How can I disable the F Lock key on my Natural Keyboard 4000?

Question

How can I disable the F Lock key on my Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (v1.0)?

I don't want to physically disable the key so I would like a software fix. The keyboard is connected by USB and does not have a PS/2 connector.

Answer 1

See this site for directions.

Basically it's a registry edit.

Answer 2

The answer from @JNK led me to the URL below which describes how to simulate disabling the F Lock key by changing the configuration of IntelliType Pro.

• http://jtsang.mvps.org/usb_intellitype.html

The files on that page are specific to an older version of IntelliType and so I was apprehensive about using them incase I lost some other functionality from IntelliType. However, by comparing the original and modified files supplied there, I was able to write the following PowerShell 2 script which will make the equivalent changes to the commands.xml file for whichever version of IntelliType you happen to have installed.

If you don't know anything about PowerShell, then will probably be useless to you. If you do understand PowerShell - enjoy!

#requires -version 2
set-strictmode -version latest

$matchRegex = "^\s*<C(302|203|204|307|308|309|900|901|902|401|311|310)\s.*$"
$fileName = "$env:ProgramFiles\Microsoft IntelliType Pro\commands.xml"
$backupFileName = $fileName -replace "\.xml$", ".original.xml"

if (-not (test-path $backupFileName)) {
    write-verbose "Backing up commands.xml"
    cp $fileName $backupFileName
}

$file = (get-content $fileName) -replace $matchRegex, ""

$xml = [xml]$file
$allAppsStd = $xml.DPGCmd.ALL.Application |
    ?{ $_.UniqueName -eq "StandardSupport" }

$nextFKey = 1
$keyCodes = @(302, 203, 204, 307, 308, 309, 900, 901, 902, 401, 311, 310)

$keyCodes |
    %{
        $elemName = "C{0}" -f $_
        $fkey = "F{0}" -f $nextFKey

        $nextFKey++

        $new = $xml.CreateElement($elemName)

        $new.SetAttribute("Type", "5")
        $new.SetAttribute("KeySeq", $fkey)

        $allAppsStd.AppendChild($new) | out-null
    }

$xml.Save($fileName)

Answer 3

Tried the advice at http://jtsang.mvps.org/usb_intellitype.html but at Win 7 it didn't work. Just as simple was to re-map the functions of the keys (help, undo, etc.) to the actual function key keystroke using the keyboard software provided.

Hit configure, choose from list of commands, keystroke... the the required F key when the window pops, & ok.

Answer 4

Put F-lock into the setting you want, then pop the key off. The keys are designed to come out without much effort, and will snap back in with no problem.

The keyboard will also remember the state of F-lock even after its powered down.