Browse All Articles > Keyboard Remapping: CAPSLOCK to Ctrl and Beyond
In this article, I'll describe how to make registry changes that will remap low-level keyboard scancodes and I'll also show you how to set/change the functions of the extended-function buttons and controls that may be on your keyboard.
Background
I'm having to retrain myself on a new keyboard. No big deal, right? In my case, it is. I've been using the same IBM 84-key PC/AT keyboard for over 25 years. Those keyboards were built to last (and last, and last...). Even on secondary computers, like the ones at work, I've always been able to find keyboards that were finger-memory-compatible, such as the NorthGate OmniKey which has the function keys on the left side, where God intended them. In fact, when I heard that NorthGate was discontinuing that line in the mid 90's, I bought five of them. Well those OmniKey keyboards all eventually died; the original IBM keyboard outlasted them all. It had taken more abuse that you can imagine over the years, but it finally had one too many cups of coffee spilled on it. So I had to switch to one of the half-dozen "new" keyboards that were gathering dust in a closet.
In short: For common keystrokes such as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, I invariably hit CapsLock and it irritates me beyond belief. Not only does the desired action not happen, but CapsLock turns on and the current selection is replaced by one letter. Arrggggh!
Who among us has not hit that totally useless CapsLock key by accident? In 35 years of keyboarding, I've had a need for the CapsLock key perhaps twice. Among other irritations, it has caused endless tech-support grief relating to user-entry of passwords. That key should have been moved away from the home row decades ago. It's right next to the A key! Sheesh.
I first thought of just popping the key out and sticking a wad of chewing gum in there. But I found a way to remap it -- make it into a clone of the Ctrl key.
Remapping CapsLock to be Ctrl
There is a little-known entry in the system registry that is checked by the lowest-level keyboard driver before the keystrokes get sent to the rest of the system:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
Scancode Map REG_BINARY <binary data, in hex>
The Scancode Map value probably does not exist on your computer. So it needs to be added. The format is very specific. First, I'll show an example, then I'll provide a full description. Here's a .REG file that remaps CapsLock to Ctrl:
[step="" title="CapsLockToCtrl.REG"]
The hex data is in five groups of four bytes:
00,00,00,00 -- header version (always 00000000)
00,00,00,00 -- header flags (always 00000000)
02,00,00,00 -- number of entries (including terminating NULL)
1d,00,3a,00 -- map entry: desired scancode, key to remap
00,00,00,00 -- NULL terminator
The desired scancode is "Left-Ctrl" (scancode 0x1d) and the key to remap is CapsLock (scancode 0x3a).
Just copy that text to a text file named, for instance, CapsLockToCtrl.REG, then double-click that file. Note: The change will not go into effect until you reboot.
![Reassign CapsLock to be Ctrl]()
To undo the change, just use RegEdit to drill down to that Keyboard Layout key and delete the Scancode Map entry.
Remapping Other Keys
First, I want to point out that most of the time it's unwise to make permanent changes to your keyboard mapping. It's just not necessary because there are lots of programs that will let you set up macros so that a Shift-, Ctrl-, and/or Alt-key combination will make the computer take a desired action. For instance, you can write a short program (one or two lines of script), create a shortcut to it, and edit the properties of that shortcut to assign it a keyboard combination.
This registry remapping technique is awkward, since it requires a reboot, and I only recommend it in unique situations (such as attempting to avoiding insanity or suicide if you hit CapsLock even one more time :-)
That, said...
If you want to map more than one key, then you need to change the third item (number of entries) to a higher value and include more of the map entry values. Some scancodes are two bytes, with the lead-in byte being e0 or e1; this is usually used to distinguish keys that are duplicated; for instance, the R-Alt key is 0e,38. But, as we will see, it also appears for dedicated keyboard buttons.
At the bottom of this article, I've included an image of a standard keyboard, followed by a scancode list. You can use this registry technique to map any keys to any other.
A few candidate useless keys you might consider remapping are:
Caps Lock 3a
Num Lock 45
Scroll Lock 46
R-Alt e0,38
R-Ctrl e0,1d
Num / e0,35
Num * 37
Num 5 4c
If you want to make a key totally dead, set the desired scancode to 00,00.
AppCommand keys: Reprogramming Dedicated Buttons
Your keyboard may have a set of "dedicated" buttons that are designed to control multimedia devices. For instance, mine has a bunch that let me set the volume, skip to the next track, etc. These work regardless of what media player I use.
I also have a set of buttons with labels like "Internet" "E-mail" "Search" and even one oddity named "Calculator." In writing this article, I became curious about these keys. It turns out that there is another section of the registry that defines what these keys do.
HKLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ AppKey \ num
...and...
HKCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ AppKey \ num
The HKCU version affects the key-handling of only the current user, while the HKLM setting sets a default for all users.
You probably already have a set of these defined. When I looked into that key, I saw:
![...Explorer\Appkey -- sets actions for dedicated keyboard buttons]()
The key numbers under AppKey are not scancodes, but don't worry, I'll provide a list of valid values.
Each of the AppKey\num entries can have just one item. Its name decides what to do and its value must be set depending on that name. For instance, in the figure above, the item name under AppKey number 18 is ShellExecute and the value is the command to execute.
Possible values for the item name are:
Re-tasking the "Browser Favorites" Dedicated Button
That's one of the dedicated buttons that I never use, so I thought I'd have it do something that might be handy: Show the "3DFlip" that was a big deal in Vista, but since Win7 has the more functional Aero Peek, nobody talks much about anymore.
Anyway, the way to bring up 3DFlip is by executing this run command:
Rundll32 dwmApi #105
To re-task my "Browser Favorites" button, I modified the registry like this:
![Assign Appkey 6 to show the (well hidden) Flip3D tool]()
And now when I press that button, I get something like this:
![3D flip -- Yes, it's available in Win7]()
Here's the .Reg script that sets the dedicated "Favorites" button so that it executes the 3DFlip:
[step="" title="FavsTo3dFlip.REG"]
Notice that I reassigned AppKey 6... which would be a mystery (why 6?) except that I found that these AppKey values correspond to WM_APPCOMMAND message parameter values in a Windows programming header file. Here's the entire list:
AppCommand values from Winuser.h
On the upside, you can experiment with these settings without needing to reboot. The system appears to checks the registry with each keystroke.
So... That's how to make a dedicated key take a special action. What if your keyboard does not have dedicated keys for remapping? Read on!
Putting It All Together
We now have a method to remap one low-level scancode to another one. Might we not remap one of the useless standard keys to do something that would normally be assigned to a dedicated key? Sure!
For conciseness of the example, let's reassign one of those keys to execute the action of the newly-minted AppKey 6. On my keyboard, the * key on the numeric keypad is virtually untouched, so I replaced its scancode with the one that the system expects to have come from the dedicated "Favorites" key.
[step="" title="NumStarToFav.REG"]
That RegEdit script sets the NumPad * key to equate to keyboard scancode 66 E0. Alas, 66 e0 does not equate to anything much, but I found it in yet another Microsoft document (see references) and I've listed those dedicated button values at the end of the Scancodes Table, below.
Note that the above .REG file will reset your CapsLock back to CapsLock, since the Scancode Map defines just the one key. Here's how a .REG file that sets both will look:
[step="" title="MapMyKeys.REG"]
The third set of four bytes is set to 03, indicating that two keys will be mapped.
It's a real pain to experiment with reassigning key codes like this since a reboot is required for every change. But digging around beneath the surface can be fun and educational and I found it worthwhile.
Keyboard Layout
(Use a Key Number from the image to find Scancode in the Table Below)
![Use Key Number to find key label and scancode]()
And here's a legend that shows the key name/label and scancodes for the numbers in the image. For fun, I've added a couple of columns showing the Symbolic constants that programs should use when handling these keys.
Keyboard Scancode & Symbolic Constant Table
Summary
In this article we saw how to remap keyboard scancodes at the lowest level: We set the useless CapsLock key so that it would act like the Ctrl key. We also saw how to modify the "dedicated" browser and multimedia buttons that might be on your keyboard. Finally, we put the two together so that we could remap any key to act as one of the dedicated keys.
The information here has been verified to be accurate for Windows 7 and Vista. Microsoft documentation indicates that it is also valid for Windows XP and Windows 2000, but I did not test that. Also, keyboard device drivers may vary in handling some keys, but will usually adhere to the specifications for common dedicated keyboard buttons.
References:
Archive: Scan Code Mapper for Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/w2kscan-map.mspx
Keyboard Scan Code Specification
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/scancode.doc
Enhanced Keyboards and Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/w2kbd.mspx
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Background
I'm having to retrain myself on a new keyboard. No big deal, right? In my case, it is. I've been using the same IBM 84-key PC/AT keyboard for over 25 years. Those keyboards were built to last (and last, and last...). Even on secondary computers, like the ones at work, I've always been able to find keyboards that were finger-memory-compatible, such as the NorthGate OmniKey which has the function keys on the left side, where God intended them. In fact, when I heard that NorthGate was discontinuing that line in the mid 90's, I bought five of them. Well those OmniKey keyboards all eventually died; the original IBM keyboard outlasted them all. It had taken more abuse that you can imagine over the years, but it finally had one too many cups of coffee spilled on it. So I had to switch to one of the half-dozen "new" keyboards that were gathering dust in a closet.
In short: For common keystrokes such as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, I invariably hit CapsLock and it irritates me beyond belief. Not only does the desired action not happen, but CapsLock turns on and the current selection is replaced by one letter. Arrggggh!
Who among us has not hit that totally useless CapsLock key by accident? In 35 years of keyboarding, I've had a need for the CapsLock key perhaps twice. Among other irritations, it has caused endless tech-support grief relating to user-entry of passwords. That key should have been moved away from the home row decades ago. It's right next to the A key! Sheesh.
I first thought of just popping the key out and sticking a wad of chewing gum in there. But I found a way to remap it -- make it into a clone of the Ctrl key.
Remapping CapsLock to be Ctrl
There is a little-known entry in the system registry that is checked by the lowest-level keyboard driver before the keystrokes get sent to the rest of the system:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
Scancode Map REG_BINARY <binary data, in hex>
The Scancode Map value probably does not exist on your computer. So it needs to be added. The format is very specific. First, I'll show an example, then I'll provide a full description. Here's a .REG file that remaps CapsLock to Ctrl:
[step="" title="CapsLockToCtrl.REG"
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00, 00,00,00,00The hex data is in five groups of four bytes:
00,00,00,00 -- header version (always 00000000)
00,00,00,00 -- header flags (always 00000000)
02,00,00,00 -- number of entries (including terminating NULL)
1d,00,3a,00 -- map entry: desired scancode, key to remap
00,00,00,00 -- NULL terminator
The desired scancode is "Left-Ctrl" (scancode 0x1d) and the key to remap is CapsLock (scancode 0x3a).
Just copy that text to a text file named, for instance, CapsLockToCtrl.REG, then double-click that file. Note: The change will not go into effect until you reboot.
To undo the change, just use RegEdit to drill down to that Keyboard Layout key and delete the Scancode Map entry.
Remapping Other Keys
First, I want to point out that most of the time it's unwise to make permanent changes to your keyboard mapping. It's just not necessary because there are lots of programs that will let you set up macros so that a Shift-, Ctrl-, and/or Alt-key combination will make the computer take a desired action. For instance, you can write a short program (one or two lines of script), create a shortcut to it, and edit the properties of that shortcut to assign it a keyboard combination.
This registry remapping technique is awkward, since it requires a reboot, and I only recommend it in unique situations (such as attempting to avoiding insanity or suicide if you hit CapsLock even one more time :-)
That, said...
If you want to map more than one key, then you need to change the third item (number of entries) to a higher value and include more of the map entry values. Some scancodes are two bytes, with the lead-in byte being e0 or e1; this is usually used to distinguish keys that are duplicated; for instance, the R-Alt key is 0e,38. But, as we will see, it also appears for dedicated keyboard buttons.
At the bottom of this article, I've included an image of a standard keyboard, followed by a scancode list. You can use this registry technique to map any keys to any other.
A few candidate useless keys you might consider remapping are:
Caps Lock 3a
Num Lock 45
Scroll Lock 46
R-Alt e0,38
R-Ctrl e0,1d
Num / e0,35
Num * 37
Num 5 4c
If you want to make a key totally dead, set the desired scancode to 00,00.
AppCommand keys: Reprogramming Dedicated Buttons
Your keyboard may have a set of "dedicated" buttons that are designed to control multimedia devices. For instance, mine has a bunch that let me set the volume, skip to the next track, etc. These work regardless of what media player I use.
I also have a set of buttons with labels like "Internet" "E-mail" "Search" and even one oddity named "Calculator." In writing this article, I became curious about these keys. It turns out that there is another section of the registry that defines what these keys do.
HKLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ AppKey \ num
...and...
HKCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ AppKey \ num
The HKCU version affects the key-handling of only the current user, while the HKLM setting sets a default for all users.
You probably already have a set of these defined. When I looked into that key, I saw:
The key numbers under AppKey are not scancodes, but don't worry, I'll provide a list of valid values.
Each of the AppKey\num entries can have just one item. Its name decides what to do and its value must be set depending on that name. For instance, in the figure above, the item name under AppKey number 18 is ShellExecute and the value is the command to execute.
Possible values for the item name are:
ShellExecute
The value is any command that you can execute by typing in at a DOS prompt or in the Start / Run input box. You can pass arguments to the program, but be sure to wrap the whole thing in quotes. For instance,
ShellExecute REG_SZ "Notepad.Exe MyToDoList.Txt"
The value is any command that you can execute by typing in at a DOS prompt or in the Start / Run input box. You can pass arguments to the program, but be sure to wrap the whole thing in quotes. For instance,
ShellExecute REG_SZ "Notepad.Exe MyToDoList.Txt"
Association
The value entry is a file extension or MIME type. For instance, the item that's associated with my dedicated "Internet" button is:
Association REG_SZ http
The system will run whatever program is associated with that file type or MIME type.
The value entry is a file extension or MIME type. For instance, the item that's associated with my dedicated "Internet" button is:
Association REG_SZ http
The system will run whatever program is associated with that file type or MIME type.
RegisteredApp
It's not clear how this is (was?) supposed to work. The example in the docs set the value to "mail" which would supposedly open up the application that is registered to handle mail. However, in Vista and Win7, the value for AppKey 15 is association to "mailto" (a MIME handler). My thinking is that "RegisteredApp" must have been deprecated. Another possibility: The registry key HKLM\Software\Clients seems to provide a means for applications to register themselves as the "default app" for some things. If you want to explore this, that's one direction to go (see this blog for some related information). But since you can use ShellExecute to do most anything you want, it seems unnecessary.
It's not clear how this is (was?) supposed to work. The example in the docs set the value to "mail" which would supposedly open up the application that is registered to handle mail. However, in Vista and Win7, the value for AppKey 15 is association to "mailto" (a MIME handler). My thinking is that "RegisteredApp" must have been deprecated. Another possibility: The registry key HKLM\Software\Clients seems to provide a means for applications to register themselves as the "default app" for some things. If you want to explore this, that's one direction to go (see this blog for some related information). But since you can use ShellExecute to do most anything you want, it seems unnecessary.
Re-tasking the "Browser Favorites" Dedicated Button
That's one of the dedicated buttons that I never use, so I thought I'd have it do something that might be handy: Show the "3DFlip" that was a big deal in Vista, but since Win7 has the more functional Aero Peek, nobody talks much about anymore.
Anyway, the way to bring up 3DFlip is by executing this run command:
Rundll32 dwmApi #105
To re-task my "Browser Favorites" button, I modified the registry like this:
And now when I press that button, I get something like this:
Here's the .Reg script that sets the dedicated "Favorites" button so that it executes the 3DFlip:
[step="" title="FavsTo3dFlip.REG"]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\6]
"ShellExecute"="Rundll32 dwmApi #105"Notice that I reassigned AppKey 6... which would be a mystery (why 6?) except that I found that these AppKey values correspond to WM_APPCOMMAND message parameter values in a Windows programming header file. Here's the entire list:
AppCommand values from Winuser.h
1 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_BACKWARD
2 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_FORWARD
3 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_REFRESH
4 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_STOP
5 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_SEARCH
6 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_FAVORITES
7 APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_HOME
8 APPCOMMAND_VOLUME_MUTE
9 APPCOMMAND_VOLUME_DOWN
10 APPCOMMAND_VOLUME_UP
11 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_NEXTTRACK
12 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_PREVIOUSTRACK
13 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_STOP
14 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE
15 APPCOMMAND_LAUNCH_MAIL
16 APPCOMMAND_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT
17 APPCOMMAND_LAUNCH_APP1
18 APPCOMMAND_LAUNCH_APP2
19 APPCOMMAND_BASS_DOWN
20 APPCOMMAND_BASS_BOOST
21 APPCOMMAND_BASS_UP
22 APPCOMMAND_TREBLE_DOWN
23 APPCOMMAND_TREBLE_UP
24 APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_MUTE
25 APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_DOWN
26 APPCOMMAND_MICROPHONE_VOLUME_UP
27 APPCOMMAND_HELP
28 APPCOMMAND_FIND
29 APPCOMMAND_NEW
30 APPCOMMAND_OPEN
31 APPCOMMAND_CLOSE
32 APPCOMMAND_SAVE
33 APPCOMMAND_PRINT
34 APPCOMMAND_UNDO
35 APPCOMMAND_REDO
36 APPCOMMAND_COPY
37 APPCOMMAND_CUT
38 APPCOMMAND_PASTE
39 APPCOMMAND_REPLY_TO_MAIL
40 APPCOMMAND_FORWARD_MAIL
41 APPCOMMAND_SEND_MAIL
42 APPCOMMAND_SPELL_CHECK
43 APPCOMMAND_DICTATE_OR_COMMAND_CONTROL_TOGGLE
44 APPCOMMAND_MIC_ON_OFF_TOGGLE
45 APPCOMMAND_CORRECTION_LIST
46 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_PLAY
47 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_PAUSE
48 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_RECORD
49 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_FAST_FORWARD
50 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_REWIND
51 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_CHANNEL_UP
52 APPCOMMAND_MEDIA_CHANNEL_DOWN
53 APPCOMMAND_DELETE
54 APPCOMMAND_DWM_FLIP3D On the upside, you can experiment with these settings without needing to reboot. The system appears to checks the registry with each keystroke.
So... That's how to make a dedicated key take a special action. What if your keyboard does not have dedicated keys for remapping? Read on!
Putting It All Together
We now have a method to remap one low-level scancode to another one. Might we not remap one of the useless standard keys to do something that would normally be assigned to a dedicated key? Sure!
For conciseness of the example, let's reassign one of those keys to execute the action of the newly-minted AppKey 6. On my keyboard, the * key on the numeric keypad is virtually untouched, so I replaced its scancode with the one that the system expects to have come from the dedicated "Favorites" key.
[step="" title="NumStarToFav.REG"]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,66,e0,37,00,00,00,00,00That RegEdit script sets the NumPad * key to equate to keyboard scancode 66 E0. Alas, 66 e0 does not equate to anything much, but I found it in yet another Microsoft document (see references) and I've listed those dedicated button values at the end of the Scancodes Table, below.
Note that the above .REG file will reset your CapsLock back to CapsLock, since the Scancode Map defines just the one key. Here's how a .REG file that sets both will look:
[step="" title="MapMyKeys.REG"]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00,66,e0,37,00,00,00,00,00The third set of four bytes is set to 03, indicating that two keys will be mapped.
It's a real pain to experiment with reassigning key codes like this since a reboot is required for every change. But digging around beneath the surface can be fun and educational and I found it worthwhile.
Keyboard Layout
(Use a Key Number from the image to find Scancode in the Table Below)
And here's a legend that shows the key name/label and scancodes for the numbers in the image. For fun, I've added a couple of columns showing the Symbolic constants that programs should use when handling these keys.
Keyboard Scancode & Symbolic Constant Table
Key Scan
Num Label Code Symbolic Constant Value
--- ------------- ---- ---------------------- --------
1 ~ ` 29 VK_OEM_3 0xC0
2 ! 1 02 0x31
3 @ 2 03 0x32
4 # 3 04 0x33
5 $ 4 05 0x34
6 % 5 06 0x35
7 ^ 6 07 0x36
8 & 7 08 0x37
9 * 8 09 0x38
10 ( 9 0A 0x39
11 ) 0 0B 0x30
12 _ - 0C VK_OEM_MINUS 0xBD
13 + = 0D VK_OEM_PLUS 0xBB
15 Backspace 0E VK_BACK 0x08
16 Tab 0F VK_TAB 0x09
17 Q 10 0x51
18 W 11 0x57
19 E 12 0x45
20 R 13 0x52
21 T 14 0x54
22 Y 15 0x59
23 U 16 0x55
24 I 17 0x49
25 O 18 0x4F
26 P 19 0x50
27 { [ 1A VK_OEM_4 0xDB
28 } ] 1B VK_OEM_6 0xDD
29 | \ 2B VK_OEM_5 0xDC
30 Caps Lock 3A VK_CAPITAL 0x14
31 A 1E 0x41
32 S 1F 0x53
33 D 20 0x44
34 F 21 0x46
35 G 22 0x47
36 H 23 0x48
37 J 24 0x4A
38 K 25 0x4B
39 L 26 0x4C
40 : ; 27 VK_OEM_1 0xBA
41 " ' 28 VK_OEM_7 0xDE
42 (in'tl ) 2B
43 Enter 1C VK_RETURN 0x0D
44 L SHIFT 2A VK_SHIFT 0x10
45 (in'tl ) 56
46 Z 2C 0x5A
47 X 2D 0x58
48 C 2E 0x43
49 V 2F 0x56
50 B 30 0x42
51 N 31 0x4E
52 M 32 0x4D
53 < , 33 VK_OEM_COMMA 0xBC
54 > . 34 VK_OEM_PERIOD 0xBE
55 ? / 35 VK_OEM_2 0xBF
56 (in'tl ) 73
57 R SHIFT 36
58 L CTRL 1D VK_CONTROL 0x11
60 L ALT 38 VK_MENU 0x12
61 Space Bar 39 VK_SPACE 0x20
62 R ALT E0 38
64 R CTRL E0 1D
75 Insert E0 52 VK_INSERT 0x2D
76 Delete E0 53 VK_DELETE 0x2E
79 L Arrow E0 4B VK_LEFT 0x25
80 Home E0 47 VK_HOME 0x24
81 End E0 4F VK_END 0x23
83 Up Arrow E0 48 VK_UP 0x26
84 Dn Arrow E0 50 VK_DOWN 0x28
85 Page Up E0 49 VK_PRIOR 0x21
86 Page Down E0 51 VK_NEXT 0x22
89 R Arrow E0 4D VK_RIGHT 0x27
90 Num Lock 45 VK_NUMLOCK 0x90
91 Numeric 7 47 VK_NUMPAD7 0x67
92 Numeric 4 4B VK_NUMPAD4 0x64
93 Numeric 1 4F VK_NUMPAD1 0x61
95 Num / E0 35 VK_DIVIDE 0x6F
95 LS+Num / E0 B5
95 RS+Num / E0 B6
96 Numeric 8 48 VK_NUMPAD8 0x68
97 Numeric 5 4C VK_NUMPAD5 0x65
98 Numeric 2 50 VK_NUMPAD2 0x62
99 Numeric 0 52 VK_NUMPAD0 0x60
100 Numeric * 37 VK_MULTIPLY 0x6A
101 Numeric 9 49 VK_NUMPAD9 0x69
102 Numeric 6 4D VK_NUMPAD6 0x66
103 Numeric 3 51 VK_NUMPAD3 0x63
104 Numeric . 53 VK_DECIMAL 0x6E
105 Numeric - 4A VK_SUBTRACT 0x6D
106 Numeric + 4E VK_ADD 0x6B
107 (in'tl ) 7E
108 NumEnter E0 1C VK_SEPARATOR 0x6C
110 Esc 01 VK_ESCAPE 0x1B
112 F1 3B VK_F1 0x70
113 F2 3C VK_F2 0x71
114 F3 3D VK_F3 0x72
115 F4 3E VK_F4 0x73
116 F5 3F VK_F5 0x74
117 F6 40 VK_F6 0x75
118 F7 41 VK_F7 0x76
119 F8 42 VK_F8 0x77
120 F9 43 VK_F9 0x78
121 F10 44 VK_F10 0x79
122 F11 57 VK_F11 0x7A
123 F12 58 VK_F12 0x7B
124 PrintScreen E0 A2 VK_SNAPSHOT 0x2C
124 Ctl+PrtScrn E0 37
124 Shft+PrtScrn E0 37
124 Alt+PrtScrn 54
125 Scroll Lock 46 VK_SCROLL 0x91
126 Pause (??) VK_PAUSE 0x13
L-Win E0 5B VK_LWIN 0x5B
R-Win E0 5C VK_RWIN 0x5C
Apps E0 5D VK_APPS 0x5D
------------ dedicated button scancodes ------------
E0 6A VK_BROWSER_BACK 0xA6
E0 69 VK_BROWSER_FORWARD 0xA7
E0 67 VK_BROWSER_REFRESH 0xA8
E0 68 VK_BROWSER_STOP 0xA9
E0 65 VK_BROWSER_SEARCH 0xAA
E0 66 VK_BROWSER_FAVORITES 0xAB
E0 32 VK_BROWSER_HOME 0xAC
E0 20 VK_VOLUME_MUTE 0xAD
E0 2E VK_VOLUME_DOWN 0xAE
E0 30 VK_VOLUME_UP 0xAF
E0 19 VK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK 0xB0
E0 10 VK_MEDIA_PREV_TRACK 0xB1
E0 24 VK_MEDIA_STOP 0xB2
E0 22 VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE 0xB3
E0 6C VK_LAUNCH_MAIL 0xB4
E0 6D VK_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT 0xB5
compMgmtLauncher E0 6B VK_LAUNCH_APP1 0xB6
calc.exe E0 21 VK_LAUNCH_APP2 0xB7Summary
In this article we saw how to remap keyboard scancodes at the lowest level: We set the useless CapsLock key so that it would act like the Ctrl key. We also saw how to modify the "dedicated" browser and multimedia buttons that might be on your keyboard. Finally, we put the two together so that we could remap any key to act as one of the dedicated keys.
The information here has been verified to be accurate for Windows 7 and Vista. Microsoft documentation indicates that it is also valid for Windows XP and Windows 2000, but I did not test that. Also, keyboard device drivers may vary in handling some keys, but will usually adhere to the specifications for common dedicated keyboard buttons.
References:
Archive: Scan Code Mapper for Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/w2kscan-map.mspx
Keyboard Scan Code Specification
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/scancode.doc
Enhanced Keyboards and Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/w2kbd.mspx
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Comments (16)
Commented:
This was one of the best simple yet an explanatory article i had come across regarding keyboard mapping. I have a query which i was not able to find any solution so far.
I work in a organization where the Printscreen is disabled via registry in the OU . When i run the scan code entry( .reg file ) for disabling the F1 or swapping it , it over rides the existing scan code value . When i restart the system it will revert back to the printscreen file as it gets updated by the Group Policy . Would really appreciate more help on this
Commented:
Commented:
How to remap AltGr to Right Alt ? Oh no, 'dupliKEY' Left Alt (Windows Registry):
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00
I don't like .ahk scripts, but I need to replace AppKey\8 (vol_mute: 0xAD) with AppKey\38 (paste: ?x??), or other. I tried to map Right Alt [E0 38] to [E0 0A] – I got a <dead key>! I tried to remap the mouse Volume_Mute/Down/Up, but remapping [E0 20], [E0 2E], [E0 30] has no results – the mouse still control OS sound :(not a media player):!
This Scancode table doesn't contain [AppKeys after 19] (like CLOSE, CUT, COPY, REPLY_TO_MAIL, SPELL_CHECK, etc.).
Commented:
BTW, your 1st & 3rd links under References are dead... :(
A couple things... First, you didn't give any explanation at all about the last column of the key list "Value". How/where/when is this used? Any clues would be helpful!
It would be very helpful if you were able to add a bit more about the international keys. Any of the other values beyond just the scan code and the same vague "(in'tl)" label for all of them.
In case you are not familiar with it, there is a powerful piece of software called KbdEdit which can do ALL of key switching you discussed- and it doesn't require a reboot to activate (although I believe it requires logging out). It is not free, but it is well worth the price IMO! The premium version can produce both a proprietary format, as well as a standard Windows .klc and .dll that is installable on any Windows system. It allows very detailed and full customization on the keyboard to the extent supported by the MS specification.
There is a list similar to yours in the documentation for KbdEdit- although it is missing the scan codes.
I'm going to do some experimentation to with the international keys to link up the scan codes you provide with the rest of the data in that documentation.
Commented:
This breakdown should become the Hoyle's Guide to Key Remapping.
You just saved this IT Pro a week's worth of learning and condensed it into an hour and a half of work start to finish. If you have a donation bank hit me up I'm putting money in your pocket for this one!!!
(I don't got much, but it will at least buy you a beer or two!)
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