# PC: Global Keyboard Assignment Change?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 15, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061 "2007-03-15T17:45:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/1 "2007-03-15T17:45:53Z")
Hi- I checked the Computer Question sticky and I can’t seem to google what I need here, so:
I just got a new laptop (Thinkpad t60 widescreen with XP, lovely) and I like everything about it except a very odd key placement design in the lower left of the on-board keyboard.
There is a **Fn** key just to the left of the \*\*Ctrl \*\* key, just squatting there like an uninvited interloper, and my keyboard shortcuts are now all over the place, since I normally find the **Ctrl** key by touch relative to the shift key and the entire keyboard. It’s very annoying.
Posited: I’d like to swap the \*\*Ctrl \*\* key for the **Fn** key throughout the OS, and for all applications. Is there a way to do this in XP without buying a keyboard mapping utility?
Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/2 "2007-03-15T20:27:10Z")
Found a fantastic freeware program called KeyTweak, which does this logically, efficiently, and with a very elegant “teaching” process. This program edits the Windows registry assignments for keys.
[http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/)
In limited use this is working fine.
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### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/3 "2007-03-15T20:32:09Z")
But it does not solve my problem 🙂
Apparently the Fn key can’t be remapped because it does not hit the registry scancodes (which makes sense now that I think about it).
Last gasp- can anyone help with this? I guess I’ll have to grin and bear it.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/4 "2007-03-15T21:31:34Z")
I’m sure it’s possible. Do you have a screwdriver and a soldering iron?
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### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/5 "2007-03-15T21:33:19Z")
Nice. I was hoping to avoid opening up my new laptop. I use the ctrl key VERY frequently though, so I’m getting close.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/6 "2007-03-15T21:40:30Z")
Sorry, I know of a program that’s supposed to be able to do it for Macintosh OS X (from what I read in a Macintosh magazine), but that obviously won’t help you.
I notice though that the developer has an e-mail address listed, maybe he would have a tip for you.
[http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/](http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/)
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### Author:  [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/7 "2007-03-15T23:21:33Z")
Just chipping in to say that my parents laptop has this, and it drives me up the wall.
Do the people who design these things ever actually use computers themselves!?
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### Author:  [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-global-keyboard-assignment-change/396061/8 "2007-03-16T14:07:24Z")
The issue appears to be that the keyboard mapping for Fn exists outside the OS- it essentially changes the output of the function target keys before windows ever sees it. So unless I can alter the keyboard driver or change the mechanical connections between the keys and their circuitry, I am SOL. And I don’t think I’m enough of a badass to attempt either of those on my own.