Assign Mute System Volume to F10 on Mac Mountain Lion without 3rd party apps

Question

I'm customizing my keyboard shortcuts using System Preferences. I cannot find a way to assign Mute to F10, Volume Down to F11, & Volume Up to F12. They work when I use fn+F10 etc. but I don't want to need to press fn first, and I want to continue to use the function "F" keys as standard function keys.

I see some suggestions on how to use 3rd party apps, scripts, etc. I've tried some but have not been able to get them to work; of course, I'm new to Mac and may be doing something wrong. But I'd prefer to work with Mac's system settings if possible.

Answer 1

Create an Automator service that runs a script like this:

if output muted of (get volume settings) then
    set volume without output muted
else
    set volume with output muted
end if

It doesn't show any feedback though. There's a small delay before Automator services are run. There's also a bug on 10.7 and 10.8 where the shortcuts for Automator services don't always work until the services menu is shown from the menu bar.

If someone else doesn't care about using additional applications, try FunctionFlip:

or KeyRemap4MacBook:

You can change individual keys by adding entries like this to private.xml:

<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::F1, KeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::F2, KeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_UP</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::F3, KeyCode::MISSION_CONTROL</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::F4, KeyCode::LAUNCHPAD</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F5, ConsumerKeyCode::KEYBOARDLIGHT_LOW</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F6, ConsumerKeyCode::KEYBOARDLIGHT_HIGH</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F7, ConsumerKeyCode::MUSIC_PREV</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F8, ConsumerKeyCode::MUSIC_PLAY</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F9, ConsumerKeyCode::MUSIC_NEXT</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F10, ConsumerKeyCode::VOLUME_MUTE</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F11, ConsumerKeyCode::VOLUME_DOWN</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToConsumer-- KeyCode::F12, ConsumerKeyCode::VOLUME_UP</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F1</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_UP, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F2</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::EXPOSE_ALL, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F3</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::LAUNCHPAD, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F4</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_KEYBOARDLIGHT_LOW, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F5</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_KEYBOARDLIGHT_HIGH, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F6</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_MUSIC_PREV, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F7</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_MUSIC_PLAY, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F8</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_MUSIC_NEXT, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F9</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_MUTE, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F10</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_DOWN, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F11</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::F12</autogen>