Grant, thanks so much for posting this! I’ve been looking for a solution for the caps lock key, especially for my mac air running vm.
Caitlyn > On Mar 12, 2015, at 8:30 PM, Grant Hardy <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello all, > > I am very happy to report that I have found a solution to give Windows > complete control of the CAPS LOCK KEY while using it in a VMWare virtual > machine. I now have full use of my CAPS LOCK KEY while using Windows in > VMWare. For example, with JAWS, I can use it as my JAWS KEY, and I can press > it twice quickly to toggle CAPS LOCK on or off. While I was willing to settle > for using another key like the GRAVE ACCENT KEY as my screen reading key, or > even to map my CAPS LOCK KEY to an INSERT KEY, I wanted to see if I could > find a solution that would allow the CAPS LOCK KEY truly to be passed through > to Windows. The reason is primarily because screen readers don't always treat > the CAPS LOCK KEY identically to how the INSERT KEY is treated, even while > using a dedicated laptop layout. In JAWS, for example, there are many key > mappings which are different, such as INSERT+8 (open the keyboard manager) as > opposed to CAPS LOCK+8 (perform a left mouse click). While JAWS key mappings > can be changed, and while I love using VMWare Fusion and find it very > efficient, I really wanted my keyboard to work in a more familiar manner. > > If anybody is wondering whether the CAPS LOCK KEY can be passed through > directly, the answer is yes, and here is my solution. The short version is > that in Mac OS X, we’ll be mapping the CAPS LOCK KEY to something entirely > different. Then in the VM, we’ll install SharpKeys and map that different key > back to CAPS LOCK. While this sounds a little crude, it’s the best solution > I’ve come up with thus far and really isn’t too complicated to set up if you > know your way around Mac OS X. The irony is that while you have this > configured, you won’t be able to use CAPS LOCK within Mac OS X itself. It > will only work when working with your virtual machine. You can select text > then choose “Make upper case” or “Make lower case” to compensate for this. > These options are located in the menu bar under Edit > Transformations. > > 1. Open up System Preferences. Select the Keyboard button, then the Modifier > keys button. Change CAPS LOCK to “no action” then hit OK and exit out of > System Preferences. > > 2. Download and install Seil from https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/seil.html. > It is a small app that lets you customize the functionality of the CAPS LOCK > KEY as well as some other, international, keys. I believe this software is > reputable, but I definitely understand and share the hesitation that many > will feel about installing an app from outside the App Store that you may > never have heard of. > > 3. Once installed, open the Seil app from your applications folder. You can > navigate through this app by tabbing around. Find the tree of settings. At > the top you will see text that says, “expand tree, then change settings and > change key codes”. Arrow down and the first group within the tree view should > be “change the CAPS LOCK KEY”. Expand with a RIGHT ARROW then DOWN ARROW to > the first and only setting you need to change, “change the CAPS LOCK KEY”. > Reassign the caps lock key to something else. I assigned it to key code 110. > This is the "super key" in Linux or the "applications key" in Windows. Since > my Mac doesn’t have this key anyway, this shouldn’t cause any other key > conflicts and I think should be a safe bet. Tab to the checkbox that > indicates you want this setting to be applied and check it, then TAB to the > edit box and enter the appropriate keycode, 110 in my case. You can now close > the window with CMD+W. > > 4. Now, whenever you press the CAPS LOCK key in Windows it will open up a > context menu. This is not what we want, so go ahead and install SharpKeys to > your virtual machine from https://sharpkeys.codeplex.com. It is very easy to > navigate. Open it up. Reassign "special@_Applications Key" to caps lock, and > hit the write to registry button. Then reboot the VM or log out and back in. > Voila, you now have full use of the CAPS LOCK KEY within Windows. > > 5. You should easily be able to undo this change in Seil if desired. > > Sorry that this was so long winded but I wanted to provide a reasonable > amount of detail for those interested. It may well be that somebody else has > a much more brilliant solution than mine. > > Cheers. > > Grant > > > > Grant > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
