Turn the left backslash key into a Shift key! (turn bilingual keyboard into a US keyboard)

Our company recently purchased a new laptop, and it has a bilingual keyboard. These keyboards seems to be the most common type in Canada now, regardless of your province.
So instead of a full left shift key, these keyboards have a half shift and backslash "\" key. Instead of a full enter key, it has another "\" key and a vertical enter key.
So now everytime I try to use shift, a backslash comes up, and everything I try to type enter, another blackslash comes up.
This became such a hassle that I just physically removed the keys from of the keyboard, then after much searching, found a better fix.
The best way to fix this appears to making a small change to the Windows registry, which changes the Scancode of the key. Technically, you can change any key on the keyboard to some other key, but that is not covered in this video. If someone would like to see that, please leave a comment below and we can make a more detailed video about scancodes and keyboard customization.

First, run "regedit" from "Run" in XP, or search for "regedit" in Win7 and Vista. Second, you just need to add a binary key named "Scancode Map" with the value

"00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 2A 00 56 00 1C 00 2B 00 2B 00 58 00 00 00 00 00"

in this location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Keyboard Layout \

Lastly, restart your computer.

This will turn the left backslash "\" key on the bilingual keyboard into a L-Shift key, and it will turn the right backslah "\" key into an "Enter" key. It also turns the F12 key into a backslash "\" key.
After this fix, I was able to type as normal on the bilingual keyboard.
Hope this fix helps with using that pesky keyboard!

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[Dr0g0NP0w3R987]

hey. I have a problem my 5,6 and caps are messed up!! they respond as different keys. eg 5 is g and 6 h and caps is esc how do i change them by the way 5 and 6 are on the top of the keyboard with keys that function as symbols when you hold shift and press it ex 2 and @ how do i remap these keys back to original self?

[pcbsolution]

@Dr0g0NP0w3R987 i'm not sure if I can help with this one, but i recommend taking a look at 1:40 in the video.

If your registry doesn't have the "Scancode Map" key in this folder, then it is probably just something with the Language and Region settings in Windows.

in win7, click on the language bar (bottom right usually), and pick US keyboard.

[wowkidlrn2play]

I have that exact same toshiba laptop. i3 intel core and windows 7

[unicusDOTcom]

@JoostyBoy KeyTweak did it for me, I did not want to mess around coding the registry. With KeyTweak, 15 seconds and a reboot and I fixed by poorly layout out bilingual keys.

[talezshin]

Thanks! Now I can reduce typos while using Laptop!!! I'm not gonna buy any Canadian localized layout laptops from now. I was fine with the enter key layout since my first computer(MSX) had similar return key layout as well. But who's idea to put additional backslash key to cut up the left shift key... Ugh...

[spookymaster117]

how do i change my forward slash key back to normal because when i press it it makes an accented e symbol

[JoostyBoy]

KeyTweak is even more user friendly than SharpKeys but requires an installation.

[JoostyBoy]

I use SharpKeys, it is much more user friendly and less risky than hard-code editing the Register. I used it for turning the (almost) useless Scroll Lock key in the Play/Pause key to control Windows Media Player (or Center).

But a very interesting video though! You can use Google to find more scancode mapping entries or look for SharpKeys if you find that easier.

[swhoelefp69]

kudos bro ! worked like a charm ;)

[classicdorian]

Hi, my enter button isn't working and so I'm trying to swap the enter key with a less frequently used button such as #. Could you offer any help? Thanks

[waffleheadGaming]

I have problem my Z key I had paste that in there

But when I type, Z on my keyboard nothing come up! So was wondering,

Can I remap this to a different key! so when, Id press say like for example

end or 1 or 2 or something Z will be appear

Iv downloade lik>KeyTweak>Key Mapper>SharpKeys and even the microsoft one

and "FAILED" I just can't afford like 30 euro for new keyboard and this is main key that I use with photoshop and maya =[

[Groovyguy451]

@Chamilism Sorry for late reply. I have exactly what you see there. 6 zeros.