I recently ordered one of Apple’s new Aluminium Keyboards and as I expected I had some issues getting it fully working on a Windows machine, having never actually used an Apple keyboard before I was unaware that the alt keys on the Apple keyboards are actually where the Windows key would be on a regular keyboard, and the print screen and scroll lock keys are not present either, instead replaced by extra function buttons.

The only solution I came across was to extract the Windows drivers from Boot Camp however I didn’t want to fuss around trying to convert Apple’s DMG files to a format that can be mounted with any standard virtualisation software such as Daemon Tools.

Instead I made use of a tool called SharpKeys and re-mapped the appropriate keys, so now I can touch type as normal with my CTRL and ALT keys in the correct positions and use scroll lock and print screen, in addition I have also set F18 to lower the system volume and F19 to raise it.

If you are looking for the same functionality simply download This File, unzip the file inside and double click it, it will insert the appropriate values into your registry, after doing so you will need to restart your machine for the changes to become active.

Alternatively you can insert the following values yourself into the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
“Scancode Map”=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,37,e0,64,00,46,00,65,00,\
5b,e0,38,00,38,00,5b,e0,2e,e0,69,00,30,e0,6a,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout\DosKeybCodes]
“00040402″=”bg”
“00000c04″=”ch”
“00001004″=”ch”
“00001404″=”ch”
“0001041f”=”tr”
“0000041f”=”tr”
“00000412″=”ko”
“00000804″=”ch”
“00000425″=”et”
“00000426″=”us”
“00010426″=”us”
“00000427″=”us”
“00000411″=”jp”
“00000423″=”us”
“00000402″=”bg”
“00000419″=”ru”
“00010419″=”ru”
“00010c1a”=”us”
“00000c1a”=”us”
“00000422″=”us”
“00010402″=”us”
“00020402″=”bg”
“00030402″=”bg”
“00020422″=”us”
“0000041C”=”us”
“0000041a”=”yu”
“00000424″=”yu”
“00000405″=”cz”
“00010405″=”cz”
“0000040e”=”hu”
“0001040e”=”hu”
“00000415″=”pl”
“00010415″=”pl”
“00000418″=”ro”
“00010418″=”ro”
“00020418″=”ro”
“0000041b”=”sl”
“0001041b”=”sl”
“00000442″=”tk”
“00000813″=”be”
“0000080c”=”be”
“00001009″=”us”
“00010c0c”=”cf”
“00000c0c”=”cf”
“00000406″=”dk”
“00000413″=”nl”
“0000040b”=”su”
“0000040c”=”fr”
“00000407″=”gr”
“00010407″=”gr”
“0000040f”=”is”
“00001809″=”us”
“00000410″=”it”
“00010410″=”it”
“0000080a”=”la”
“00000414″=”no”
“00000816″=”po”
“00000416″=”br”
“0000040a”=”sp”
“0001040a”=”sp”
“0000041d”=”sv”
“0000100c”=”sf”
“00000807″=”sg”
“00000809″=”uk”
“00010409″=”dv”
“00030409″=”usl”
“00040409″=”usr”
“00020409″=”us”
“00000409″=”us”
“00000452″=”uk”
“0000046e”=”sf”
“00000408″=”gk”
“00010408″=”gk”
“00020408″=”gk”
“00050408″=”gk”
“00000404″=”ch”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout\DosKeybIDs]
“0001041f”=”440″
“0000041f”=”179″
“00010415″=”214″
“00000442″=”440″
“00000410″=”141″
“00010410″=”142″
“00010408″=”220″
“00020408″=”319″

If this has helped you then please Digg It so that others may come across it too!

If you purchased Aion via Steam and are running either Vista or Windows 7 you have probably realised that the Steam overlay is not working, there is a really simple fix though, put a shortcut to Steam on your desktop, then go to the properties of it and under the Compatability tab choose to run it in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3 and choose to run as administrator, and voila the overlay will now appear in game and your hours will be recorded to your Steam profile!