SharpKeys is a Registry hack that is used to make certain keys on a keyboard act like other keys. For example, if you accidentally hit Caps Lock often, you could use this utility to map Caps Lock to a Shift key or even turn it off completely. This official release includes support for up to 104 mappings, an extensive list of available keys, and a “Type Key” option to help when managing mappings. As it relies on internal support within Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, you must be running one of these OS’s for this Registry hack to work.
With the move to version 3, I’ve decided to release the source code to the public via Codeplex, so that the developer community can actively enhance and support SharpKeys – if I decide to work on future versions, it will be along side anyone else that has dipped into the source code. My hope is that the list of available keys will grow to include more international options and that other random asked-for features get added as people require them. I will continue to host a copy of 3.0, as that’s the most current copy, but I’m going to ask that all support requests go through Codeplex – this will allow other people to help with new features, going forward.
The source code can be found at http://www.codeplex.com/sharpkeys – enjoy!
Download SharpKeys 3.0: MSI | ZIP
Read: SharpKeys FAQ [updated!]
In a Toshiba laptop A300 I wish to remap the extended key, which mimics the mouse right key, that is located in the bottom row between the alt key and the control key to a delete key. The same key that used to be there in older Toshiba laptops. How do I do it using Sharpkeys 3 in Vista ? Thanks.
From the FAQ:
14. Q: Can I remap a mouse click to a new key?
A: Sorry, but no. The remapping technology that Windows uses to remap your keys isn’t aware of your mouse.
Thanks for the reply. I am not trying to remap the mouse button, but the extendeed key on the keyboard that mimics the right mouse button. The key location is as follows,
space
Alt
Key I want to change
Control
Thanks
You might want to try another tool called “KeyTweak” here:
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/
IF your windows recognizes the key, you should be able to remap the key thru the teach mode
HTH!
If I remap the function of a key, how do I get it back to what it used to be?
@eugene – oh, that’s the Application Key – look for Special: Application in the list of keys.
@Toti – you have to remove the entry from the list in the main SharpKeys window and reboot the machine…
How would I be able to disable the use of the backspace key as the web:back shortcut? I’m really fed up of not being able disable it, and whatever I try, the original shortcut still works. Note that I would still be using the backspace key for the original function, and the web:back would still be used, with Pause/Break taking its place.
If any of this helps, I’m using Windows XP, and playing a certain online java based game.
Thanks in advance.
Actually that’s because the browser sees backspaces (while focus is on a page) as Back – there’s no keyboard shortcut that could help you there, save disabling the backspace key altogether, which would probably make typing a serious problem…
Depending on yer browser, you might be able to disable the backspace there.
Never mind that-I was just trying to find a solution to an old problem. While in focus, the backspaces do not have the normal effect, but sometimes it just happens to be out of focus.
Thanks for the help anyway.
Hi Randy,
I went to check out your source code and found out that you have your source control (visual sourcesafe?) files in there too.
When I tried to open the SLN, visual studio informed me “The solution appears to be under source control, but its binding information cannot be found.”, which makes sense considering I don’t have your repository.
I was just going to suggest that perhaps you should remove the scc files, although this is a minor annoyance. Thanks for the handy program!
Not VSS files – they’re Team Foundation System. What’s more is that they aren’t mine – they are part of CodePlex’s source control system…
There may be an option of getting a ZIP of files without the SCC files – it would be hosted on CodePlex tho.
Thanks for the look!
The cat knocked a cup of coffee onto my wife’s sony laptop and now the s and 6 keys don’t work at all. Can I remap other keys she never uses like [ and ] to these keys.
Fred
Sure, although [ and ] won’t be anywhere on your keyboard…
Thanks for the answer. I am ready to run it but I am not sure about the instructions.
Do I map the key on the left to the key on the right, i.e. delete key to application key, or viceversa ?
Thanks.
The key you want to change on the left – the key you want it to change to on the right. If you want to disable a key entirely, there’s a “Disable” option on the top of the right list. HTH!
Great program, been using it for a long time with vista but doesn’t seem to work in win7beta. Any plans for update maybe? Or is it my problem?
Thanks – just tried it on my Windows 7 instance on my MacBook: works fine there… maybe something got horked on the install? Also I have UAC turned on (and set to it’s default) and it prompted me correctly… maybe something went wrong there?
Thank you very much for creating and maintaining this program.
It works very well on Windows 7 on my MacBook (with UAC turned off).
I’m using this cool tool to try to figure out what is being generated by the MARK key of my old “smart office” keyboard. It has other keys that generate the obvious combinations ctrl-c, ctrl-v, etc but I can’t find any info on a key combination that causes the behavior this MARK key does. Since no driver is running for this keyboard it must be a recognized combo, right? Even works on a Linux box.
Anyway, as might of been expected the scan code returned just corresponds to the left-shift, like the copy key shows “c” and paste shows “v”. Any ideas how to find the combination?
For what it’s worth, key-tweak didn’t return anything for this key.
Very interesting tool otherwise, thanks.
Can I remap to any UTF-8 code? I need a Polish keyboard layout
No idea – never used any other keyboard but US QWERTY… sorry if that wasn’t in the FAQ.
can you remap any function key like the volume up and down and eject button from the keyboard to what it does because i was think of getting an Apple Keyboard and i am running a PC with Windows Vista 64 Bit edition.. because this was one of the comments from bestbuy site: “Other then the low power usb ports which is not really a big deal, this keyboard is perfect! It’s so easy to type with it and is very quiet.
I use it on a PC with Vista and XP(dual boot system) all I did is re-map the media keys with a free program called SharpKeys, to work with Windows media player.”
(what is the Media Keys)
here is the product i was talking about from my previous comment: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8510328&st=keyboards&lp=3&type=product&cp=1&id=1186005932606
As per the FAQ, Fn keys are “weird” in that they don’t always get read by Windows -for the Apple keyboard my common suggestion is to get the Windows Bootcamp driver for this. Supports everything that the keyboard can do. Aside from that, keys like Volume Up/Down are often pass to Windows for remapping but not all. For example, I can’t remap the volume keys on a Lenovo T61p but I can remap a shift key on a Lenovo S10 to be “Mute”.
what is a windows bootcamp driver.. do you have like a website that i can go to and see it.. aldo will that driver ruin my computer if i install it?
It’s a driver Apple includes with their OS for running Windows on Apple machines. I don’t think Apple offers it on it’s own anymore (since Bootcamp is out of beta) but you can probably find it around the ‘net somewhere.
Here is a function I would like to see: I type Dvorak but still want my Ctrl shortcuts, so I was thinking about coding the Ctrl key as a layout switcher only when it is pressed. I know sharpkeys doesnt have this function but it would be a godsend to many Dvorak users out there.
Okay so I found what I was looking for with autohotkeys
Here is the script: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic27474.html&highlight=dvorak
Hey Randy, thanks for this program. Without it, the new slim Apple keyboard that I bought was incredibly gimped. And to think I paid $50 for this piece of shit! Anyways, I appreciate the fact that you made such a kick-ass program and released it for free. There are too many piece-of-shit programs out there that try to take over your whole computer, this isnt one of ’em. I’ll be sure to donate sometime, you deserve it.
Great piece of software. Well done Randy. You saved me awful lot of time going through the registry. My Vaio VGN-AR11SR started messing up and the arrow left key was malfunctioning. I could have given it for repair which would be something like 200GBP and they would change the entire keyboard. I saved time and money by disabling the left arrow key. It is not the end of the world after all and I can live without it or remap it to another key I never use.
Thanks again
Costis
How do I make num lock ALWAYS on? I’ve already edited the registry key and changed it in the BIOS and it still turns off
BIOS and Keyboard Settings in Windows would be the only placed I can think of.
Good Job on 3.0.
To be honest, I’m a gamer of some sort. So SharpKeys is the way to go for gaming shortcuts. However, since my computer is used for other stuff like work, I have to change the layout all over every time. I understand that restarting or reloging in cannot be avoided. However, is there a way to save a profile of the list changes done? This will make changing back and forward a lot more easier. But who am I to complain…
It would be great if it is added to future versions. Thank you.
You can always backup the key in the Registry but since there’s a requirement to log in/out or reboot, I haven’t bothered… that said, this is all open source now at CodePlex – someone can always add a new feature like this through there.
randy.
Both shift keys stopped working on my laptop so you have saved me the hassle of an additional or replacement keyboard for the time being at least – so many many thanks from me for that
As an aside, since both shift keys stopped working and my keyboard is spotless, isn’t it likely to be a software allocation problem with the keys themselves? your prog however, does not recognise me typing the shift keys at all. any idea about what could be causing it other than a coincidental physical failure – or any other utilities that could troubleshoot it?
Once again thanks for sharing your great work
mmm not trying to spam or repeat myself, repeat myself but every time I went to post, it came up with a failure message, so I resent until I gave up
sorry!
Is there any way of temporarily stopping SharpKeys but keeping the settings? It works perfectly on my laptop but I also use another keyboard from a docking station in the office. Since the keys are laid out differently, I keep pressing the wrong ones. I’m using version 2.1.1. Cheers.
very nice work
Thanks for this wonderful program. I have been using to remap an Apple keyboard. I need help though. I can’t seem to map the F15 key on the mac keyboard to a proper Pause/Break key. Regular scan codes are only two bytes but Pause/Break has a scan code of “E1 1D 45 E1 9D C5”. How can I map the F15 key on my Apple Keyboard (Sharpkeys tells me F15 returns E0_45) to this? I often use Windows Key + Break to get my System Properties Control Panel. I have tried using a regular keyboard and pressing the break key on that one with Sharpkeys when editing a key but that doesn’t work either. When I hit break on a regular keyboard, Sharpkeys tells me it’s “Numlock 00_45” which is obviously not the compete Pause/Break sequence neccessary to trigger Windows + Break and oddly sets off the Numlock. Thanks.
How can I remap the F10-F12 keys on a Apple Keyboard so it will control the volume (without having to hit the ‘fn’ at the same time?) I installed the Bootcamp drivers but it only added the media keys (play, rew, ff) functionality.
@Jeremy – Pause/Break is a strange triple-byte key that SharpKeys doesn’t support… there’s other remapping tools out there that should be able to help.
@Todd – that’s controlled by the Apple driver. In BootCamp, while in Windows, there’s an option to turn the Fn key requirement on/off… without that running, I don’t know how they track or set the switch.
This is a follow-up to my own question — just in case anyone else is stumbles here with the same question.
I was using Sharpkeys in attempt to figure out what my funky keyboard does when you press the “Mark” key. It turns out that the keyboard internally emulates the shift-lock function (for the arrow keys only) then releases it on the ESC key. This is done internally so no way to map this to another key or, for that matter, emulate it with a macro.
You can use the the Accessibility feature known as Sticky Keys functionality to set Shift-lock for the whole keyboard though.
In a notebook with US-layout keyboard, is it possible to map non-english characters, like “�”?
Thank!!!
my laptop when turn on will automatically turn on f1 key repeatedly with sound teeeeetttt…so i press repeatly f1 key until sound disappear and the window will turn to normally but the help & support center pages repeatly come out about 50 pages…then i will press esc key repeatly then its disappear..after i apply sharp key f1 to turn off …its works but only come out sound teeeetttt only so i pressed f1 repaetedly then its disappear then its works normal..How to throw sound out..its annoying..
@Luis – only if there’s a key dedicated only to that. Then it should be possible.
@izwan – no idea, but I would recommend talking to the customer support group for your notebook’s maker.
Its Nice
Thank you so much. Finally I can change my windows keyboard to work like a mac keyboard. I rearranged my ALT key to act as the Apple key. This program rocks!
I’m trying to map the right-click button to the Alt GR button (E0_2038) on my latitude but it says the Alt GR button is a key SharpKeys does not know about and to check the website. I have tried with the latest version 3…Will you be able to add this key to a newer release?
hiya.
so i see a � key and a � key, but i would like to map a �. and while we’re at it, what about a � key? are these possbilities? is see someone above asked about the �, but i didnt see a response to it.
thanks much.
I’d hoped SharpKeys would relieve me of the need to pry the NumLock key off every new keyboard. Originally, I set it to “Turn Key Off (00_00)” but that didn’t work. The next time I tried (Add | Type Key…) SharpKeys said: “You’ve entered a key that SharpKeys doesn’t know about…check…for an updated release.” Funny: it knew about it the first time I typed it. Version 3 doesn’t “know about” it either. What’s up with that?
What’s up with that is that Num Lock is a hardware toggle key that may or may not pass it’s information onto Windows. If it doesn’t then Windows can’t remap it… SharpKeys isn’t doing any of the mapping – it’s just working with a registry key.
please randy Julie and I have a similar problem. I want to remap my right shift. windows says its E0_1F20 instead of 00_36 and also my left shit shows as E0_1F2D instead of 00_2A. SharpKeys says i pressed a key that it knows nothing about :(
Um, I’ve been using SharpKeys for a couple of years now and it is a most useful program. Last year, I switched to a laptop and have been using a normal, desktop, usb keyboard instead of the laptop’s cramped keyboard. But when I wanted to remap the “pause/break” key, I couldn’t find it in SharpKeys! And when I used the “Type Key” button to find it, it returned:
“Special: Euro sign (E0_45)”
? And when I used the windows on screen keyboard, the “pause/break” returned:
” 00_E1″
? Is the “pause/break” button not listed in SharpKeys for some reason, or does the list of available buttons change from computer to computer? This happened in v2.1 and v3.
I’m using Windows XP SP3.
But regardless, many thanks Randy for this awesome program! remapping the “scroll lock” key to “escape” is a life saver! hehehe
Hi! I can’t find the break/pause key listed. is it one of those “unknown” keys maybe? Tried the first 5 but it did’n work…
Please check the FAQ – I know there’s a section on triple byte codes and I think there’s a section on Pause/Break and why it’s not always supported.
Sorry, i DID read the faq first thing, but i found nothing about the break/pause key. I also found out what codes the pause key produced on my old keyboard, but i don’t know how to insert this in the registry, or in sharpkeys.
Huh. Thought it was. Anyway, Pause/Break is a strange key because some keyboards send it to Windows one way – others send a different code. Either way it’s a triple byte key code which causes problems for the remapping Registry entry that Windows is using to redirect the key… that said, it’s pretty much a hit/miss thing which is why it’s not in the list…
Sorry it couldn’t be of more help!
Thanks for this great program.
I am using windows vista, and wanting to re-map a letter in the Turkish-F language set. (I use an english computer and keyboard, but often type in Turkish, which is the same as English except for one letter, an undotted ‘i”. which is a total disaster for typing with any speed.)
Is there anyway to remap keys from foreign alphabets?
Cheers :)
Only if you know the code key for the key on the foreign keyboard and it’s already in the list of available keys… never tried any non-US keyboard, so I couldn’t say either way.
Hey Randy, Sharpkeys is a cool program, I’ve used it before. But now, on my new Gigabyte keyboard, it won’t register the multimedia keys (“you’ve entered a key that Sharpkeys doesn’t know about”). Is this because they are triple byte keys (such as E0_4030, E0_4048, E0_603A, etc.) just like the pause/break you’ve discussed? And if so, which are the other remapping programs that could help?
Might want to try AutoHotKeys – they do a much more active type of remapping… also the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Editor could help.
Thanks! But I’ve found the problem and the solution to my problem. The Logitech drivers from the prevoiously installed Logitech Media Keyboard were interfering.
Now they’re removed, the multimedia keys finally work and they are registered by Sharpkey properly (now as just double byte keys instead of triple byte keys). Hopefully this solution will help others!
I cannot remap the AltGr key (replaces the right alt key on non-US keyboards), as SharpKeys does not recognise it. SharpKeys lists it as key E0-2038
Try to set the key E0-38 instead of E0_2038. It worked for me.
I cannot remap the AltGr key (replaces the right alt key on non-US keyboards), as SharpKeys does not recognise it. SharpKeys lists it as key E0-2038
I would want to remap or disable the f1 to f5 keys can is it possible with this? cause there’s a online flash game I wanna play called JamLegend and when I press the following buttons their respective assigned function works rather than that of the games.
I was wondering how you would go about converting a key from outputting a single letter to outputting a word or phrase. For example making a “noob” button. Instead of outputting ” ` ” you would get the word noob.
This is very nice and useful program.
I have one suggesdtion for future releases: add support for export/import list of changed keys…
Cheers!
I want to remap Left Control to `
to use in the Windows login sequence
Control-Alternate-Delete
will Sharpkeys 3.0 work for this remap?
Thanks
I would like to map the “Fn” key to a “Ctrl Key” and the “Ctrl Key to the “FN” key. HOWEVER i don’t see the “Fn” key as an option. Maybe the “FN” key can’t be mapped.. Please advise.. Thanks :)
Not supported: see the FAQ or other comments for more info.
thanks
I have found the code for the right-click key – it is E0_5D – Special Application.
This may only work on Windows keyboards.
Would be great to map this to my AltGR (E0_2038)key – but Sharpkeys does not know about this one unfortunately so have had to use my right ctrl key
Thanks – great app – love it
Julie
Hi!
I want to change CTR button with Fn button in my laptop (MSI Wind)…
will be this function avalaible ? soon ?
Despite that program works like a magick touch ;)
Best Regards
Peter
Any chance you can make the following keys available for mapping:
E0_400B – extended monitor
E0_4008 – wireless on/off
E0_4007 – display battery info
E0_4005 – dim monitor
E0_4006 – make monitor brighter
That what Dell Studio 15 did with normal function keys… Thanks
Great program, thanks!
Any way to make my F19 or F15 buttons the @ symbol?
@Bob – your best bet is to ping the community at CodePlex – the source code is available for other people to iterate on it and I’m pretty well removed from the development at this point.
@Greg – nope. From the FAQ: you can only remap an entire key to another – you can’t remap a KEY to be SHIFT+KEY of another key.
Hey Randy. I could not be happier than I found SharpKeys.
I have a couple of issues that I deal with on an ongoing basis.
1. I often hit Caps Lock when I want [TAB]
2. I almost _NEVER_ actually need Caps Lock
3. I work with two computers (desktop and laptop) and share the desktop’s Keyboard/Mouse with an awesome open-source tool called Synergy. Synergy works beautifully except for one small problem: The Right-Shift key somehow does not get transmitted from the Synergy Server to the Synergy Client. Left-Shift works fine, but training myself to always use Left-Shift is a PITA.
Enter SharpKeys:
1. I remapped Caps Lock to send [TAB]
2. I remapped [F12] to Caps Lock in case I ever need it
3. I remapped Right-Shift to send the scan code for Left-Shift
PROBLEMS SOLVED!
Thank you for writing an awesome tool to expose this hidden feature of Windows.
Hi Randy. Sharpkeys is great! Thanks so much!
I would like to ask one question:
Since I have a touchpad on my laptop with no middle mouse button, I’d love to replace that functionality by remapping any other key to it.
So, e.g. RIGHT CTRL -> MIDDLE MOUSE
However, I can’t find key entries for emulating a middle mouse click. There are only entries for left click or right click. Do you have any idea?
Unfortunately, I can’t use the “type key” functionality, since it does only recognize key strokes and no mouse clicks.
Did I miss anything?
Thanks so much for any suggestions!
Horst
@Horst – known limitation: SharpKeys only works with keyboard keys rather than “generic” input – check the comments or the rest of the blog as this has been talked about before and there might be an alternative available.
Hi Randy. I do a lot of copy (ctrl-c)& paste (ctrl-v) operations. Can I use SharpKeys to remap them to single keys? ie. ctrl-c -> f1, ctrl-v -> f2 thanks!
Nope – per the FAQ, only whole keys can be remapped.
Remap this, remap that but none will do what I need!
Some time ego and I don’t remember how I got it like that; I had the Caps lock and the shift key working like this:
If I press the Caps Lock all text after that will be in caps. So far OK.
On the next sentence (I forgot I have the Caps Lock set) I will usually press the shift key for the next sentence and then type the whole sentence in lower case. Fine…
When I press the shift key the FIRST character is in Caps, the rest in lower case.
THIS IS WHAT I NEED!!!!!
Thanks for any help.
Randy,
I have a situation where neither SharpKeys 3.0 or KeyTweak is accepting a key swap. I also tried your 2.x version of Sharpkeys. I do a hard reboot after I make the change, as instructed. I have tried swapping the ‘y’ TO the ‘z’ ‘-‘ and ‘`’ keys. After rebooting, these keys have not accepted the swap and continue to work as z, -, and `, keys, respectively. I go back in to Sharpkeys and still see the registry swap, though. Weird.
If it helps, the root of the issue is spilled drink on a laptop keyboard. I did it, as my wife likes to remind me. This made the ‘y’ key permanently inoperable. My current workaround is a to copy the letter ‘y’ from a source, then do a ctrl+v to paste it, when needed. She refuses, so her emails are now full of missing ‘y’s. :)
I have a Toshiba Laptop Satellite M100. Running XP SP3.
Read your FAQ, read people’s commments and no luck. So, now I’m writing this comment.
Could it be that there’s nothing in the registry for the letter ‘y’, to begin with, so there’s nothing to swap from? Really scratching me head on this.
My wife is not pleased, to say the least. I can’t blame her. So, any help you could provide would be appreciated. To make matters worse, there’s a ‘y’ in my name. That’s a lot of ctrl+V-ing. Have to laugh.
Thanks,
Rory
Randy,
I have a situation where neither SharpKeys 3.0 or KeyTweak is accepting a key swap. I also tried your 2.x version of Sharpkeys. I do a hard reboot after I make the change, as instructed. I have tried swapping the ‘y’ TO the ‘z’ ‘-‘ and ‘`’ keys. After rebooting, these keys have not accepted the swap and continue to work as z, -, and `, keys, respectively. I go back in to Sharpkeys and still see the registry swap, though. Weird.
If it helps, the root of the issue is spilled drink on a laptop keyboard. I did it, as my wife likes to remind me. This made the ‘y’ key permanently inoperable. My current workaround is to copy the letter ‘y’ from a source, then do a ctrl+V to paste it, when needed. She refuses, so her emails are now full of missing ‘y’s. :)
I have a Toshiba Laptop Satellite M100. Running XP SP3.
Read your FAQ, read people’s commments and no luck. So, now I’m writing this comment.
Could it be that there’s nothing in the registry for the letter ‘y’, to begin with, so there’s nothing to swap from? Really scratching me head on this.
My wife is not pleased, to say the least. I can’t blame her. So, any help you could provide would be appreciated. To make matters worse, there’s a ‘y’ in my name. That’s a lot of ctrl+V-ing. Have to laugh.
Thanks,
Rory
hey i my laptop key board has this key that are unknow like battery info wireless on off and brightening +,- any way of solving it
Great e usefull program.
I would like to ask :
why ther’are only 5 app. shortcuts in list? is limitation of windows?
ther’is another method for add/change in windows registry this app->associations to program?
otherwise i think of change name to my files, ex. calc.exe but i not am satisfied.
thanks
I noticed there are no winkey options.. I would like to remap a function key to winkey + D
Windows 7 moved show desktop to the far right and made it stick… so everyone is complaing about having to “mouse around” between the start menu and show desktop.
Hi-
I tried to run the program from XP running under Boot Camp on a MacBook Pro. The single “Alt” key on the keyboard is broken, and I’d like to map one of the two “open apple” (equivalent to “Start”) keys to function as the “Alt” key.
When I try to run the executable, I get the a failure-to-initialize error (0xc000135). Anyone know a fix for this?
@camilo – Nope.
@mario – That list came out of the list of keys recognized by Windows at the time that I wrote the list. May have changed – no idea, but the source code is all Open now so someone may add new items in the list.
@Terry – The Windows key is there but there’s no remapping for modified keys, be it Ctrl+ Alt+ Shift+ or Win+ – only whole keys can be remapped.
@Joe – do you have the .NET Framework installed? I’ve run SharpKeys on all of my instances of Bootcamp, be it XP, Vista or 7 and haven’t had the problem.
Nick work Randy. I remap keys in linux all the time and it’s nice to be able to do it easily in Windows as well. Thanks very much.
very useful
i’m using ms entertainment 7000 and lots of the touch keys pressed by mistake all the time, this app helps me alot, many many thanks!
I remapped keys for enhanced MS Excel productivity. I really like that I can type in the keys I want to remap. Thank you for this very useful program.
DELL brutally killed the context menu key [lets start a class action] luckily SHarpKeys works like a charm on my Latitude E6400 to remap a fn key to do context menu. Took me awhile though to figure out it is actually named the “Application” key. Thanks Randy!
I used this on my daughters laptop for a joke but now she can’t log on with the only admin account, is there anything (other than reloading the system) that I can do to void the program?
Depending on the OS, you might be able to log in using the on screen keyboard (under Accessibility Options) but if that doesn’t work, there’s not too much that you can do. Even if you connect an external keyboard, it will still have the same issues…
Consideration for next Version of SharpKeys…
Hi Randy,
thanks for this great Software, works perfectly.
But sometimes I need mapped keys and sometimes I don’t.
Would it be possible to save and recall different settings in the next version?
Excuse my english, I’m german ;-)
Thomas
Thank you! Your program is perfect! Being a Vim user, where the ESC key is essential, SharpKeys has allowed me to remap it to the CapsLock key.
I HAVE A QUESTION, HOW DO I GET MY KEYS BACK TO WHAT IT USED TO BE??
You open SharpKeys, you remove all of the mappings and you reboot.
Thanks for this awesome app! It get’s everything right that is does.
i tried to remap the home funtion to the +/= key, so i hit home on the left, and +/= on the right,
but as you can probably read right now, the +/= key is retaining its previous function. i dont know how to fix this. i restarted too.
i tried to rebind the home function to +/= key, because my macbook pro doesn’t have a home key.
i set it in sharpkeys, then logged out and back in, yet as you can tell my +/= key retains its earlier function. whats the problem?
windows 7, mac keyboard, no problem, but assigning any key power, sleep or wake buttons doesn’t work
On a MacBook black, WIndows 7 Via BootCamp 3.0 and keyboard driver 2.0, worked perfectly! Switched Right ctrl to Alt, AltCar to Alt avec Windows to Cmd. Now it works perfectly like if I was on Mac OS X! :) Very good project, works fine and do not need to replace the BootCamp driver like with Input Remapper.
@Nicholas – as per the FAQ, not every key makes it’s way to Windows which means that if a keyboard traps the keystroke or passes it to Windows in a strange way, it can’t be remapped. Odds are Apple’s are expected a unique power/sleep/wake signal that’s different than Windows.
Either that or there’s no BootCamp driver installed and Windows sees the keyboard as a generic 104-key device… might want to check to see if the driver is there.
I’have a toshiba A200. With Vista Sharpkey works very good. I’m update to Seven and Sharpkey does not work. It writes in the registry ma dont work.
Why??
in windows 7 is problem to find Fn key ( msi wind u100 )
@Nelson – Don’t know – I’ve used it with Windows 7 for over half a year. Did you change from 32-bit to 64-bit and migate the bits by hand? What version are you using? Plz make sure it’s the most recent…
@Astro – per the FAQ Fn keys are an issue for all Windows versions before they are often captured by the hardware and aren’t sent to Windows – Windows can only remap keys that it knows about…
Stupid request from an aging gamer who loaths(and loaths spelling/sanity to it seems)not being able to perfectly blend keys,change them around make toggles,ect.
I’d like to be able to save key sets in some form of “playlist” I can save and load when need be. I would also like a toggle function for any key as well as and this is whats getting me these days is being able to make combination keys not just shift+f= X but I hold down space it holds down shift+space or any other button I want…..
Randy,
a question. Can your program be use to reprogram cell phone keyboards?
I would assume that the Palm Pre is the only one.
Any answer?
Thanks!
Cheers
Gregor
@Zippy – the source code has been turned over to CodePlex a long while ago – you might want to make the request there as someone may have it or want to make it.
@Gregor – no chance. SharpKeys doesn’t remap anything as so much as it exposes a Windows Registry Key that does the remapping on it’s own.
Randy, I’m trying to map an Apple keyboard in Vista. I want to remap “left option” into “control.” But Sharpkeys neither recognizes the left-option nor is it on the list. Help? Thanks
Left option is an Alt key I believe – those don’t show up in the Type a Key window. You can select it in the SharpKeys list.
Randy,
I just wanted to say thank you. Brilliant tool, does exactly what I needed, and intuitively too. Tiny download, no installation, no hassle, no clutter. Perfect, in a word. If only all software were like this!
Thanks again from Ermel.
Thanks :)
Thanks.
great lockdown for Kiosk mode computer.
thanks
Thanks a lot, Randy – it worked
Randy,
I’ve used SharpKeys since I got a MF II keyboard,
but I’ve noticed that keys E0_70 and up aren’t typeable nor listed.
I know that you can add it in the registry, but it would be so
much easier if you added them in the next release, otherwise it’s a great program.
//BXZ
Mapped command key and some F’s on Apple USB Aluminium keyboard. Working fine.
Much thanks.
Randy, try out IntenseDebate comment system, so everyone won’t leave their emails for spammers ;]
Thanks, great program randy.
I, like everyone else hates the laptop keyboard layouts, especially the placement of Fn to the left of the Ctrl key. And like everyone else, gave up at fixing this flaw and am learning to use the CAPS LOCK key as the function key.
I did discover a fix for the poor placement of the delete key that replaces the pause/break to function as a DEL. The position is more natural and easier to find.
Maybe SharpKeys should integrate this feature into the program. Unfortunately, this removes any functionality to the Num Lock key command completely (I wanted to use this as an = key for spreadsheet formulas, but then the delete key won’t work).
Here is a GREAT IDEA (if anyone can figure it out, that is):
Home, End, Pg Up and Pg Down are all poorly positioned on laptops. Can anyone write code that can allow the arrow keys a double press command (like the double click on a mouse) where left arrow clicked twice rapidly is HOME, right arrow double clicked is END, and up and down arrows are page up and page down respectively. This would be an awesome little program, and very quick and easy for users to learn.
Anyone, Anyone????
Not: my G, H, E keys don’t work so well, so tat is wy I am oin to sound illiterate (ctrl+v ftw)
Do I ave to disable te key tat windows tinks it is or does it just not work for me?
My rite arrow key and my Fn key also don’t work, so I tried to remap tem to te numpad . and my left alt respectively but it still functions like normal so I do I ave to do sometin else or does it just not work for me?
I’m usin windows 7 btw.
I am trying to reassign a key sent by the S9 bluetooth headphones 00-100 to be the F3 key which answers the Cisco IP Phone. Can you do this?
Hell, I don’t even understand the question.
My guess is that it might be possible, if that key comes to Windows unmolested – if not, then Windows can’t remap it at all.
NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Been looking for a way to disable the F1 key in firefox because its my ventillo key to talk,and if firefox was up 100 help pages would come up!!! now turning it off didnt work but setting it to F2 and going in to ventrillo pressing F1 again which shows as F2 works!!!
Thank you!!!
This post hearkens back to a comment on March 17, 2009 by Phil who says, “Finally I can change my windows keyboard to work like a mac keyboard. I rearranged my ALT key to act as the Apple key.”
I’d love to do that! What do I look for in the SharpKeys “To key” list that indicates the “Apple key”?
Thanks!
Seems a very nice one everybody likes. Here I need to solve an issue. I need to enter a word, e.g. ‘Standard’, or ‘Fast’ repeatedly from keyboard to browser or text editor. I just wonder if Sharpkey can map a key, e.g. F1 to ‘Standard’ so that when I hit F1, it types in ‘Standard’ in the text editor or browser.
Thanks very much
Johnzt
Johnst,
I use a function called Hotstrings for this. Hotstrings is a part of Activeaid, which can be found on http://tinyurl.com/yculr6p.
Peter
Hey Randy! Great ;ittlr util u have here.
I’m having one minor issue I’m hoping you can help me fix. I need to remap my num-lock jey to esc. The util acts like it’s doing it, but to no avcail upon reboot. My num-locl is still my num-lock key. Reason I need to do this is I’m using a control surface for an audio editor and the native code for the esc key is the same as the num-lock.
Is there a work around for this?
Thx in advance. :-)
I can’t find printscreen anywhere on the list, and I’d like to map a mac keyboard to have this function… Is this possible?
Thanks
@Trevor: It is there, look for:
___Special: PrtSc (E0_37)___
That should do it.
@Trevor: It is there, look for:
Special: PrtSc (E0_37)
That should do it.
Thank you! Clearly I’m blind…
Hi loving sharpkeys but atm it doesn’t recognise the Alt Gr key which my keyboard annoyingly has instead of a right alt key- any help?
Randy, thanks so much for this program. It is extremely helpful. I was wondering if it was possible to remap the eject key on the apple wireless keyboard. I love this keyboard, but not having both a “backspace” key and a “delete” key is driving me crazy, and the eject key is in the perfect place for it. Thanks.
Hey just wanted to say I love your software, been using it for a good 2 years now.
However I just got a new laptop, and tried to remap the FN key, but when i press it it won’t automaticly detect it when I try to remap it, the Alt key wouldnt either so I chose it from the list to remap Alt.
However unlike Alt, FN doesn’t show up on the list like Alt did, I suspect it’s one of the Unknown keys, these unknowns however still have numbers like Alt had (00_38)
Does anyone happen to know the number for FN key so I can select it from the list like I did with Alt?
Thanks in advance.
Actually the Fn key is “special” – it has a different behavior on different laptops and in most cases it’s like a hardware modifier: Windows never gets told about it, so it never has a chance to remap it. I know that Lenovo has opted to include a Fn/Ctrl swap in their BIOS… FWIW, the industry is split with Ctrl/Fn/Alt and Fn/Ctrl/Alt – most companies went with one years ago and stuck with it.
Similarly, the Eject key on the Apple keyboard also doesn’t get sent to Windows… it’s trapped by the hardware and there’s no way to remap it. I know this because I’ve tried for a while to remap my MacBook Air’s eject key, since there’s not even a drive on the box most of the times!
Dude i owe you a beer, which you can collect anytime anywhere in Slovenia (EU) You saved my ass when i buy laptop in USA and i didn’t have a ” zh” :D but the the program worked “flawless” now i have the best arrangemet and those anoying đ and ć are far away :D
thx again :D
Hello Randy,
I would like to use the control/Alt/Delete function on my new apple slimline bluetooth keyboard that just was recently released.. Can you advise how to do this with your program…thanks in advance.
hey du idiot! die mscore.dll fehlt in deinem Archiv!
und welcher Spast baut denn auf .NET FRAMEWORK?
Doch nur die verlierer der Nation …man lass dir dein lehrgeld wieder ausbezahlen du vollpfeife!
du bist doch voll der schwanzlutschende loser
@Todd – I think you can use Control+Option+Fn+Backspace (in that order) with any Apple keyboard… there’s no way to remap all three keystrokes to one key.
@Nurich – Not only can you not take the time to insult me in my native language, but are you fuckin’ stupid too? You need the .NET Framework to run SharpKeys, as is explained in every piece of documentation related to the package… telling people that they suck cock is no way to ask for technical support… piss off.
This is one of the most useful applications to go with BootCamp.
I’m using it with Windows 7 RC 7100 build x32, and it works perfectly.
I remapped left and right command to their Windows equivalents, left and right control. I then remapped control to left windows key, and you get the equivalent keyboard set that is standard in OS X.
Thank you, Randy, for creating this!
DUDE THANKS FOR THIS! Ahh such a relief to have this..
Great program! Worked flawlessly! I was able to remap my laptop PgUp/PgDn to Home/End. Now I don’t have to use the Fn key to use Home/End!
Ok i have a question but i doubt its even possible to do what i want. basically when i press a button i want it to perform a function, but if i double press it ( like a double mouse click) i want it to be remapped to a completely different key. but it has to be a fast double press, so for example if i press the key once every 2 seconds ( slow) it will just continue to do its normal function.
i’ve been trying to figure this one out for a long time so let me know if its possible to do this! thank you!
I did the following set of remappings:
Caps Lock => Left Control
Left Control => Left Alt
Left Alt => Caps Lock
This works fine when logged in, however before logging in Left Control and Left Alt no longer work for ctrl-alt-delete – neither in their new or original positions. However, Caps Lock is working in its new position even when not logged in.
It is a minor problem since Right Control and Right Alt still work as usual, but I was wondering if the observed behavior makes any sense to you?
Thanks for the useful utility!
I used this program to remap an apple keyboard connected to a windows PC, my apple keyboard now behaves as though I’m using it on an apple computer. Which is to say the command key is now the control key and F14 is now print screen. Basically what I’m saying is that my apple keyboard behaves like an Apple keyboard ought to, only it does it on my windows PC, which means my windows PC now behaves more like a Mac, which makes me want to use it for more things. (just drilling it in there for people who are searching for this, it is exactly what you’re looking for if you want to use an apple keyboard on your windows pc, you don’t need to get apple keyboard drivers for a PC, you just need this program). Thanks so much for this!
CmoSlim
When I click on shaprkeys.exe, I get “the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.
I’ve downloaded again and the same error ocurrs.
I doubt it’s the download – do you have the 2.0 .NET Framework installed?
Wow. Thanks, Randy. Now I finally have a use for all the redundant buttons on the numeric keypad (which I never, ever use). Finally a hotkey to control volume!
I even got rid of Caps Lock, and made it an extra Control. I never use that, either (but I did assign it to the – key on the keypad, just in case).
Just one problem: Mute doesn’t work. Windows 7, 64-bit. I tried mapping keypad 0 to it, and it just does…nothing.
Otherwise, great stuff. Genuinely awesome. Wish I’d known about it a long time ago.
Nice program…
Is there any chance shift-shift could be made available? That would be a great substitute for capslock that I’ve moved to ctrl-…
Nope, sorry – SharpKeys only works with single keys.
Can I change the 1,2,3 keys on the numeric keypad to be where the 7,8,9 keys are and vice/versa? Like the way it used to be on the old keypunch machines? I had done data entry for many, many years and I can’t get any speed trying to reprogram my brain to type these keys which are “backwards” to me. In other words, I want the 1,2,3 keys on the keypad to be on top (like a telephone keypad). I would be greatful for your help. I have a new Dell pc with Windows 7 and using a Belkin keyboard (don’t like Dell keyboards). Thanks much.
Best I could say is to give it a shot… just make sure you remap the Num Keypad version… should work, unless it ends up with things remapping over the mappings.
The only danger of making too many key remappings is if you accidentally disable a key you need for a password… since the num keypad has their numbers on the regular part of the keyboard, you should be OK to make changes.
good
Hey, great program. The program is easy to work with. The only problem I had was that I mapped the keys backward the first time. Felt like a dummy having to do it twice. But being able to remap the keys certainly helped make my laptop more functional.
Will
Great program.Must one problem: its possible to emulate ALT key but always hold.
Hi. I have laptop dell studio 1555 and there is no pause/break key. I have found a recomendation to your program at dell users forum. Somebody wrote there, that he had solved actually the same problem this way. It seems to me, that SharpKeys work correctly in my computer, but it doesnt give me any oportunity “pause/break” in the right column (to the key). What i am suppose to do to set up pause/break in my laptop. Thanks for your answer.
I think Pause/Break was a triple byte code which is outside of the scope of SharpKeys…
Is there a way to get Sharpkeys to work in games?
It works for me if I use it elsewhere.
Likely not – my guess is the game is trapping the keyboard input and not passing it onto Windows.
My hope would be that the game has the ability to change which key triggers which command, but that would be up to the game…
I just started using this program because my keys got wet and i lost a few. For that the program works great, but as soon as i started using the program, the computer doesn’t repeat a key if it is held down. For example, i have to hit the backspace key 3 times to delete “the” rather than just hold it down. Do u think this problem could be caused by the sharp keys program or is it separate?
Awesome program! =D I’m using it for my apple keyboard. I couldn’t find the brightness keys. Could you help me with this? Thanks!
Yes – the Apple brightness keys are unique to Apple hardware and won’t be able to be remapped in Windows.
Thanks for the program – it was very helpful in adding volume functionality to my new ABS M1. Appreciated!
I’ve used sharp keys to change the dreaded Num Lock key to the ~ key, and it’s worked fine for months. This morning I decided that I wanted to change it to another key and deleted the original edit. Now it won’t let me change Num Lock to anything. I even tried setting it back to the ~ key and it still functions as the Num lock key. Any ideas?
Since NumLock is a toggle, you might want to make sure that it’s off first. Additionally, you’ll want to make sure that you reboot between changes… if that doesn’t work, I’m at a loss: if it worked once before it should work again. The only other thing I would suggest would be to delete them all, reboot, and then set the remapping back up by selecting the keys from the list.
Sigh, still no dice. The only thing I can think of is that maybe something I’ve installed after SharpKeys is interfering with it.
when you try to send emails you cannot get the @ key how can i reset the keyboard to do it
I want to remap just one of the two keyboards i use to connect to the laptop, can it be done?
I’m trying to remap an Apple slimline for the control alt delete. Control already seems to be correctly mapped but can’t seem to get the alt and delete remapped (I have been trying to use the apple cmd keys). Have also tried the existing ctrl option fn backspace but that doesn’t seem to work.
All sorted – mapped the F12 key to delete
Excellent ! Works nicely on Windows 7.
Dude Randy. This is most excellent! You turned my left over keys on my Apple keyboard into featured keys! This program ROCKS!
Hi, Randy. I’m trying to use SharpKeys to make the keyboard on my new Windows 7 PC match the location of similar keys on the Mac, namely making the LeftAlt key (Mac Command in this position) function like the LeftCtrl key, and the Windows key (Mac Option in this position) behave as the LeftAlt.
I tried making those changes in SharpKeys and it seemed to “take” , but on rebooting the re-mapping did not work. Is this a v7 issue, or is what I’m trying to do just not possible?
Thanks for all your efforts; I’m sure SharpKeys will come in handy just for turning off the CapsLock, if nothing else!
Should be possible in all honest: I’ve got my Right Ctrl key mapped to Left Window, my back button to Right Alt, and my forward button to Right Window – the only thing with Alt is that it’s not picked up by the Type Key window…
Hi, thanks for all the stuff you do here. If I need to uninstall Sharpkeys, how do i do it? When I try in the Win7 unistall window, nothing happens.
Thanks!
Uninstall here – not quite sure what’s going on…
I read Chris’ post and it sounds exactly like what I want to do:
I used this program to remap an apple keyboard connected to a windows PC, my apple keyboard now
behaves as though I’m using it on an apple computer. Which is to say the command key is now the control
key and F14 is now print screen. Basically what I’m saying is that my apple keyboard behaves like an Apple
keyboard ought to, only it does it on my windows PC, which means my windows PC now behaves more like a
Mac, which makes me want to use it for more things. (just drilling it in there for people who are searching
for this, it is exactly what you’re looking for if you want to use an apple keyboard on your windows pc, you
don’t need to get apple keyboard drivers for a PC, you just need this program). Thanks so much for this!
How does this work exactly, because the key labels that show up in SharpKeys are PC keys, and not Mac–?
I used a driver from a Leopard BootCamp installer to get the PC to recognize the Mac keyboard, which then
became mostly functional, but I don’t know how you did what you’re talking about. I also tried using
SharpKeys to remap the function of the keys on my PC keyboard, but I couldn’t make the Alt key (which is
in the position of the Mac COMMAND key) behave like the Ctrl key; it just wouldn’t “take”. Nor would the
Windows key map to the Alt key.)
Just to be clear: I want the Mac COMMAND key to become the PC CTRL key, and the Mac OPTION key to
become the PC ALT key.
Any advice anyone can offer would be really HUGE. Thanks
I have an issue with my keyboard in which it is randomly and repeatedly using the key E0_4051. It is making my computer rapidly scroll down which is a big annoying problem. Sharp keys reads this key, but down not know it… could I get some help disabling it?
Thank You
Actually you might want to shoot feature requests to the community at Codeplex – I set the source code up there for people that are interested in extending the project, since I’m pretty much done with it. HTH!
Is there any way i can change a key to turn my laptop power button on ,as the power button has broken?
Nope. Windows is what is remapping the keys and Windows isn’t active while it’s turned off. Looks like you’ll need a physical replacement button.
hi, i was wondering if there was a way to make a key act like 2 keys at the same time
I came across your program because my PC lost its left Windows key function, as well as the left ctrl key. This is the case on both a ps/2 keyboard well as a USB keyboard (not plugged in at the same time), and on both XP and a Linux distro (PCLinuxOS). And now under XP i just lost the left Alt and Shift keys, respectively, and F5, as well as Q and F using the ps/2 kbrd. Using these in your Type key option results in nothing.
I am not asking for tech help, and this appears to be a hardware problem (and i have not had any viruses), but whether i could remap the scroll lock key to replace the Alt and Tab combo. And also if you think remapping a key to replace the left crtl or left window key would work, and what the code is for these.
Thanks
I did successfully change the L Ctrl key to the Caps key (make sure it is off when you do) and the L. Alt to Pg. down, but remapping the scroll key would not work, though in Linux it does, nor would Num Lock work. Thanks for the good program.
(reading though the threads)…
This is one of THE most helpful programs I have EVER run! There isn’t mush I know of to help with the Apple keyboard system (since it seems to just *swap* keys), but on Windows (where this allows me to duplicate or even turn off keys), this is a practical Lifesaver!
Sure, there’s a few keyboards whose keys it doesn’t recognize (my Gateway), but on most of them (like my HP), it is PERFECT!… And I *still* can disable many keys on the Gateway (like the Caps Lock and Windows keys), so that still rates very useful!
I just came back to make another donation.. thanks again, Randy! (and good luck with the iPhone progress)…
Thanks! :)
Thanks for this great freeware!
It solved my problem with a stuck key…just changed the 0 key to a unknown key and i have no more 00000000000 problems :)
The “Unknown 0x0056 00_56” key also known as European OEM_102 (VK_OEM_102)
Hi,
I think I might be getting confused with language settings and key mapping. I have a US keyboard, but want it set in UK language. However, when I do this, the backslash key gets changed to a produce a #. Would it be possible to keep the language settings but change the key back to a backslash?
Also, is there an application key to launch a internet browser?
Thanks!
Great soft, thanks!
Sharpkeys does the trick for me, in combination with Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4 (both successfully tested on Windows 7 Pro), and here my question:
It would be great to have the ability to save the remapping as a registry file, to re-do and un-do the changes. Is it currently possible to do that?
I think I have managed to save the registry modifications, but please let me know if my procedure is incomplete. I did this:
(i) Type regedit in start menu search box,
(ii) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Keyboard Layout
(iii) Go to File -> Export and save the registry entry as OriginalKeyboardLayout.reg
(iv) Apply the changes implemented with Sharpkeys.
(v) Go to File -> Export and save the registry entry as ModifiedKeyboardLayout.reg
To revert to the original keyboard, run OriginalKeyboardLayout.reg
To apply the changes again, run ModifiedKeyboardLayout.reg
Does anyone know of a similar utility that would work on linux? e.g. on kubuntu.
With the import/export, that sould be correct but I don’t know if it’s ControlSet001 or CurrentControlSet that you’ll want to import/export from… and that might be different for the Server SKUs – I think for them is based off HKCU rather than HKLM, but it’s hard for me to remember…
On Linux/Unix, I’ve heard that there are but it’s likely in whichever shell you use… for example Apple has some of this redirect keyboard stuff in the OSX Shell but I dunno if that’s their coding or if it exposes something in Darwin…
thanks Randy, I didn’t know about these ControlSetThings, the following info sheds some light on what they do. As it turns out, in my case ControlSet001 was okay, but for others CurrentControlSet may be more appropriate.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100010
Control sets are stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, under the SYSTEM key. There may be several control sets depending on how often you change system settings or have problems with the settings you choose. A typical installation of Windows NT will contain four:
\ControlSet001
\ControlSet002
\CurrentControlSet
\Clone
ControlSet001 may be the last control set you booted with, while ControlSet002 could be what is known as the last known good control set, or the control set that last successfully booted Windows NT. The CurrentControlSet subkey is really a pointer to one of the ControlSetXXX keys. Clone is a clone of CurrentControlSet, and is created each time you boot your computer by the kernel initialization process. In order to better understand how these control sets are used, you need to be aware of another subkey, Select.
Select is also under the SYSTEM key. Select contains the following values:
Current
Default
Failed
LastKnownGood
Each of these values contain a REG_DWORD data type and refer to specifically to a control set. For example, if the Current value is set to 0x1, then CurrentControlSet is pointing to ControlSet001. Similarly, if LastKnownGood is set to 0x2, then the last known good control set is ControlSet002. The Default value usually agrees with Current, and Failed refers to a control set that was unable to boot Windows NT successfully.
The most valuable and reliable control set is CurrentControlSet. If you need to modify system settings in the Registry, CurrentControlSet is the best subkey to choose because you know that it is the correct control set. You also know that if your modifications harm your system configuration, you will still be able to boot using the last known good control set.
This will not impact any hardware warranties but this software is very much “as-is” and use it at your own risk.
Thanks, real great tool.
Apparently one of the bests out there.
Sharpkeys is a really usefull program, thanks a lot for build it,
I change some extra keys in my notebook to media keys, but it will not recognize some keys, only give a code like: (E0_74), (E0_75) and (E0_79) and it tells “You’ve entered a key that SharpKeys doesn’t know about”
there are any way to remap this manually??
’cause this “productivity” keys doesn’t work in win7, only in the original Vista, and I don’t use them, so I really want to remap these keys
To use the F1-F12 keys i have to hold down Fn, can i use this to remap it so to adjust the brightness/sound etc i have to hold down the Fn key?
Hi,
All I wish to do is to change the numbers lock key from its position on netbook to the right hand site of keyboard.
I was thinking of making the making the contrl the windows key [which I never use]
and using the new windows key as the numbers lock.
Does my question make sense? I am using WinXP xp3
I would also like to make one of the keys the english pound sign
Thanks for your input
Janina
Hi,
This software could be a life saver for me. :) Haha!
My provided keyboard by the Asus EEEtop range of PCs, does not have brightness control inbuild.
Can this be configured or mapped using Sharpkeys?
Thank you.
Nope – brightness controls are custom build for notebook PC’s and not natively supported by Windows.
Great program Randy. Is there a way to map a Shift”ed” key, e.g. map Alt Gr to “_” rather than Shift+Alt GR.
I’ve tried KeyTweak too.
Thanks.
Nope – only whole keys get remapped, sorry.
AutoHotKeys is who I usually recommend for more fine tuned remapping.
Good afternoon,
Want to thank you in advance for any direction and insight.
I am looking to only temporarily remap keys for a specific program that does not allow customization of its default key layout in the program. I only want to have this remapping available when I am in that program, then unloaded for all other day to day ‘keyboard standard’ work flow. Am I stuck with having to create and load that configuration, reboot, then unload the configuration, reboot, in order to do what I want to do? Or do you know of a better solution that would temporarily allow me to remap keys (resident program running is not an issue). Win7 64bit environment here.
Thank you again in advance for any advice and direction.
Thanks for creating SharpKeys! It provided me with an easy way remap the Apple MB110LL/A Keyboard on Windows 7 64-Bit. I now have a Print Screen Key! Yippie!
Thanks for the amazing software!
I wish to know if there’s a way to map a key so that it opens a program or application of my choice?
thanks in advance for ur assistance.
I liked the software, but I failed to achieve my initial goal – disable special power button.
It still switches computer off, though I can see that when I use “type key” it returnes 0000 key is disabled.
Any suggestions?
p.s. I have windows 7
Randy,I downloaded your software in an attempt to map my broken spacebar to an alternate key so far to no success. I am running V3.0 on vista and it says that the change has been made to regstry but it still isn’t working.
am I doing something wrong?
Thanks Randy, this software has helped me survive owning the Apple Keyboard on a windows box so I don’t go crazy hitting alt for the windows key!!
Can I map locations to individual keys? Say I want my F2 key to direct me to http://www.google.com or an address on my C: Drive, can I do that with this program?
Nope – it’s not a Macro builder – just a remapper. You might want to try AutoHotKeys.
Hello. Great program but I think I messed up. In an attempt to get my mac keyboard keypad (on the right of the keyboard) to work, I remapped the numbers over using SharpKey. There’s one problem though… my password on that machine has an exclamation point that is now not recognized by using the shift key on either the number keys on top or on the right of the keyboard. Any ideas?
Thanks!
OK, So I just had to crack the Admin password and access your program that way. All is right in my world. Thanks, again!
thank you so much.
For those frustrated Acer users who buy machines from vendors like Costco with bilingual keyboard (and the too-small left shift key), this is an absolute godsend.
Many thanks!
Thanks for a nice simple program. It’s not that easy to find keys I don’t use! I have lots that I’d like on my Mac keyboard, but when I change one I find I use it more than I think! Still the program works great. I like great programs that don’t try to do too much.
Hi ! The program works great but I would like to know if there is any way to assign to key in keyboard a letter that isn’t in it .
I need instead of ‘ the letter (not supported e with 2 dots) .
Please reply .
Best Regards .
Nope – it remaps whole keys only.
Hi! I’m using windows 7, will sharpkeys still work for me? I downloaded the program and remapped my ctrl key to the up arrow since I keep accidentally hitting it. My ctrl key is now disabled, but it was not remapped to the up arrow. Is this because I am using windows 7? Thanks!
I use Windows 7 on all of my machines and it works fine… my thought is that you might have flipped the From and To keys so you ended up disabling Ctrl?
thanks! i thought i was going to buy a new keyboard… a thousand thanks! :)
I am using it with a mac keyboard and windows 7.
Is there a way to remap ‘cmd’ and ‘alt’ keys?
It doesn’t detect left alt, and with alt tab the program says that it doesn’t know about the typed key.
For when SharpKeys’s new version correcting bugs and changing the icon of the application that is disgusting?
Thanks!!
Well, SharpKeys is open source and has been for at least a year… so if you have bugs to report (because I don’t know of any) or don’t like the icon, I would take it to the community rather than trying to insult the creator of the original icon.
Thanks!
Randy, no one is insulting or trying to, any code can be debugged.
The “icon” of the application is a “key” ultra poor resolution, pixilated around the edges, and the interior is poorly implemented elements and blurry textures disproportionate addition, an “icon”spot say.
SharpKeys application is wonderful, but please do not cost anything to create an icon design and quality with a native resolution of at least 256 x 256 px to integrate well with Windows Vista and Windows 7 in large icon view especially with Windows 7.
And do not even need to create it or because there are facts.
For example MapKeyboard is similar but less than SharpKeys and yet has a more decent icon.
SharpKeys really is wonderful and I have not found an alternative that is equally full, but the icon is out of tune enough
Always it is necessary to improve!
Please you that you have hand do something for changing it.
Thanks!
You are my god. My laptop did not have dedicated volume up and down keys so I would always have to use Fn key to change my volume. With Sharpkeys I was easily able to remap my F7 and F8 (which I dont really use often) to volume up and down keys. I have a Windows 7 and it works great. Now I am thinking of finding a good use of Capslock keys and some other keys that I never use.
Mr. Randy, you are my new GOD from today. Please let me know whayt animal you want for the annual sacrifice ceremony.
Thank you.
Can I simply say such a help to find person who essentially realizes what they may be sharing on the web. You actually find out how to bring a problem to light and allow it to critical. Even more people require to study this particular and understand this particular side of the story. I can’t believe you are not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
Hello, can i change the enter button to the insert button located by the f buttons?
YOU MADE MY DADS COMPUTER UNABLE TO LOG IN! I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO FIX IT
Randy,
First thanks for creating such a great tool.
Windows XP does not allow me to turn off or uninstall Sticky Keys. It activates by holding down the shift key for about eight seconds. I play WoW and holding down the shift key is used to compare items with ones you have equipped. The problem is, before I get a good look at the comparison, Sticky Keys turns on and totally screws up my game navigation. I have to totally exit the game to reset it.
I would like to move that function to another key without moving the normal shift function. When I press the right shift key down while using the Type button in SharpKeys, it changes to (EO_3F36) after a few seconds. I get a message that it is not a key that the program recognizes.
Is it possible to remap that function to another key while leaving the Shift functional for normal use? If so, how?
Thanks for your time.
You could remap another key for Shift, but then Sticky Keys would still pick up the use of Shift and behave the same way… your best bet would be to see if you can track down how to turn off Sticky Keys (or get an operating system that was released this decade which has more options of configuration :).)
@GRRR – Actually, YOU made your Dad’s computer unable to log in. All of the documentation clearly states how the application works – not even sure why you can’t log in – want to explain it a bit better?
Question: Can I map a specific key (say right alt) to the effect of another key but from a different input language (non US). The point would be to avoid switching input language keyboard (left Alt+shift), because of one single character often needed from the other input language.
Re:(or get an operating system that was released this decade which has more options of configuration :).)
A simple “I don’t know” probably would have sufficed.
As a Michigan resident who has been unemployed for over two years, I wish I had the funds to ‘upgrade’. Unfortunately, when I built this machine, the current operating system for Windows was Vista. I opted to use XP because it was far more stable and reliable. Cutting edge is not always as razor sharp as some folks seem to think it is.
Still all in all, SharpKeys is a great program. I’ve been able to remap several hot keys that were a pain and I thank you for that.
Sorry to hear you’re out of work – believe me, I offer the same advice to everyone equally, from CEO to layman.
Anyway, like I was saying with StickKeys: http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/463
Dear Randy,
thank you for your nice tool.
Maybe you can help me with a small issue I have:
I’m using the Apple Wireless Keyboard on my (non-Apple) Windows 7 64Bit PC.
The keyboard is running fine so far, with – some – media keys working out of the box: rewind, play/pause and fast forward.
Unfortunately, the keys for mute, volume up and volume down do nothing so I tried to map the F10-F12 keys to these functions. But these keys are only recognized as F-keys when used together with the fn-key. Wenn pressed without fn, the keys are not recognized by sharpkeys at all.
Is there a way to map volume control to these buttons without the need to press fn?
(strangely, the F-keys also work wenn pressed together with another F-key or the escape button instead of the fn-key. E.g. if I hold F12 and press F11, I get the F11-function – which is volume down in my case.)
Any help is appreciated!
@datenesser: the media keys and Apple keyboards can be quirky… you might want to see about downloading a copy of the Apple keyboard driver that ships with Bootcamp – that might help enable the Fn function keys and allow for better remapping…
Is there a way to assign a word macro to the tilde/grave key?
If I understand the question correctly, I would say “it depends on Word”.
SharpKeys does nothing more than expose a registry setting that Windows uses to remap whole keys (meaning you can’t remap Alt-Tab but you can remap Alt) – it knows nothing of macros or where Word would assign a macro.
For something like that you’ll want to investigate apps like AutoHotKeys.
Excellent program. Finally a way of deactivating keys without prising them from the board!
I love this tool to be the advanced stuff. But i did the most stupidest and idiotic thing… :( Please help if there is an alternative..
-My Windows 7 has a logon password…i remapped a key ‘ H’ to Numpad 1 for an application purpose
– (While remapping i forgot about the password) I thought i will rollback to normal after my work is done.
-Now after applying the registry settings and reboot – i am not able to login with the password..Is there any alternative?
Most you can do is attempt to boot to Safe Mode and clean out the Registry setting… sadly, this situation is pretty screwed up: the remapping is done before you sign in.
Thanks for the great job!
I have windows 7 on my macbook and the volume keys work using bootcamp drivers. What I need is some function keys (f2 and f5) work as function keys and some (f10 – f12) work as media keys. I tried mapping f12 to “Media:Volume Up(E0_30)”, but it didn’t work. Is there any other keys which work as media keys in apple keyboard?
I prefer not to use fn key if possible.
Thanks
I would grab a copy of the keyboard drivers for Windows that Apple includes in BootCamp – that will at least get you some feature parity with the media/Fn keys…
i have a hp laptop whose function keys are also used for brightness, volume, etc. what i want to do is be able to use them as function keys, not media keys.
how can i do this?
tia
thankyou soooo much for sharpkeys!! it is amazing, i can finally start using the ` key ingames (most games dont recocognize it)!!
http://www.easytousetools.com/keyboard_remapper/
Worked for me, but I think SharpKeys would be better if we had somewhere we could all load and compare our keyboard layouts. I’m using the slim aluminium Apple keyboard, UK layout like many of you too.
Having a list of switchable options would be handy.
I would suggest the feature request to the open source community at Codeplex – SharpKeys has been posted there for some time. Also, be aware that Keyboard Remapper uses different technology than SharpKeys; Keyboard Remapper has an application that stays in memory and can handle combination keys. SharpKeys simply exposes a registry key that Windows itself uses to remap whole keys (which is why it doesn’t do combination keys.)
Muito obrigado pelo Sharpkeys , thank you so verymuch
Hi, nice program, there just seems one thing I am not able to achieve with it. I am on a IBM TP60, Win XP Pro SP3, with a Spanish kbd, trying to write in english. so far-so good. I also use the normal windows language bar in order to switch to bulgarian (phonetic layout)- which also works, with the peculiar exception of the W and V keys, which are switched ( the W is supposed to give me a Б and the V to give me a Ж). I tried switching them with sharpkeys when on BG, but I only got a general total switch between W and V, also in EN. any ideas how can I do the switch in BG only?
Thanx
I downloaded this to re-map my alt, ctrl keys to mimic the mac’s and didn’t realize it was a one way mapping. I set up my left control to left alt and right control to right alt. I didn’t add the left alt to left control and right alt to right control mapping. This left me unable to login.
I hope to save somebody a reformat! Safemode didn’t work but I was able to remote into my computer and remove the registry hacks!
Thought I was mapping my CTRL to BECOME the Delete key but I evidently went in the wrong direction.
Now that I have a THIRD CTRL key, how do I get my Delete key back?
I tried the EDIT function and that wasn’t right. If I use the DELETE function on the Sharpkeys screen will that reset my Delete key?
Geesh. Does any of this make sense?
Please help.
Thanks
It makes sense: remove everything in the list and save out your changes and the keyboard should be restored to normal.
I have a question.
Why some PC-games ignore the binds?
For example I bind “Numlock” to “Q” and some games ignore that bind and they detect “Numlock” as “Numlock” in the game controls settings. But the key is “Q” on windows.
So when this happen, sometimes I cant use some keys of the Numpad because the games does not detect these keys.
In that case I use Autohotkey and it works good but after 5 minuts playing I get this error:#MaxHotkeysPerInterval ,and the program stops working.
So I must to create a mix sharpkeys/autohotkey bindings with each game because as I say some games ignore the bindings. Is frustasting :( theses game developers dont care about lefthanders…
Sorry my English and thak you.
It’s all about what the games send through Windows and what they don’t. If they send them through Windows, then the mappings defined by SharpKeys will work – if they trap them and don’t pass them through Windows, then AutoHotKeys is a better way to go.
Why is that some applications uses the spacebar to reselect a button that was just previously selected? Is there a way to turn this feature off and only use the spacebar to enter a space only? Can I remap it?
Thanks,
H
doesn’t work :\
Um, thanks for the feedback?
Will this work to remap an Enter key that was probably fried? Someone spilled liquid on my keyboard and all of the keys work except Enter. I would like to remap that key to another but people are saying I either need a whole new laptop or a whole new keyboard. What do you think?
It should; you would just have to give up another key to use as Enter.
Thanks for great tool.
I type with right hand and now my left hand is active in my faster typing.
Left hand presses
old tilde~key to delete files etc
caps lock is a left hand enter key
ctrl is a left hand backspace key
windows key is now left hand ctrl key
now i can hold ctrl+alt with one finger
Wonderful application, but to see if we change the icon itself is not integrated with the Windows 7 Superbar !
Thanks.
Found your app and it looks great, I just can’t get it to do the main thing I need it for. Maybe I’m doing something wrong and you can correct me and my life will be wonderful. I have a Dell laptop and the F-number-keys do double duty. They’re the aforementioned F-number-keys but are also multimedia/”other” controls. They’re the multimedia/other controls by default, and to use the F-number-key functionality one must hold the Fn key while hitting the needed F-number-key. The problem is that F2 is also wifi on/off toggle, so if I hit it accidentally the wifi goes off. I’d like to map it to nothing. It’s not labeled in SharpKeys. When I use Type Key on the left, it recognizes it but after logging off and back on, it didn’t change anything. When I used Type Key on the right, it seems to recognize it and shows the key number(?) but behind is a box with the message “You’ve entered a key that Sharpkeys doesn’t know about…check for a new version..)
Thank you.
I have a Macbook with a Japanese Macintosh Keyboard-layout, I am using the Macbook under Windows 7 most of the time, and I prefer to having a German keyboard-layout.
Thank you so much for your tool! I’d be lost otherwise!
Is there a keycode for blank keys? I want to remap capslock so that it doesn’t have a function unless one is individually assigned by another program, as in it acts like it is turned off normally, but I can still set it to actions within games.
Sort of. You can definitely turn it off – it’s the top most item on the list on the right side… but it will be completely disabled at that point. A game may or may not respect the mapping that Windows has; that would be up for trial and error.
i have just downloaded sharpkeys 3.0. my computer is a pc running windows 7 64 bit and i am the administrator. when i try to remap the F4 key to the ` key so that when i hit alt ` it will exit a program nothing happens. but the F4 key no longer functions unless i go back and delete the remapping data. the same situation applies when i try to remap the delete key to the left Windows key. this use to work on XP but not now on Win 7 64 bit. any help would be greatly appreciated. also, i have tried running the sharpkeys prog as administrator, but it still does not work.
Did you reboot between saving to the registry?
And actually, I think you might have the remapping reversed. If you want the ` to act like F4, then you have to remap the key as :
From ` to F4… I just tried that and it seems to work OK.
you are right, i had the remapping reversed. thanks
Why not empower users by telling them where the registry key is? That’s better than telling them their machine is baked if they miss wire the thing with SharpKeys (since you can just delete the key to go back to normal).
More considerations.
I am assuming this is universal across keyboards. Therefore you can only use one keyboard if you really remap things. For that reason there should be at the least a save/load mapping function. So you can store your mappings per which keyboard you intend to be using.
It’s a serious failing that per keyboard remapping is not built into the Control Panel. I personally am always finding myself using this hack because there are so many different arrangements of keys now on the market, which is a serious problem for professionals who rely upon the standard layout for speedy/tension free programming/word-processing/etc. So I always have to pluck off and rearrange several keys in order to approximate the keys that are supposed to be to the right of the qwerty block. Thanks.
PS: This time I had to go way out to find a budget 6KRO board for testing games. There was only one board on the market (every board should be at least 6KRO) and it is very compact. Just like my dev laptop actually. SharpKey’s comes to the rescue again, except I take this nettop on the road with me, and expect to be switching keyboards regularly. In my case I can figure out how to export/import the keys from the registry, but for less tech savvy people SharpKeys needs that as a feature.
^SharpKeys should have have a button to delete the registry key as well. That way if you have a mouse, you can find it in the Start menu, open it, and undo your changes / start over from scratch in an emergency.
Alternatively, probably Delete All -> Write would work. You should amend your FAQ.
Q: What happens if I use your utility and I add a bunch of key mapping and I can’t use my computer anymore?
w/r/t to the registry key itself, that’s way outside the scope of the application, since the whole reason for the app is so a user doesn’t have to care about the Registry. This all started as a way to turn off Caps Lock via the Registry and morphed from there – for what it sounds like you want to do, I would use regedit for your own needs and call it good:
– Set a bookmark in Regedit for the key
– Use Sharpkeys to set what keys you want
– Use the import/export features in Regedit to set up different “keyboards”.
Beyond that, all feature requests should be shot over to CodePlex, since I haven’t done any active development on the project since it went to open source…
Cheers mate!
Thanks so much for making sharpkeys available! As a long-time *nix admin, I’ve gotten very accustomed to using Mod4 (aka Windows logo key) as my primary modifier. Since recently I’ve been doing some work with Windows, the logo key popping up the start menu was driving me crazy! Thanks to you using Windows is now nearly as easy for me as using *nix. :)
Dance like no one’s going to put it on YouTube.
Hey. Im trying to use sharp keys to map a broken key to something less important but its just not working. Done everything right as far as the maping and rebooting goes even tried it with 2 random keys and it wouldnt work. running as admin on win 7 64bit. have a missed something in the instalation process? downloaded it as a zip file
Forget I said anything I had the from to bit the wrong way round. *feels stupid* cheers for fantasticly useful program.
i have a new laptop with a keyboard that uses the FN button. right now, my keyboard is set so that if i want to press the “home” and “end” keys, i need to first hold the FN key and then press “page up” or “page down” respectively. however i use the home and end keys more often than the page up or down. i realize this is an impractical request and is more than just looking for a setting to change, but id really like to switch that so i have to press fn to use pgup and pgdn, and i can just press the buttons to use home and end. does anyone know how to do this?
and i also have to press FN and “left arrow” to turn volume down, and fn “right arrow” for volume up. id like to be able to do this with one hand for the reason of just being easier as well. does anyone know how i can switch the fn keys so that if i press for example, fn+z volume down, and fn+x volume up since those keys are more closely related to the fn button?
thank you very much. I was able to configure my latinamerican keyboard with a damaged (stucked) key. thanks.
Hi
i have an eeepc1000 he which recently i have installed win7 on it, i used your sharpkeys V3 on it, and tried to change several keys , but it didn’t work, did i miss sth?
Can I use sharpkeys to assign the british pound sign to a key?
Thanks!
@Henry – I’d need more information than that. SharpKeys works on Windows 7 so it should work, unless you’re trying to remap one of the hardware-based keys like Fn or Power.
@David – Only if there’s a pound sign key on it’s own…
Hey i have an inspiron 1525 and the media play/pause button is by default mapped to work only with windows media player so is there any way to map it to other players as well??
The very good software but almost three years out of upgrade, at least update the icon, is disgusting and has no quality.
It has already been discussed and are right.
I need an Enter key on the left side of the keyboard. Can I use SharpKeys to make the tilde key into an Enter key but still keep the tilde and instead make the doodad under it the Enter key. Is that possible?
Nope. As is discussed, it’s a whole key remapper so you can’t remap Shift+` to one key.
Randy,
Can use SharpKeys to remap the @ and ” keys which are interchnaged on my keyboard ?
Chris
I am using hp laptop dv6-6121tx running on windows7 home premium os. I tried the sharpkey 3.00. I wanted to change the function keys. But it is not recognising the keys. Any other updated versions.
I have the same laptop to the guy above but with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and the same problem, “can not be living off the rent,” it is time to update the application and by the way Randy, when you go to update the application to SharpKeys 3.1?, certainly not let you forget to change the icon, which you have been told several times.
I hope man answer and updates, a lack of professionalism not to update this great tool.
Regards.
Actually, if you read the whole thread, you’ll see that people were “demanding” the project be put out to Open Source, so I did that, by putting it out on Codeplex.
There’s a developer community out there – please direct all feature requests to them…
For me, SharpKeys is an app I run once with each new install of Windows and then forget about it… and since I can’t draw past the 8-bit level, I’ve no skills to update the icon.
Hi !
I installed your program on a friends computer, and when i deleted all the mapped keys, and reboot, it startet with the keys mapped!
Can you help ?!
Works great on Lenovo T420s running Windows 7. Perfect for remapping capslock to control for emacs users.
Thanks!
Hi. I wish to re-map my TAB key since its broken but can’t find it. I am using Windows 7 64bit. Could use your help on how to get it done. Thanks.
the program said i found a key that it didnt know about and that i should tell you, the code is:E0_3F23, it activates the windows calculator on my laptop. it appears to be the same code when i use the function key with any F# key as well. but i found it first by hitting a single button with a calculator on it.
I want to remap my numberic key pad so that in the num lock off mode I can enter alpha grades.
I didn’t see a differentiation from num lock off or num lock on. Also, is it possible to program in B+, or am I stuck with a sinlge character?
Hey, thanks for your products, it’s just amazing tool to fix keys issues when you are playing with Windows under Parallels on Mac =)
I have found a new key to be listed: E0_2038 – it’s right alt/option key on Mac Pro (and mac keyboards in general, I believe). It would be cool to have an option to map it to Application (RMB Menu in Windows)
@Jim – not sure what you mean about B+ but this remaps whole keys, so I doubt what you want is possible with SharpKeys.
@Dmitry – please send this feedback over to the open source project on Codeplex – I’ve long since turned this over to them.
Hi, despite knowing that you are through with this project, I just wanted to thank you. Somehow my keyboard mappings under Win7 got totally screwed. The down arrow not only moved the cursor down but also deleted a character, the Home key did not work at all and Space was F9 all of a sudden.
Just installing and running (!) SharpKeys without any further action had things come back to normal.
Thanks a LOT and good luck with everything you are planning.
I am running Windows 7 on a Macbook pro with Bootcamp, and don’t have the use of a right click button on this computer. How can I remap a right-click button on my keyboard?
@Malte – thanks :)
@Frank – there’s no way for Windows to map a mouse button to a keyboard key. That said, you can map the Application Key to another key on a laptop – that is very similar to a right click on a mouse, depending on if the application is listening for it…
Hi, I just noticed a problem and wondered if there was a workaround. I have remapped the Caps-Lock key to be Left-Ctrl (part of several remappings). But that key does not process holding properly.
Example, if I hold down the remapped Caps-Lock key (which windows sees as Ctrl) and hit the Z key multiple times, the first one Windows registers a Ctrl-Z, and all subsequent presses just register a Z.
(Sorry, my post was cut off.)
I was wondering if this could be fixed?
Thanks very much!
Sounds like your Caps Lock isn’t behaving like a regular key – would this be on a Mac, perhaps?
Thank you for responding. :)
Nope. Fresh install of Windows 7, 64bit. Sharpkeys 3.0.
And like I said, it’s not “a” capslock key. I tried 3 different keyboards, because I thought it was so strange. Always the same result.
It is strange. I remapped my right Ctrl key to a Windows key and it works OK, in terms of holding the key down and doing multiple combos. Not entirely sure what is going on there… FWIW, my app doesn’t handle the remapping itself; that’s done by Windows. It could be that whatever you’re mapping/remapping isn’t expected to be a held key?
Hey there! well i did get anew keyboard and it seems that there are a few keys your program didn’t see then, ( it does but the programs doens’t know what they are ) i was wondering if you could make so so ANY key can be made into anything? if so please let me know i would love it!
Sorry i wanted to make a update to the post but there is no edit button. Also, with keyboard it types perfectly fine, but inside a game or something when i hit the “W” key the hex is the w but then it turns to something else.
@Jeff – for additional keys, try the community at Codeplex. This app went open source a long while ago.
I figured it out, Randy…
(Of course Sharpkeys would not have been truly responsible anyway, it’s just writing to the registry and the windows keyboard handler is doing the remapping.) I just thought maybe you’d heard of the problem.
What this turned out to be was a not-very-good PS2-to-USB keyboard adapter.
Going through a different more expensive adapter now and everything is fine on all keyboards.
If anyone else has flaky intermittent problems with their PS/2 keyboard, I would recommend this converter from Ziotek:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BSJFJS/ref=oh_o02_s00_i00_details
Thanks!
@Randy where at? do i search for the program name?
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your work!
Thank you very much! :)
I just bought a new laptop and it has US buttons layout on my keyboard. Since I live in Estonia and I use Estonian language on my KB, I had one missing key between “left shift” and “Z” that types “>” in my language. I was missing that button a lot. And now when I’ve found your application, I finally have that button again! :) In different location, but I have it! :)
Thank you very much indeed!!!!!
Thalia, from Estonia (Europe)
Hi,
I’m wondering of it would be possible to reprogramme the full stop (guess you guys would call it a period across the pond) on the separate group of numbers at the end of the keyboard so that it operates as a comma without affecting the full stop on the main part of the keyboard where the letters are?
Sorry for the terrible explanation, English is my first language, honest!
@Matt – that should be doable. I believe all of the NumLock keys are in the lists and treated differently than the normal numbers… it should be worth a shot :)
Thanks Randy, I’ll give it a go, fingers crossed!
Matt
Brilliant! I’ve been looking for this one application since ages! The alt key on my laptop has been malfunctioning(remains pressed) and hence I have been painfully been using my laptop by activating sticky keys in the accessibility menu in the control panel. Now that I have been able to disable the alt key with this app, I am being able to use my laptop absolutely smoothly, finally!
Thank you so so much!!
A very handy program. Thanks a lot Randy. It has allowed me to map media volume up and down keys to my keyboard that doesn’t have those keys on it.
Cheers Peter
Since my desktop broke the other weekend I have of course been looking into buying a new one but I’ll admit I am totally lost mainly due to all the different makes and models there are to choose from. Once I landed on your site I just knew I had found a great source of information and I now say I feel I know what to look for a little better
Well done Randy,
I was having a problem foinding the codes to type in. Your keyboard remapper made it really easy.
Thanks Muchly
BGA
On my new Dell Vostro 3550 (running Windows 7 x64), I need a break key. I installed SharpKeys 3.5, but don’t seem to be able to get a break key. I am testing for break key functionality by breaking out of a message box in an MS Access database. Using Onscreen Keyboard, and doing Ctrl+Pause, this works. However, I’m unable to get it working by remapping keys.
I am trying to remap the Pause key to the Application key (E0_5D). I have tried the following keys as the “From key” in SharpKeys:
Unknown: (E0_46)
Num Lock (00_45)
Scroll Lock (00_46)
I have logged out and in each time (didn’t reboot), but don’t have break key functionality.
Any ideas for what else to try, or what I might be doing wrong? Thanks!!!
OK, I got it working.
First, I was doing it backwards. I was putting the key I wanted to press in “To” instead of in “From.” A couple of web sites I was looking at for notes had it that way, where the key that you press is “To” (e.g., http://bit.ly/LGXqYS). (Were they reversed in the latest version?)
In any case, once I figured out to put the key to press in the “From” area, using E0_46 in the “To” area worked great for “Break.”
So, thanks a lot for this wonderful tool! Really helped a lot.
I have turned the ALT key off. how can I turn it back to on in a later day.
Hi Randy,
I love Sharpkeys and used it fine when running Windows XP on my laptop, remapping the special delete key to the right control key.
I recently had my laptop updated to Windows 7 (the laptop came originally with Windows 7 when it was just new, but I it preferred to have XP at that time which our IT person then installed).
When I now try to remap the special delete key to the right control key again, it doensn’t work with Windows 7. I checked the .Net Framework which is 3.5.1.
What should I do for the remapping to work?
Thanks,
Ed
What’s the function of the pause break key?
http://postimg.org/image/48g7fa4ql/ with this keys in the multimedia keyboard doesn’t work with firefox can you make another program to make it possible? thouse are back and forward keys but only works in the folders not the browsers
Thank you so much, you just made my life a little bit easier!
its not working while game is running
Is it possible to map a combination of scan codes to a single key?
I need to have a character which could only be reached by a “shift+key” -operation on another key.
In detail it’s the colon : which I need for easier entering time-data into a form.
Nope. See the FAQ for more information.
The SharpKeys application does not contain all media application key codes, which are listed in WM_APPCOMMAND.
For example, I miss these:
APPCOMMAND_BASS_DOWN = 19
APPCOMMAND_BASS_BOOST = 20
APPCOMMAND_BASS_UP = 21
APPCOMMAND_TREBLE_DOWN = 22
APPCOMMAND_TREBLE_UP = 23
APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_MUTE = 24
APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_DOWN = 25
APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_UP = 26
APPCOMMAND_REPLY_TO_MAIL = 39
APPCOMMAND_FORWARD_MAIL = 40
APPCOMMAND_SEND_MAIL = 41
APPCOMMAND_SPELL_CHECK = 42
APPCOMMAND_DICTATE_OR_COMMAND_CONTROL_TOGGLE = 43
APPCOMMAND_MIC_ON_OFF_TOGGLE = 44
APPCOMMAND_CORRECTION_LIST = 45
On the other side, I found “App: Messenger (E0_11)”, which is not available in the WM_APPCOMMANDs’ list under this name. What is the app code for this key (not scancode)?
Thanks
SharpKeys exposes a registry key that Windows uses to remap keys; that Registry entry only recognizes scancodes – not APPCOMMANDs – so these commands would not be re-mappable. You can always post this to the open source depository on CodePlex if you want to, to see if anyone else has attempted to work with these before.
I have a lenovo t430 and trying to map the PrtSc key to the right click (context key) since they got rid of it
Which key should i select to remap?
Which key should I remap to?
Thanks!
Found it @ ___Special: PrtSc (E0_37)___ and Special: Application respectively :_
Randy, you saved my sanity.
Five or six years ago, I was using a tiny keyboard on a tiny desk. I was constantly hitting Home when I wanted to Backspace, so I reassigned that function to Home (also moved Home to F12, which I promptly forgot). Not sure how I did it, but I don’t remember it as being hard to do.
Now, I have a decent keyboard, and was trying to write a macro that used the Home function. Didn’t work! Couldn’t find out how to remap the keyboard, as the app I used the first time had gone away, apparently as part of some ancient version of Windows.
The Geeks tried three times to help me. No joy. Microsoft Support were as worthless at teats on a bull. But I found SmartKeys, downloaded it, and it worked like a champ. Thank you thank you thank you. I left a small donation (would have been more, but Christmas is upon us.)
Hi, I have a us keyboard with no pound sign I was hoping I could use sharpkeys to map a pound to $ key. I cannot see how to do this though. Is it possible ? if so could you help a newbie out and explain
I can only find f1-f15. Is there way to map f16,f17, and so on to something else? Thanks!
hello, i must say it is very good software. But it doesnt work in bios..
i cant reinstall my lap top because down arrow doesnt work :) most ridicuolus probem
is there any way that sharp keys work in bios?SAsa
Nope: SharpKeys doesn’t remap anything – it exposes a Registry key that Windows uses to remap keys. As the BIOS is all hardware driven and well before Windows runs, there’s nothing it can do.
I love Sharpkeys and used it fine when running Windows XP on my laptop, remapping the special delete key to the right control key.
Why can’t i change my left shift key to my right shift key
good work keep it up
Good Work
Is there possibility to remap fn+shift (pause) on a HP laptop to a single key?
Nope. Combo keys are not remappable with this tech and I think Pause is a triple-byte code.