How can I restore Ctrl+<key> functionality in Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator?

Question

I'm using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4, and I was able to successfully define my own keyboard. The problem is that now when I use Ctrl+<key> combinations, it doesn't use my new key but instead uses the old key that exists there.

For example, if I bind N to B, you would expect that Ctrl+N would now send a Ctrl+B but instead it sends Ctrl+N.

How can I get these Ctrl+Key combinations to use my new keys instead?

I tried adding the keys to the "Ctrl" layout, but it didn't work either.

Solution

You need to modify the .klc file manually.

Basically you just modify the VK_ column to match the value in column 1.

So for example if you want to bind L to N, you would create the keyboard as you normally would in KLC. Then you would open the KLC file in a text editor. Find the value L in the VK_ column, and switch it to an N.

For more information, I wrote the complete steps on my blog.

Comments

[William]

Do you have any idea how to remap the Japanese keyboard keys in Windows?

[William]

superuser.com/questions/1365453/…

[adambene]

your solution works like a charm. but why is KLC and the windows ecosystem so barely usable?

[maleta]

If this didn't help, restart your computer. On Windows 10 Pro 64 VK_ values were cashed somewhere, so when I was switching to my own keyboard layout after I rebuilt keyboard layout with this manual fix on VK_, I still couldn't get desired changes. After restart, everything worked like a charm. Thanks!