[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":150},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2013:windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard":3,"blogMore-Technology":136,"comments-windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard":149},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"category":11,"tags":12,"excerpt":16,"body":31,"_type":126,"_id":127,"_source":128,"_file":129,"_stem":130,"_extension":131,"url":132,"wordCount":133,"minutes":124,"commentCount":134,"image":135},"/blog/2013/windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard","2013",false,"en","Windows media keys on a regular keyboard","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.","2013-08-16T11:59:33+00:00","Technology",[13,14,15],"hardware","keyboards","Windows",{"type":17,"children":18},"root",[19,26],{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":22,"children":23},"element","p",{},[24],{"type":25,"value":9},"text",{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":27,"children":28},{},[29],{"type":25,"value":30},"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.",{"type":17,"children":32,"toc":123},[33,37,41,50,55,63,79,92,103,115],{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":34,"children":35},{},[36],{"type":25,"value":9},{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":38,"children":39},{},[40],{"type":25,"value":30},{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":42,"children":43},{},[44],{"type":20,"tag":45,"props":46,"children":49},"img",{"alt":47,"src":48},"Apple media control keys","https://img.damieng.com/blog/MacMedia.jpg",[],{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":51,"children":52},{},[53],{"type":25,"value":54},"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:",{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":56,"children":57},{},[58],{"type":20,"tag":45,"props":59,"children":62},{"alt":60,"src":61},"Windows 8 music overlay","https://img.damieng.com/blog/Windows8MusicOverlay.png",[],{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":64,"children":65},{},[66,68,77],{"type":25,"value":67},"Luckily, with the help of the wonderful ",{"type":20,"tag":69,"props":70,"children":74},"a",{"href":71,"rel":72},"https://www.AutoHotkey.com",[73],"nofollow",[75],{"type":25,"value":76},"AutoHotkey",{"type":25,"value":78}," 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.",{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":80,"children":81},{},[82,84,90],{"type":25,"value":83},"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 ",{"type":20,"tag":85,"props":86,"children":87},"em",{},[88],{"type":25,"value":89},"Edit This Script",{"type":25,"value":91}," then paste the following into the Notepad Window that opens and hit save:",{"type":20,"tag":93,"props":94,"children":96},"pre",{"code":95},"; 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",[97],{"type":20,"tag":98,"props":99,"children":101},"code",{"__ignoreMap":100},"",[102],{"type":25,"value":95},{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":104,"children":105},{},[106,108,113],{"type":25,"value":107},"Now simply right-click on AutoHotkey and choose ",{"type":20,"tag":85,"props":109,"children":110},{},[111],{"type":25,"value":112},"Reload This Script",{"type":25,"value":114}," and enjoy Windows media controls on your laptop or regular keyboard!",{"type":20,"tag":21,"props":116,"children":117},{},[118],{"type":20,"tag":85,"props":119,"children":120},{},[121],{"type":25,"value":122},"[)amien",{"title":100,"searchDepth":124,"depth":124,"links":125},2,[],"markdown","content:blog:2013:windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard.md","content","blog/2013/windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard.md","blog/2013/windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard","md","/blog/2013/windows-8-media-keys-on-a-regular-keyboard/",253,0,{"alt":47,"src":48},[137,141,145],{"title":138,"date":139,"url":140},"VTX5000: Part 4 - Communications ","2026-05-06T10:19:24.727Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-4-comms-routines/",{"title":142,"date":143,"url":144},"VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM","2026-04-15T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-3-software-rom/",{"title":146,"date":147,"url":148},"VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware","2026-03-30T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/prism-vtx5000-part-2/",[],1779264565642]