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Monday, October 11, 2010

Japanese Keyboard Not Functioning Correctly After Installing Windows 7

This is a common problem for laptops bought in Japan. Japanese laptop = Japanese OS. If you want to convert it to English operating system, you will face a very common problem after converting.

Problem: After upgrading/converting your OS (Windows Vista to Windows 7), your Japanese laptop keyboard is not functioning correctly (different layout). The most common affected keys are the @ sign which is located along with number 2 in standard keyboard, (, :, +,

Reason: Windows Vista and Windows 7 somehow identifies some Japanese keyboards as an English device.

Solution: You will need to go to the Registry and tell Windows that you have the standard 106/109 Japanese keyboard instead of the English 101 version.

Note If the LayerDriver JPN registry entry does not exist, create it. To do this, right-click a blank area in the details pane, point to New, and then click String Value. Then, typeLayerDriver JPN to name the new string value.

In the Value data box, delete the existing value, type kbd106.dll, and then click OK.

Right-click OverrideKeyboardIdentifier, and then click Modify.

Note If the OverrideKeyboardIdentifier registry entry does not exist, create it. To do this, right-click a blank area in the details pane, point to New, and then click String Value. Then, type OverrideKeyboardIdentifier to name the new string value.

In the Value data box, delete the existing value, type PCAT_106KEY, and then clickOK.

Right-click OverrideKeyboardSubtype, and then click Modify.

Note If the OverrideKeyboardSubtype registry entry does not exist, create it. To do this, right-click a blank area in the details pane, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value. Then, type OverrideKeyboardSubtype to name the new DWORD value.

In the Value data box, delete the existing value, type 2, and then click OK.

Right-click OverrideKeyboardType, and then click Modify.

Note If the OverrideKeyboardType registry entry does not exist, create it. To do this, right-click a blank area in the details pane, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value. Then, type OverrideKeyboardType to name the new DWORD value.

In the Value data box, delete the existing value, type 7, and then click OK.

My 2 cents. If you have a Windows Ultimate version you do not need to re-install an English version of Windows. You can install a language, from the Control Panel. You should not have any problem with your keyboard this way.

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X220 with a Japanese keyboard (purchased in Japan). "@" key beside the "P" key, etc.

When I installed Windows 7 Ultimate (English), my keyboard mapped correctly (when choosing "Japanese Keyboard"). However, I recently installed Windows 7 Home Premium on the same system, and ran into the problem reported on this page.