Keyboard Caps Lock

Remap keys, map caps lock to control button

The caps locks key is one of the least commonly used keys on my keyboard... 

Until I mapped it to a control key! 

A lot of the registry hacks available online for remapping the caps lock and control button involve swapping their functionality or swapping other keys.  I have absolutely no use for a caps lock button, so I just map the caps lock button to a control button and leave the control button in the bottom-left corner alone.

Download this registry file and import it: Remap_caps_lock_to_ctrl.zip.

Or fire up the Registry Editor by clicking Start Menu > Run.

  1. Type in regedit, and hit enter.
  2. Browse to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout.
  3. Click on Keyboard Layout.
  4. Right-click in the table on the right, and click New > Binary Value.
  5. A new value will be added in the table.  Name it "Scancode Map" without the quotes.
  6. Double-click on the new "Scancode Map" value.
  7. A window titled "Edit Binary Value" will pop-up.
  8. Enter:
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    02 00 00 00 1D 00 3A 00
    00 00 00 00
  9. No need to enter the spaces.  They will be automatically inserted as the numbers are entered.
  10. Click OK to save your changes.

Now reboot. After rebooting, your caps lock will now act as a control button!

Check out the Microsoft Documentation if you're looking for a more complete technical description of what all the HEX values mean.


About the Author

Ray Li

Ray is a software engineer and data enthusiast who has been blogging for over a decade. He loves to learn, teach and grow. You’ll usually find him wrangling data, programming and lifehacking.

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