[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":111},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2013:windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard":3,"blogMore-Technology":97,"comments-windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard":110},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":77,"commentCount":78,"date":79,"description":12,"excerpt":80,"extension":81,"filenames":82,"hidden":83,"image":84,"meta":85,"minutes":75,"navigation":86,"path":87,"seo":88,"showCategory":82,"stem":89,"tags":90,"updated":82,"url":94,"wordCount":95,"__hash__":96},"content\u002Fblog\u002F2013\u002Fwindows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard.md","Windows media keys on a regular keyboard",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":74},"minimark",[9,13,16,23,26,32,43,51,62,69],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Many full-size Windows keyboards come with extra buttons some of which are of questionable value but the volume and music controls are useful especially if you’re a programmer that likes to listen to music all day.",[10,14,15],{},"Unfortunately my two keyboards of choice (DAS Ultimate and Topre Realforce) do not come with such controls. Neither does my MacBook Pro but Apple do the elegant thing and re-purpose some of the function keys.",[10,17,18],{},[19,20],"img",{"alt":21,"src":22},"Apple media control keys","https:\u002F\u002Fimg.damieng.com\u002Fblog\u002FMacMedia.jpg",[10,24,25],{},"If only I could do that on my keyboards and take advantage of the Windows global music controls. (It also makes testing a bit easier if you support background music playback in your Windows Store apps). In fact Windows 8 even has a great little pop-up that comes up to show you what you’re doing:",[10,27,28],{},[19,29],{"alt":30,"src":31},"Windows 8 music overlay","https:\u002F\u002Fimg.damieng.com\u002Fblog\u002FWindows8MusicOverlay.png",[10,33,34,35,42],{},"Luckily, with the help of the wonderful ",[36,37,41],"a",{"href":38,"rel":39},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.AutoHotkey.com",[40],"nofollow","AutoHotkey"," you can. This great little tool lets you remap keys globally or per-app and even put some scripting and macro’s in place to really take control of Windows.",[10,44,45,46,50],{},"My keyboards don’t have a Fn key like the Mac but given the Windows key is the modifier for system shortcuts we can re-purpose that! Once you’ve unpacked and run AutoHotkey simply right-click on its system tray icon and choose ",[47,48,49],"em",{},"Edit This Script"," then paste the following into the Notepad Window that opens and hit save:",[52,53,58],"pre",{"className":54,"code":56,"language":57},[55],"language-text","; Windows Media controls in Mac positions\n#F7::Media_Prev\n#F8::Media_Play_Pause\n#F9::Media_Next\n#F10::Volume_Mute\n#F11::Volume_Down\n#F12::Volume_Up\n","text",[59,60,56],"code",{"__ignoreMap":61},"",[10,63,64,65,68],{},"Now simply right-click on AutoHotkey and choose ",[47,66,67],{},"Reload This Script"," and enjoy Windows media controls on your laptop or regular keyboard!",[10,70,71],{},[47,72,73],{},"[)amien",{"title":61,"searchDepth":75,"depth":75,"links":76},2,[],"Technology",0,"2013-08-16T11:59:33+00:00","[object Object]","md",null,false,{"alt":21,"src":22},{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002F2013\u002Fwindows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard",{"title":5,"description":12},"blog\u002F2013\u002Fwindows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard",[91,92,93],"hardware","keyboards","Windows","\u002Fblog\u002F2013\u002Fwindows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard\u002F",253,"Di26KtW0tDUbUbq0NyqJr1r2iqrIeedi4ZrIQXfGzu8",[98,102,106],{"title":99,"date":100,"url":101},"VTX5000: Part 4 - Communications","2026-05-06T10:19:24.727Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fvtx5000-part-4-comms-routines\u002F",{"title":103,"date":104,"url":105},"VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM","2026-04-15T23:00:00.000Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fvtx5000-part-3-software-rom\u002F",{"title":107,"date":108,"url":109},"VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware","2026-03-30T23:00:00.000Z","\u002Fblog\u002F2026\u002Fprism-vtx5000-part-2\u002F",[],1780900516127]