It wasn't a fix for me, but it contained the information I needed to fix my problem!įirst I used SharpKeys to remap a useless key (I guess it's called the Application key - scan code E0_5D) to something else (I used an asterisk). I looked at that one and didn't understand enough about what was going on to try it, so I kept going and didn't go back later. Is it even possible to remap the Pause key with the Scancode Map registry key? If so, how? I found this, but it assumes two-byte scan codes. I looked for some Microsoft documentation on the Scancode Map key, hoping to find a way to apply it to longer scancode sequences. Maybe this is why the Pause key isn't in SharpKeys. It sends six bytes, or four if a Control key is held down, as shown here. It allows you to specify a two-byte keyboard scan code to replace some other two-byte scan code. At least it doesn't show the Pause key on my laptop.Įventually I ended up looking at doing what SharpKeys does manually via the Scancode Map registry key.

SharpKeys looks good, but it only remaps existing keys as far as I can tell. So I started looking into various keyboard remapping techniques. While I wait for this unlikely event, I thought I'd try to fix it myself. Ideally, Dell would update the firmware on the laptop that would add this feature. I went through all of the key combinations I could think of and never saw a Pause scancode or a Pause key behavior. will emulate the Pause key, but on my laptop they don't. I found various docs that say Fn+Insert or Fn+F10 or etc.

This works, but negates the portability of the laptop.

Yesterday I discovered to my disgust that it's missing the Pause/Break key, and apparently Dell didn't give us a hotkey to replace it.ĭell tech support suggested I attach an external keyboard.

Rempkey vs sharpkeys