[h-e-w] RE: Emacs not receiving C-M-right from keyboard

[Drew Adams]

> > I have a new Dell Latitude D620 laptop. I have everything,
> > including Emacs, installed identically to the way I had it
> > on my old machine. However, the key sequences `C-M-right',
> > `C-M-left', `C-M-up', and `C-M-down' are apparently not
> > being sent to Emacs from the keyboard of the new machine.
> > [...] I've looked through the Emacs doc. I've tried to
> > google for something about this, but I haven't found
> > anything. Anyone know what's going on and how to
> > fix it? Thanks.
>
> sounds to me like you shouldn't be looking at emacs for the problem. is
> perhaps you window manager hogging the key combo? check for keyboard
> shortcuts in your wm's configuration, and see if C-M-<cursor> is used for
> something.

I'm not "looking at emacs for the problem". I'm asking Emacs users if they
happen to know something about the problem and solution.

I should have added that I'm on Windows XP SP2 (same as on the old machine,
which has no such problem). I should also add that it is not the physical
laptop keyboard that is the problem - I get the same symptoms when I attach
an external keyboard to the laptop. (The keyboard listed in Control Panel >
Keyboard is "Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard - same
as on the old machine.)

I don't know how to determine whether Windows is somehow co-opting those key
sequences, and if it is, I don't know how to prevent that. Suggestions
welcome.

I might add that C-right, M-right, and C-M-S-right are each sent to Emacs
OK. It is only C-M-right (and -left etc.) that is apparently not passed to
Emacs.

And I can use C-M-S-right in place of C-M-right (as long as C-M-S-right has
no separate Emacs binding), because of the automatic Shift key translation.
IOW, C-h k C-M-S-right shows this: "<C-M-right> (translated from
<C-M-S-right>) runs the command forward-sexp". However, I want to be able to
bind C-M-S- separately from C-M- (IOW, use them both).

Naturally, no Dell doc came with the machine. And I looked in vain through
whatever Windows doc I could find (including about keyboard shortcuts). I've
read about Windows FilterKeys, MouseKeys, SerialKeys, StickyKeys, doskeys,
and other stuff. I've searched the MS knowlege base. Nothing helped.

Anyone have an idea? For starters, how can I see if C-M-right is in fact
assigned to something as a Windows shortcut? (It is not a standard Windows
shortcut, AFAICT, and nothing happens if I use it.) If it is not, what might
cause Emacs not to receive it?

All of the C-M-<arrow> keys have the same problem in Emacs, and none of them
do anything outside of Emacs, AFAICT. The keypad arrow keys act the same as
the normal arrow keys (except C-M-S-kp-right is not automatically translated
to C-M-kp-right, etc.).

Thx for any help.