make right-alt key like left-alt

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by mculver, Apr 24, 2012.

  1. mculver

    mculver Member

    Messages:
    29
    I'm running Parallels 7 on a 21.5" 2010 iMac with a full keyboard, that is, I have Command, Option, and Control keys to the right of the spacebar. I do not have bootcamp installed and I am not in coherence mode, Parallels is just another app that I have to switch to. Once I'm in Windows everything is pretty much normal except for this:

    I would like the right-alt key to interpreted by Windows as if I had pressed the left-alt.

    The Windows resource key remapkey discussed in another thread does not work, either that or I'm doing something wrong.

    Many thanks in advance.
     
  2. YanaYana

    YanaYana

    Messages:
    1,666
    all you need actually is to go to Parallels Desktop --> Preferences --> keyboard and map the shortcuts you need. It worked for me.
     
  3. dlouden

    dlouden Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    In case you haven't solved this yet, I had the same issue and this appears to be the solution:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...indows-7/8aa1dd0a-6283-4702-9504-923584123613

    The issue is with the international keyboard settings in the Windows VM, not with the preferences in Parallels.

    No need to use a key re-mapper (I tried them all and couldn't resolve this problem).

    Hope this helps!
     
  4. JasonGVBC

    JasonGVBC Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Solution

    Hi all ... after several weeks of trying unsuccessfully to follow the suggestions here, I tried a different approach.

    I installed KeyRemap4MacBook on my Macbook
    Clicked on the new icon in the top menu
    Clicked on "Open KeyRemap4MacBook Preferences"
    Clicked on the "Misc and Uninstall" tab
    Clicked on the "private.xml" button
    Right clicked on "private.xml" in Finder and chose "Open With" TextEdit
    Added this text:
    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <root>
    <item>
    <name>Modifier To Option_R</name>
    <appendix>Option_R to Option_L</appendix>
    <identifier>remap.keytokey_modifier_JG</identifier>
    <autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::OPTION_R, KeyCode::OPTION_L</autogen>
    </item>

    </root>
    Saved the file
    Clicked on "Open KeyRemap4MacBook Preferences"
    Went to the "Change Key" tab
    Clicked on "ReloadXML" button
    And selected the new entry at the top:
    Modifier To Option_R

    And, finally, after weeks of cursing, my right Alt button now behaves just like the left Alt button in Windows in Parallels. Hope others find this to be useful. I really found that none of the other ideas worked for me.
     
  5. DickJ

    DickJ Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Hi,

    I just had to thank you for the answer you gave here. I've been frustrated by that for years! The way Parallels works, it seems that right-alt is set to behave like normal Mac "option" to allow typing international characters (which is actually great), but I haven't seen any way to turn that off. You have shown the way, and of course it can be switched back anytime you need to type en français! I think this would be a good feature for them to build in, but meanwhile, we have a fix!

    Thanks again,
    -Dick
     
  6. DanBerlin

    DanBerlin Bit poster

    Messages:
    4

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