Map Any Key to Any Key on Windows XP / Vista
If you are tired of the way certain keys on your system work, such as the Caps Lock key, you can re-map them to function as a different key by using a registry hack. But there should be an easier way, right?
This is where SharpKeys comes into the picture: It's a small utility that will let you easily map one key to another key easily, or even turn the key off, without having to enter the registry at all.
For instance, I used the key mapping to just turn off my Caps Lock key, since I never use it.
You can click the Add button to bring up the Add New Key Mapping dialog, where you can either select the keys to map from the lists, or just click the Type Key button and press the key manually (which I find much more intuitive)
Once you are done, click the Write to Registry button and you'll be told to log off or reboot for the changes to take effect.
If you want all the technical details on how the registry keys work, you can read about how to map keys using registry hacks.
I've been wondering how you could do this on a macbook. I just hooked up my new mac keyboard and my "home" and "end" keys don't do what they are suppose to do.
Any help?
Great tip I HATE caps lock
@Ali - Try DoubleCommand - doublecommand.sourceforge.net
or uControl - http://www.gnufoo.org/ucontrol/
It should be noted that you can do this on WinXP using AutoHotKey, but it sounds like this would be handy for those who do not want an app running in the background.
hopefully this'll work with bootcamp so i dont keep hitting the 'windows'/apple key for ctrl
I map caps lock to Escape. It is fantastic for using Vi and Vim- the escape key is the key you'll hit more frequently than any other yet it's the most out of the way- mapping caps lock to it puts it in a very accessible spot on the mirror image side of Enter.
Well it can work fine for me, I think Ctrl+Backspace is worth Backspace
Sharp Keys is SWEET!
And HowToGeek.com rocks. My two items on today's to-do list were to:
1 - Once and for all disable the Caps Lock, Insert and Windows keys, and,
2 - Find out where the "Up One Level" icon is hiding in Vista's Explorer.
Twice now Google has lead me to HowToGeek.com. Twice now I've received good advice. Thanks for the website, I'm going to be seeing what else you have around here.
@Mark
Glad we could help!
FYI - I decided to turn my Pause/Break key into a Caps Lock key. SharpKeys doesn't have a listing for Pause/Break, so I used the "Type Key" option and SharpKeys told me that the Pause/Break key was the Num Lock key. Like a fool, I believed it and proceeded along.
Long story short, my brand new computer wouldn't boot into Windows and I had to use the power button. Then some kind of warning came up, asking me if I wanted to do a system restore. I told it "no" and eventually my computer came back to life. Pretty scary, I have just spent the last 48 hours loading applications and transferring data from my old computer to my new one and I was afraid I was going to have to use the system restore CD that came with the computer.
Hi Randy,
I downloaded SharpKeys with the main purpose of remapping AltGr to Alt. However, when I click Type Key and then press the AltGr key, I get a dialogue saying 'You've entered a key that SharpKeys doesn't know about. Please check the SharpKeys website for an updated release'. But I have the latest release (2.1.1) so what am I doing wrong?
Mike
Too bad it can't recognize the function key (Fn) on my Lenovo x61 tablet pc. I was hoping to switch Fn & Ctrl. I still like Ctrl to be at the corner, not the Fn key…
on my laptop w and W was not working, so I mapped one of the lesser used keys to be w while I wait for my new keyboard to arriave. Now I just have to get use to typing the other key mapped instead for w
thanks
I downloaded SharpKeys hoping to swap the Alt and Windows keys on the left side of my keyboard. I put an Apple keyboard on an XP machine, and while the keyboard works fine with the system, the Alt key is in a different physical location on a standard Apple keyboard. So instead putting my left thumb on the key just to the side of the spacebar and hitting the Tab key to switch apps, it needs to go to one key over — old habits are hard to break.
Unfortunately, SharpKeys can't remap the Windows key; or at least I was unable to figure out how to get it to do it.