PSA: SharpKeys works on Windows 11 with the current 3.9 version – no updates are required for the new OS.
Works as well as it did on Windows 10. And 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, NT 4, and NT 3.51 before it!
Additional PSA: if you are looking to modify combo keys (“How do I change Ctrl+Z?”) or hardware keys that Windows cannot recognize (00_100) or “new” keys that are triple-byte enabled (“How do I remap E0_205B?”) please give Windows PowerToys a look. Their remapper is active, meaning there’s a service running that maps keys for you while SharpKeys is simply exposing the key remapping that is built into Windows itself.
As a note, if you are trying to switch Ctrl and CapsLock using Windows PowerToys it will break the way AltGr works for international keyboards (see issue #11734). SharpKeys works just fine.
Many thanks for the app. I didn’t know Windows could do that.
My left shift failed miserably – on a less than 2 year old model M keyboard from Unicomp, I might add – and I was going nuts trying to do my normal keyboard things using the right shift.
I found your app and mapped the Caps lock key to the left shift. Since it’s right above the left shift, it’s a small muscle memory adjustment and I think I’ll get used to it while I wait for my not-from-Unicomp keyboard to arrive.
Well, I haven’t actually purchased another one yet, maybe I’ll wait a couple of days and see how the new Caps-lock-as-shift goes. But for me, only a model M will do. I had the same one (original IBM) for almost 25 years and it only went to the keyboard graveyard because I got it wet. Too bad Unicomp’s aren’t made to last.
Okay, enough of my tale; you’ve made my day with your app. Thanks again!
Thank you randy for the beautiful software! I am using to disable a key binding that has no settings in the game.
No it does not work, the key sometimes is pressed somehow but when I press it again to disable it, it goes back to not working (like intended) and I can’t disable it, worse than before using your software
Sorry, but I’ve been using it for close to a year: works fine.
What key are you trying to map and are you remember to reboot after saving the Registry setting?
The £ sign has gone from my pc, where and why has it moved. I’m in the UK and tried settings UK but no joy.
“… but when I press it again to disable it, it goes back to not working (like intended) and I can’t disable it, …”
OK,
First – you need to put the tacos down and step away from the chalupa.
Second – contrary to what you’ve been told, Star Trek was not actually filmed “On Location”.
Have a nice bidet.
Downloaded ver 3.9, but it doesn’t recognize my Prt SC/ScrLk key, which is one of the two keys I need to remap.
FYI: Running Windows 11 on LG Gram 15Z95N laptop.
Help!
–Mark B.
Thank you for this awesome program, Randy! Now I can use my Apple keyboard on my Windows freely.
(if you dont know, the Windows/Command and the Alt keys are switched on this keyboard, so its a HUGE pain in the ass to get used to the new layout, if you even wanna get used to it, which I dont)
You are great! Thanks again!
Randy, you saved my life. Why on earth Windows Powertoys is set to work only when actively infesting a laptop I can’t imagine, never mind that I had no luck whatever with it when trying perhaps THE most wanted keyboard remap (for anyone who writes words, anyway): to set the CapsLock key to be a control key by any means possible.
(Why on earth every keyboard still features an antiquated function on a key one hits all the time by mistake and which LOCKS the KEYBOARD into CAPS is another question. You might think it would at least be revised to a simple shift function…)
Note for downloaders: SharpKeys sticks, does not have to be part of any other program to fix up your keyboard to suit yourself.
Another note: please donate at least enough for Randy to buy a few cups of coffee or a case of Coca-Cola. You’ll never regret it.
Your Aunt
Hello! Thank you so much for the kindness! Always appreciate all the coffee I can get my mitts on!
I can actually answer the question with regards to PowerToys, since I have an app in there too, although it’s unrelated to keyboard remapping. SharpKeys exposes some Windows tech that’s buried deep in the bowels that remaps [most] keys on a keyboard. For you and me, that means we can repurpose Caps Lock or obliterate entirely. And I mean that! Before I found the Windows setting, I used to physically pop the Caps Lock key off my keyboard. Anyway, once you set the remappings up in SharpKeys (or directly in the Registry) the remapping is done by Windows itself.
The remapper in PowerToys is an active remapper, meaning that as an app, it has to be running to function. If it’s not running, it won’t remap anything, because, well, it’s not running. That said, when it is running, it’s capable of doing far more things than the Windows remapper can. For example, SharpKeys has to map a whole key at a time, so if you remap the f key to g, and hit SHIFT+F you’ll see a capital G. WIN+F, and Windows sees it as WIN+G. The whole key moves. PowerToys allows you to remap partial or modified keys. So CTRL+S can be remapped to SHIFT+O or something like that. It also handles a few more scancodes because it can keep its own list of available keys.
I just think it’s more functionality that what you needed and if you don’t need it, why have an extra app to run? Unless of course, there’s something else in the suite you need, which I often do, but that’s a whole other conversation – I’m just glad my little bit of code could help you get what you needed into place!
Thanks!
Hi there,
I got an Artek bluetooth keyboard (HB086) and for some reason they replaced the Esc key with the Home Key. I tried already changing it with your little program, but now success. It tells me that it doesn’t know the key when I type it.
It is (00_100). Is there a way to get this working?? I would really really apprechiate it!!
Best from Germany, Jules
Tried to map Caps Lock to Shift as in Blender I am always accidentally hitting Caps Lock instead of Shift. Used Sharpkeys and in some places it now acts like Shift but it does not work in Blender. This seems weird that one programme ignores the remapping.
Nothing much I can do to help with this one: my app tells Windows to remap a key and Windows is doing it, but not on this one app. Makes me think that the app is grabbing the input directly and not from the Windows input stream. Some games do this; could be that Blender had to do this to support more than one platform? I think I remember Blender being on multiple OS’s.
I hoped ur software sharpkey would disable the office key on my MS keyboard, but ur program does not recognize it. Any ideas on how to disable this key.
Indeed, the Office key (and the Emoji key and the Copilot key) all send triple-byte codes, which the Windows tech cannot remap successfully.
Give PowerToys or AutoHotKeys a look – they should be able to help.