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ESC key not working outside PS in Vista...

Forum|Forum|18 years ago
October 23, 2007
44 replies
68444 views

This haunts our users since we migrated to Vista. When Photoshop CS2/CS3 is running under Vista the ESCAPE key does not work correctly with other programs. When PS is running, the escape key works only when pressing SHIFT+ESC together. This is extremely annoying when multiple programs are used, what could be the root of the problem?

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Chris Cox

elipsoid - figure out which of your third party plugins is messing up the escape key...

A

Anonymous

I use Photoshop Elements 10 and I recently ran into this bug as well. My machine's specs are as follows:

Lenovo Yoga 13

64-bit Windows 8

Integrated Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

Driver Version 10.18.10.3621

It actually wasn't until recently that I started encountering this escape blocking bug - probably around the time I updated my graphics driver. Elements10 has been great for a student on a budget, but blocking the escape key is a big no-no. I should note that for me, it even blocked the escape key within the application itself which was a real problem when it came to quickly clearing the selection. I can also confirm that using the Text Tool would re-enable the escape key until exiting text edit mode. Disabling hotkeys on the Intel Graphics Driver did not fix the issue.

I've never been one to just let an error be, so I did some digging with Spy++ and found that whenever Photoshop is running in the background and you hit the escape key, it receives a WM_HOTKEY message. Doing a bit of investigating over at MSDN, it turns out that the functions related to WM_HOTKEY are User32.RegisterHotkey and User32.UnregisterHotkey. While the documentation doesn't explicitly state it, it appears that any hotkeys registered using these functions will install a global override that will prevent the normal operation of the key combination from registering (briefly mentioned here). To test this, I whipped up a small program that registered a hotkey onto the escape key and sure enough, running the program blocked the regular use of the escape key anywhere in the operating system.

Digging a little deeper, I hooked up a debugger to Photoshop and looked for places where these two functions were called. From what I was able to comprehend, Photoshop will register an escape hotkey (under ID 63) whenever something is loading, and then unregister the hotkey after it has finished loading. From a user interface standpoint, this makes a certain degree of sense as a global hotkey will allow the user to abort a loading operation even if the main window has been locked and is not receiving input. Because you never keep the hotkey registered longer than a few moments, the fact that it overrides the escape key normally wouldn't be noticed. However, that's obviously not the case here. The exact point of failure seems to be around startup just after the splash screen has vanished and the main window has been shown. At this point, Photoshop will register a hotkey over the escape key, but then it will never unregister it. Not only that, but because of this error, a certain flag in the program will never get set - so even though using the text tool will unlock the escape key temporarily, the erroneous behavior will resume once you stop using it. My trail runs cold at this point as it is difficult to trace the reason for something that's not happening.

I am unsure what causes versions of Photoshop before CS5 to never unregister the escape hotkey, or how it relates to drivers, plugins, or other applications. However, my focus thus far has been finding a fix for the problem for my version of Photoshop. While I was not able to find the exact reason for the bug, I was able to do the next best thing by preventing Photoshop from ever setting the hotkey in the first place. The fix I developed only overrides the place where the bug would normally occur (i.e. that short amount of time at startup). Anywhere else will still operate and apply hotkeys as normal.

Therefore, if you are a user of Photoshop Elements 10, you may apply the following patch manually to fix the issue:

PhotoshopElementsEditor.exe

Tag: 02 C6 45 FC 00 E8 46 78 5E 00 8D 4D B4 C7 45 FC FF FF FF FF E8 C7 9A 5E 00 8B C6 8B 4D F4 64 89 0D 00 00 00 00 59 5F 5E 5B 8B E5 5D C2 10 00 CC

Patch: 02 C6 45 FC 00 90 90 90 90 90 8D 4D B4 C7 45 FC FF FF FF FF E8 C7 9A 5E 00 8B C6 8B 4D F4 64 89 0D 00 00 00 00 59 5F 5E 5B 8B E5 5D C2 10 00 CC

(5 bytes difference)

I hope this information helps anyone else down the road who encounters this problem.

Cheers.

S

Solar5C2C

Participant

I was having this issue long time, finally decided no more.

How to reproduce behaviour (version I was debuging CS3):
- run photoshop.exe
- create image
- select rectangle
- copy/paste
- transform layer (CTRL+T)

- rotate
- end tranformation (RETURN/ENTER)

after this action open any other App that has ESC sequence for cancel/undo or similar action, and you shall notice that this action shall FAIL. Until we close the instance of Photoshop.exe.
Please also not this is not the only vector I've discovered (image resize, crop, hue brushes and similar actions produce same behaviour) but I am noting this one how to reproduce the behaviour.

Thanks to previous post JasonL and IDAPro I was able to find real culprit in Photoshop.exe
Address: 0xF4BC91

File Offset: 0xB4BC91
byte sequence: 6A 1B 8B F1 6A 00 C7 06 60 AF 5E 01 A1 70 6A 85

.text:00F4BC91 6A 1B                             push    1Bh             ; vk ESC
.text:00F4BC93 8B F1                             mov     esi, ecx
.text:00F4BC95 6A 00                             push    0               ; fsModifiers
.text:00F4BC97 C7 06 60 AF 5E 01                 mov     dword ptr [esi], offset off_15EAF60
.text:00F4BC9D A1 70 6A 85 01                    mov     eax, hWnd
.text:00F4BCA2 6A 63                             push    63h ; 'c'       ; id
.text:00F4BCA4 50                                push    eax             ; hWnd
.text:00F4BCA5 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01                 call    RegisterHotKey

changed to byte sequence: 6A 7F 8B F1 6A 00 C7 06 60 AF 5E 01 A1 70 6A 85

.text:00F4BC91 6A 7F                             push    7Fh             ; vk F16
.text:00F4BC93 8B F1                             mov     esi, ecx
.text:00F4BC95 6A 00                             push    0               ; fsModifiers
.text:00F4BC97 C7 06 60 AF 5E 01                 mov     dword ptr [esi], offset off_15EAF60
.text:00F4BC9D A1 70 6A 85 01                    mov     eax, hWnd
.text:00F4BCA2 6A 63                             push    63h ; 'c'       ; id
.text:00F4BCA4 50                                push    eax             ; hWnd
.text:00F4BCA5 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01                 call    RegisterHotKey

Address: 0xF4BD11

File Offset: 0xB4BD11

byte sequence: 6A 1B 6A 00 6A 63 50 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01 C3 CC A1

.text:00F4BD11 6A 1B                             push    1Bh             ; vk ESC
.text:00F4BD13 6A 00                             push    0               ; fsModifiers
.text:00F4BD15 6A 63                             push    63h ; 'c'       ; id
.text:00F4BD17 50                                push    eax             ; hWnd
.text:00F4BD18 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01                 call    RegisterHotKey

changed to byte sequence: 6A 7F 6A 00 6A 63 50 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01 C3 CC A1

.text:00F4BD11 6A 7F                             push    7Fh             ; vk F16
.text:00F4BD13 6A 00                             push    0               ; fsModifiers
.text:00F4BD15 6A 63                             push    63h ; 'c'       ; id
.text:00F4BD17 50                                push    eax             ; hWnd
.text:00F4BD18 FF 15 E0 0A 81 01                 call    RegisterHotKey

Patch was to register F16 hotkey instead of ESC hotkey.
Total of 2 bytes in change of exe file.

After this two changes above reproduce behaviour was not possible. ESC key continued to work in all other applications as expected on system while Photoshop.exe was still running.
Also ESC was working fine in Photoshop to cancel numerous different actions.

So the culprit was this RegisterHotKey that was run after commiting transform changes (or in case of other actions their commit action).

Please also note:

My best guess this is how Photoshop processes ESC action on long actions to stop/break the current action.

So removing this VK ESC will probably render your Photoshop uncappable of stopping long actions.

Jason thanks again
best regards

JJMack

Community Expert

oldest created 2007

JJMack

S

ShaydeMohr

Participant

I am also having this problem, however, it is with a much larger problem in my specific case.

For nearly six(6) months now, I have been using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 since I purchased the program with my Wacom Pen and Touch art tablet, and for a while the program worked fine. Recently, I have been having a recurring problem with the functions of my keyboard keys such as my 'esc', 'crtl', 'alt', 'Capslock', and even the function command keys either malfunctioning, being broken, and even switching command functions in a random pattern(ie. the 'Delete' key will become both Delete and F3/4/5 simultaneously.). This only happens when Photoshop Elements is running, and the problems only get worse when the Elements Editor is opened. I have attempted to perform the suggestions found in this forum topic, however the Shift+Esc command does not work for me when I use it. Again, this only happens when I am running Photoshop Elements.

As of late, I have been experiencing crashes in your software that are now beginning to delete my saved images. The deck for Elements 8 works fine, and I have not had any problems with the Organizer, aside from the breaking of certain key commands. However, when the Elements 8 Editor is opened, immediatly after initializing the UI the program crashes and deletes or corrupts any file I am trying to open. Recently I have started creating duplicates of my remaining PSD files because the program is corrupting PSD files at random apparently on my computer every time it crashes. I have already had a full system failure as a result to your software crashing.

I have never had this problem with any other software. This problem is isolated to Photoshop specifically, and is a software malfunction, apparently unrelated to any specific drivers and processors. I have been advised by others to 'upgrade' to a newer version of Photoshop, however to preempt this, my answer is the same as all others: I have limited funds, and I do not have the money to upgrade to a newer version of an already faulty software.

I rely on your software heavily right now as I am trying to get into school, and this unreliable software is creating a serious problem for me.

I run Photoshop Elements 8 on Windows 7 Starter with a 1.67Ghz Intel Atom processor and 2GB of RAM.

I would like a solution to this problem, not a patch, seeing as the most expensive photo-editing software on the market is quickly beginning to take up actions that I suspect are the work of a malicious program.

G

gusreiber

Participant

Adding another case to the list here....

I am running Photoshop CS3 on Vista 64 and just recently started having this same issue.

I am not sure what the exact change would have been, but it started happening less than a month ago.

...I close PS CS3 and the problem goes away.

I am already in the midst of upgradding my whole system, hardware and software to Win 7x64 and CS 5.5, so it is not a crisis for me. But as I live in Photoshop and Illustrator most of the time, a non functioning escape key is pretty frustrating. If I can help diagnose the problem, let me know.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Intel chipset users should look at this post: http://forums.adobe.com/message/1636488#1636488 ricght-click on your intel GMA icon in the system tray , and check "disable hotkeys" OR in the intel drivers settings, uncheking rotate displays did the trick for the same user.

A

anonymous85466

Participant

Ok, but what about this then:

- Brand new install of Windows 7 Professional x64 nl_NL

- Only nVidia WHQL latest drivers (no control panel).

- Installed all Windows Updates that were offered

- Installed all the Adobe updates that were offered.

Esc key still not working in other applications when Photoshop CS4 is running!

For the love of sanity, at least admit there could be a possability that this "feature" is'nt exclusively third party related, and I'm stating it very nice, I believe.

Unfortunately, it's all too late, CS5 upgrade is the only real sollution aparently and I can't afford it right now.

P

Paplanime

Participant

I have understood that it is the conflict of the program and UAC. If to disconnect UAC, all works as it is necessary.

Windows 7, Adobe Creative Suite 3.
I had to disconnect UAC because on each action the photoshop needed permission UAC. And drag-n-drop was impossible.

Excuse for my English. I use the online translator.

Короче, UAС - зло

A

Asmodeus_Dhoine

Participating Frequently

I doubt that UAC has anything to do with Escape not working.

P

Paplanime

Participant

Asmodeus Dhoine wrote:
I doubt that UAC has anything to do with Escape not working.

But indeed. Really.

I have switched off UAC and now I have not any problems with Adobe Photoshop.

A

Asmodeus_Dhoine

Participating Frequently

This has been fixed in CS5. Finally!

Noel Carboni

Legend

Asmodeus Dhoine wrote:
This has been fixed in CS5. Finally!

I just confirmed that with Photoshop CS5 and Windows 7 x64.

-Noel

D

diziunited

Participant

Noel Carboni wrote:
function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

Asmodeus Dhoine wrote:
This has been fixed in CS5. Finally!

I just confirmed that with Photoshop CS5 and Windows 7 x64.
-Noel

Excellent!

M

mahoune

Participant

I have disabled all programms with any appearence of hot keys. But it does not solve the problem with esc key swallowing outside photoshop.

And combinations (Shift+Esc; Ctrl+[) does not work for me.

Windows 7 64bit, CS4

Is there something else i can do with it?

I didn't try to remove plugin directory, 'cose it's silly, i wanna use plugins.

K

kalmpact

Participant

Same problem on PS 64-bit CS4, 64-bit Win 7 on a MacBook Pro (nVidia).

A

Asmodeus_Dhoine

Participating Frequently

This issue is valid for Windows 7 x64 and PS CS4 x64 as well. NVidia drivers.

J

Jimbo_Smith

Participant

Ditto, I have CS4 installed on a new Alienware computer running 64 bit Windows 7 with nvidia video drivers. The exact same plugins were installed on a 32 and 64 bit Vista machine with no problems, but as soon as I moved to the new computer, the "no escape key" phenomenon started. Some advice from Adobe would be most appreciated.

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