Key below "esc" (^/°) and right of "left shift" (</>) are swapped in Windows

[skrysmanski]

Karabiner wrongly swaps two keys when I use Windows on my Mac.

The keys are (the usual ones):

• The key below the esc key. In my case (German layout), this is ^.
• The key right of the left shift key. In my case, this is <.

These keys work fine on macOS itself (e.g. when using the Terminal or a text editor). However, as soon as I use Windows from my Mac, the keys get swapped.

By "use Windows from my Mac" I mean one of the following:

• use Windows in a VM (I've tested both VMWare Fusion and VirtualBox)
• use Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect to a Windows box.

When I quit/uninstall Karabiner, the keys are no longer swapped and work correctly even on Windows.

I'm guessing that both Remote Desktop as well as VMs send scancodes rather than characters to Windows. I've also read that this has something to do with the ANSI/ISO keyboard type - but I couldn't figure out how to change the keyboard type. In any case, I think Karabiner should work correctly in this case out of the box.

My setup (if it matters):

• MacBook Pro Retina (Mid 2012)
• German keyboard (I'm just using the integrated keyboard, not an external one)
• macOS High Sierra (10.13.5)
• Karabiner 12.1.0

[yetzt]

i have the same behaviour on high sierra with a usb keyboard, while my bluetooth keyboard works fine.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[yetzt]

i'd rather this issue would be fixed.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[yetzt]

so, noone fixing this?

[skrysmanski]

<irony>This is also a way to work: Just close issues without any reaction from any maintainer because it's "stale".</irony>

It's also a great way of producing lots of useless comments that are just written to keep the issue from getting stale -.-

[yetzt]

maybe i should write a still-care-bot. we could totally automate this. m)

[wAuner]

I have a similar problem with my Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard with my mac. By default the ^°-button is switched with the <>-button. However, I can't find the button in the simple modifications. Does anyone know I could fix this?

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[yetzt]

we still care bout this, how about an answer instead of a bot?

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

unstale

[ralfnitzer]

https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/2027#issuecomment-550211764 This workaround seems to work, and make the keyboard usable again.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[ralfnitzer]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[ralfnitzer]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

unstale

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[skrysmanski]

/unstale

[bangedorrunt]

you can make condition for app like vmware and virtual box.... then when those apps are active (in focus) you will swap keys back to your normal behaviour.

[nightlyop]

I have the same problem on Mac OS Catalina (10.15.6) with Microsoft Sculpt keyboard.

Edit I found a solution:

You can work around this issue by manually mapping grave_accent_and_tilde -> non_us_backslash and vice versa in Karabiner.

https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/2027#issuecomment-623576522

[yetzt]

for me the keys are switched between different keyboards. mostly annoying.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.