gVim escape key does not work on windows 10

Question

I recently started working with a windows machine and installed gVim, but somehow the escape key does not work - rendering gVim practically useless.

Is it possible that my computer sends out an unusual character for the escape key? Is there any way to test this hypothesis?

Or is it a common Windows (10) issue, that escape does not work as on other devices? Did anyone else encounter this strange behaviour?

I tried on linux4windows terminal and there it had the same result yesterday, but now the escape key works fine.

Answer 1

I know this is an old question, but I've been suffering this and finally found some time to dedicate to it.

The answer seems to be (for me at least), that if you hit Win to open the Start Menu and then type gvim, the first option is actually gVim Easy not gVim.

The difference is 'gVim Easy' starts with the -y switch:

-y   Easy mode (like "evim", modeless)

If you launch gVim (as opposed to gVim Easy) then ESC works as expected.

I guess the "modeless" in 'Easy Mode' means there aren't normal (command) or insert modes, so there's no need to use ESC to switch between them.

Answer 2

I had the same issue with gVim 8.0. I updated to 8.1 and left all default settings (no remapping etc..). Now the escape key works again.