Just find the hkcmd.exe in your startup hive on the PC and remove it. This will stop that key combination working. Great blog, nice to be able to contribute a bit after reading for so long! Lee

  3. Mark Wilson avatar
    Mark Wilson

    @Andrew, from reading around it seems this is something common with all Intel and ATI device drivers.

    @Lee, I’ll bet they do! Thanks for the tip.

  4. Irish avatar
    Irish

    I’m a bit confused but this sounds like it might be a bit of fun. Can anyone do this, I’ve tried on my inspiron laptop but it doesn’t work, is there a way to make it happen?

  5. Mark Wilson avatar
    Mark Wilson

    @Irish – in order for this to work you’ll need Intel’s drivers for one of their graphics chipsets. If it doesn’t happen, then you probably haven’t got one of those things!

  6. markwilson.it » Installing Ubuntu (10.4) on Windows Virtual PC

    […] for Linux on Virtual PC (only for Hyper-V), which means no mouse/keyboard integration; and the Ctrl-Alt-left arrow release key combination clashes with the defaults for Intel graphics card driver… (there are some useful Virtual PC keyboard shortcuts).  Even so, getting the OS up and running is […]

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