Switch Alt and LWindows key in PC (Windows 7)

I have a Windows 7 keyboard that has Ctrl-LWindows-Alt bottom left. Can I switch LWindows-Alt layout to Alt-LWindows?

Thanks for the answers!

I checked, downloaded the tools and tested very briefly. I must say that Will's answer is the best for me as I don't have to do anything but drag and drop. And as it just changes the registry, I expect no resource would be used. I remapped TAB and L-Windows key to Alt (meta) so that I can use Emacs with my PC like the one with my Mac.

prosseek

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 4 635

Answers

I would use Remapkey.exe. It is available for free in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit.

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William Hilsum

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 111 572

1Note: You have to right-click remapkey.exe and choose "Run as Administrator" for it to be able to write the results to the registry. – Kev – 2016-02-10T15:11:09.080

Nice. This would seem to be the more up-to-date version of the MKLC - I didn;t know this existed. – imoatama – 2010-09-15T15:49:48.633

+1 - I'll remember this for the next keyboard remapping question that comes up! – JNK – 2010-09-15T15:50:53.373

As an AutoHotKey script:

LAlt::LWin
LWin::LAlt

yhw42

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 2 161

You can do this with autohotkey pretty easily.

JNK

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 7 642

The best way to do this is with Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. This allows you to create custom keyboard layouts, which are then installed and can be set as the system keyboard layout.

It'd be pretty easy to create a layout with the Alt and Windows keys switched, and this method has the advantage of residing much lower in the OS than a 3rd party tool or Hotkey program. This means that when you hit Alt, the OS sees it as LWindows (and of course vice versa). This is going to be more reliable than overriding the default behaviour of a system key, which AutoHotKey seems to offer.

imoatama

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 1 906

Why'd this get an upvote? MKLC (as of the current version 1.4) calls such special keys "unassignable," and then, of course, does not let you assign them. – Kev – 2016-02-10T15:03:26.343

Possibly because it worked when I posted it, more than 5 years ago. – imoatama – 2016-02-18T04:48:29.593

fair enough, although it seems strange that they would have removed this functionality. – Kev – 2016-02-18T14:32:55.633

can you elaborate on how that is possible - since judging by this image of ms klc 1.4 it isn't showing the windows key http://i.imgur.com/KtbcFvF.png

– barlop – 2017-04-10T08:28:57.487

See the answer to How to remap Right-Win and Right-Alt keyboard keys for information what Remapkey.exe. in @WilliamHilsum's answer does in the background (and what you easily can achieve with .reg files, the applying of which can be automated, too).

GeroldBroser reinstates Monica

Posted 2010-09-15T14:41:56.230

Reputation: 405