When using a mac keyboard in Windows, like on a MacBook Air/Pro or my favorite the small bluetooth Apple Wireless Keyboard, you may notice some keys are emulated via Boot Camp drivers (see Apple’s chart), but there are some keys still missing. Such as print screen and the apps context menu key. Using AutoHotkey it’s easy to get these keys back.
AutoHotkey is a free, open-source, utility for Windows that makes it easy to remap keys, create hotkeys, and automate windows.
In addition to the keys listed on the Boot Camp Keyboard Chart, there are also these undocumented mappings supported out of the box.
| Mac Keyboard | PC Side | |
| fn+esc | pause | |
| fn+control+esc | break | |
| fn+return | insert |
Here are the keys beyond what’s supported by Boot Camp that I use and map via AutoHotkey. The last two are just for convenience.
| Mac Keyboard | PC Side | |
| right alt | apps (context menu) | |
| shift+right alt | shift+apps | |
| command+delete | browser back | |
| command+= | print screen | |
| control+right alt | insert |
Here is a script that brings back these keys: MacKeys.ahk
; MacKeys.ahk
; #=Win ^=Ctrl +=Shift !=Alt
RAlt:: send {AppsKey}
+RAlt:: send +{AppsKey}
^RAlt:: send {Insert}
#Backspace:: send {Browser_Back}
#=:: send {PrintScreen}
!=:: send {Break}
+!=:: send +{Break}For more AutoHotkey goodness, see related posts. Any other keys you use not listed here?
Update (8/20/2012):
- Just found out fn+return is built in to Boot Camp for the insert key.
- Also shift+F10 is a standard Windows shortcut for the apps (context menu) key.
Thanks Noah.
I’m on my new MBP Retina & I found you with a simple google search. CTRL + Right ALT is what I was looking for with insert. I want to know how OSX do these shortcuts. I never like to customize the key bindings because I then have habits that are not shared with the rest of the industry or my co-workers. Also, then I have a sync problem or computer setup problem when I move to a new computer (which I seem to do about once a year now).
Thanks for the great post. I’m using Parallels to run: Windows 7, Windows 8, ChromeOS, Fedora Linux, Ubuntu Linux.
I’m thinking about getting a MBA and installing Windows via Bootcamp. Do you know if its possible to map fn+c and fn+v to copy and paste respectively using AutoHotKey?
Andrew with bootcamp drivers Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v work out of the box as copy/paste so no need to try to add fn+c/v (posted using MBP running windows 7 via bootcamp)