Mac -> Windows Remote Desktop Keyboard [German Layout]

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I thought, that instead of a VM on my MacBook, I would just RDP to a Windows Server, and write my code there (C#,Visual Studio). Problem is that the keyboard mapping is completely wrong: What I'd want is to have the normal Mac keyboard layout (German) in the Remote Desktop session too. Now i downloaded a keyboard layout and installed it on windows, BUT as the a lot of keys are mapped to ALT+NUMBER (like ALT+5 for [ and ALT+6 for ]) and windows' default behaviour for the alt key is, to highlight the menu, i can't work with that mapping.

Would anyone of you have an idea to get that working?

I'm open to all suggestions and tried googling for some hours without finding a good solution

Thanks

Volker Mauel

Posted 2013-09-12T18:37:29.800

Reputation: 71

Note: Pressing alt+ctrl and then a number,it works as it should, but as there is no ctrl key on the right side of the keyboard, it's not really convenient – Volker Mauel – 2013-09-12T18:40:32.970

Have you tried to customize the keyboard behavior in the Preferences of Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection for Mac ? You could also try CoRD - a Mac RDP client for Windows computers.

– harrymc – 2013-09-18T05:58:18.367

i tried CoRD but it performs really badly compared to the normal remote desktop, even at the lowest possible settings. Customizing the keyboard behaviour i could only manage to disable forwarding the alt key at all, but if you have any idea to get it working, that would be great – Volker Mauel – 2013-09-18T15:50:12.847

If you can't tackle it on the Mac side, you could map the keys on the Windows side. The best utility for that is AutoHotkey.

– harrymc – 2013-09-18T16:00:30.343

That would also mean, that i'd always have to start the tool when i'm on the mac and stop it when i'm on a pc. of course,it's an option, but shouldn't there be a better approach? – Volker Mauel – 2013-09-18T19:50:21.933

1AutoHotkey is such a versatile tool that it could probably verify the context of the session and act accordingly - whole products have been written entirely in AutoHotkey. But I don't have the time to research all that. – harrymc – 2013-09-18T21:00:39.877

Answers

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As suggested by harrymc i'm using an AutoHotKey script right now

!5::[
!6::]
!7::|
!8::{
!9::}
!n::~

i'm still trying to get the auto-run feature of RD working, so it automatically starts the program upon connecting.

Might not be the most elegant solution to this problem, but at least it works and i can easily change the script

Volker Mauel

Posted 2013-09-12T18:37:29.800

Reputation: 71

0

According to this VMware KB article, installing Boot Camp drivers on Windows also adds Apple / Mac versions of some keyboard layouts as options in the control panel.

Lri

Posted 2013-09-12T18:37:29.800

Reputation: 34 501

Asked: 2013-09-12T18:37:29.800

Viewed: 2 170 times

Active: 2013-09-19T23:07:03.573