|id=353

|previous=352

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|created=October 29, 2002

|complexity=basic

|author=Jacques Petit

|version=5.7

|rating=73/27

|category1=

|category2=

}}

On Windows systems, you can edit the registry to change the code produced when a key is pressed. This tip shows how to change the keyboard layout so that the CapsLock key acts as a Ctrl key.

==Replacing CapsLock with Ctrl==

Place the following text into a text file with the extension *.reg and update your registry by double-clicking the file:

<pre>

REGEDIT4

[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,00,00,00,00,00

</pre>

You will probably need to reboot your machine for this system change to take effect.

====Undoing the change====

The verified way to reverse this setting is to delete the new scan codes key that was added.

(tested this on one of my machines)

====Swapping keys rather than replacing CapsLock====

The registry entry above sets CapsLock to Ctrl. The following registry entry swaps the CapsLock and Ctrl keys on your keyboard. Useful if you sometimes use CapsLock.

<pre>

REGEDIT4

[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,00,3a,00,1d,00,00,00,00,00

</pre>

====Setting the key layout for the current user====

If the machine has multiple users who might not like the new layout, instead of using [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\....] you can specify [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout]. This will make the changes for one user account only. Additionally, simply logging off and back on will apply the changes (no need to reboot).

==Comments==

Some explanation is [http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1004806455 here].

A more detailed explanation and reference can also be found [http://www.usnetizen.com/fix_capslock.php here].

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