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Since deadkeys are horribly annoying (German keyboard layout --> `, ^ and ´ are deadkeys) I've decided to use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to create a custom keyboard layout to get rid of those deadkeys (as suggested in How to make ^ and ` non-dead-keys on Windows 7 with German keyboard layout).

This worked fine, however, as soon as I load a custom keyboard layout - even if it's completely unmodified (i.e. without the deadkey changes) - I cannot use CTRL+SHIFT+F (same for other keys, but F is the key where I had the problem first) anymore in the PuTTY terminal.

read shows me ^F when the original keyboard layout is enabled; when switching to a custom layout it does not receive anything when pressing CTRL+SHIFT+F - when just using CTRL+F it works fine though.

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PuTTY doesn't do anything special with such combinations, so it's down to the Windows keyboard layouts. Ctrl+letter combinations are handled specially by keyboard layouts though, automatically generating control characters unless something else has been assigned, which is why Keyboard Layout Creator doesn't display those control characters.

It seems to be hardwired into the layouts whether Ctrl+Shift+letter behaves the same as Ctrl+letter, so for example it is the case for the standard "United Kingdom" layout, but not for "United Kingdom Extended". Furthermore, it would appear that MSKLC creates the latter variety only.

Have you tried assigning the control characters to the Ctrl+Shift combinations yourself? And why not just use the combinations without the Shift?

There's more on this at http://www.siao2.com/2008/11/04/9037027.aspx, although nothing about the Ctrl vs Ctrl+Shift difference in particular.

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  • "And why not just use the combinations without the Shift?" - I somehow got used to use ctrl-shift
    – ThiefMaster
    May 12, 2011 at 12:32
  • in my vim, I have map'ped F6 so something & shift+F6 to something else. I cannot use shift+F6 mapping.
    – anishsane
    Sep 17, 2013 at 13:19
  • @ThiefMaster How does this answer your question, exactly?
    – Piotr Dobrogost
    Sep 20, 2013 at 21:35
  • @PiotrDobrogost: It's not a putty issue and it only happens with a custom layout which is true. If you know a way to fix it while using a custom keyboard layout I'll be happy to accept your answer though.
    – ThiefMaster
    Sep 20, 2013 at 21:37
  • Ctrl+letter combinations are handled specially by keyboard layouts (...) Actually after reading blog post you linked to it seems that it's not layouts that handle (modify) this but the OS itself.
    – Piotr Dobrogost
    Sep 20, 2013 at 21:54

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