Manage Bluetooth remote shutter keys from my Windows application

Question

I have developed an application in C++ that runs on Windows 7, 8.x and 10. I would like to use a Bluetooth remote shutter to control the application.

The remote shutter seems to be a HID device that sends keypresses to Windows. The default behavior of those keypresses is Volume Up, Volume Down, Play/Pause, Next and Previous.

While I can detect those keypresses from my application and act on them, I have not managed to disable Windows acting on them. E. g. currently, when someone presses the Volume Up key on the remote shutter, two things happen:

• Whatever I tell my application to do on that keypress
• Also, volume goes up on Windows

How can I tell Windows not to act on those keypresses for this particular device?

Thank you

Answer 1

I have not tried it but i think it may be possible by disabling the Human Interface Device Access Service on Windows.

There may be some side effects along with that like for example:

If the service is stopped or disable, the buttons on USB keyboards will not function (ie, back, forward, volume up, down, previous track, next track), nor will the volume buttons on USB speakers.

but you can still try :)

here is how to disable it