Enabling Buttons on Apple Keyboard in Windows
I recently picked up, and am liking, the new “wafer thin” aluminum keyboard from Apple. Its very small, I like the key action and it’s very solid considering it’s size and thickness. But, I use it on Windows, and there’s no driver available other than the standard keyboard one, so the extra keys like media controls aren’t enabled. I came across a freeware macro program called AutoHotKey that works very nicely, and wrote up a few little scripts for it. You can download AutoHotKey and run the scripts yourself, or you can download the compiled version here [enable_mac_aluminum.zip, 193KB] and just pop it into your Startup folder.
Commands:
Shift-F3: Print Screen
Shift-F4: Task Manager
Shift-F7: Previous Track (in Winamp or Yahoo! Music Jukebox)
Shift-F8: Pause/Play (in Winamp or Yahoo! Music Jukebox)
Shift-F9: Next Track (in Winamp or Yahoo! Music Jukebox)
Shift-F10: Mute/Unmute
Shift-F11: Volume Down
Shift-F12: Volume Up
Windows-s: Open http://www.efsavage.com
Here’s the entire script:
#s::Run www.efsavage.com
+F3::Send {PrintScreen}
+F4::Send, {SHIFTDOWN}{CTRLDOWN}{ESC}{SHIFTUP}{CTRLUP}
+F7::
IfWinExist ahk_class Winamp v1.x
{
ControlSend, ahk_parent, z ; Pause/Unpause
return
}
IfWinExist ahk_class YMPFrame
{
SetTitleMatchMode 2
IfWinNotActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
WinActivate
WinWaitActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
MouseClick, left, 29, 107
Sleep, 100
MouseClick, left, 112, 76
WinMinimize
return
}
return
+F8::
IfWinExist ahk_class Winamp v1.x
{
ControlSend, ahk_parent, c ; Pause/Unpause
return
}
IfWinExist ahk_class YMPFrame
{
SetTitleMatchMode 2
IfWinNotActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
WinActivate
WinWaitActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
MouseClick, left, 29, 107
Sleep, 100
MouseClick, left, 30, 77
WinMinimize
return
}
return
+F9::
IfWinExist ahk_class Winamp v1.x
{
ControlSend, ahk_parent, b ; Pause/Unpause
return
}
IfWinExist ahk_class YMPFrame
{
SetTitleMatchMode 2
IfWinNotActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
WinActivate
WinWaitActive, Yahoo! Music Jukebox
MouseClick, left, 29, 107
Sleep, 100
MouseClick, left, 148, 79
WinMinimize
return
}
return
+F10::Send {Volume_Mute}
+F11::Send {Volume_Down 3}
+F12::Send {Volume_Up}
November 20th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
[...] Enabling Buttons on Apple Keyboard in Windows [...]
December 28th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Thanks so much for this script. I’m not vey tech saavy, so may I ask what the startup folder is, and how I access it? Thank you.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Ah, that was a great help. Found your site via Google when trying to find out a good app that will allow me to set up certain keyboard hotkeys on the Apple keyboard to do certain things. Thanks!
March 16th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Thanks alot
March 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Thanks alot
March 19th, 2008 at 1:23 am
you’re awesome thanks so much! you just made my life a whole lot easier
March 29th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
this is great. thanks. i picked up the keyboard today and was wondering how to do some tasks like print screen. any chance you will create more scripts?
April 26th, 2008 at 9:53 am
[...] Enabling Buttons on Apple Keyboard in Windows - If you use AutoHotKey, Eric F. Savage shares an alternate way to get extended functionality. Ben Vinegar also has an article along the same lines. [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 9:47 am
This is fantastically helpful. Much appreciated.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:37 am
A friend one of mine just picked one of these keyboards up but doesn’t have a Mac. Assuming you have access to a Leopard disc (or the Boot Camp drivers), there’s an alternative way to make the media keys work, however, it doesn’t allow total customization (but does use the actual Apple software):
http://smallcomputing.net/2008/09/16/how-to-apple-aluminum-keyboard-in-windows/
Cheers.