Windows Vista is the new OS product from Microsoft. As everything new, this one includes some not so pleasant surprises. For example the keyboard layouts are drastically changed. Here is a short guide on how to edit these in Vista for your convenience.

First off, you will need Microsoft’s The Microsoft Keybard layout Editor Install the application and load it. Then go to File -> Load Existing Keyboard. Locate the layout, which is going to be edited, mark and click OK. Edit keymappings as desired (do not forget to do the same for the Caps lock and Shift key combinations. When done save the project file with .msklc extension.

When ready with all the changes, save the file once again and prepare the package setup. For this go to Project -> Build DLL and Setup package. Check the build logs for errors and fix them (highly recommended if you need a 100% working keyboard layout). When ready with this step open the folder with the layout package (by default, the project is saved at C:\Users\username\Documents\layout01). Start the setup.exe file. When complete, go to Control panel -> Text Services and add your new layout. Voila! Improved version of your favorite phonetic layout is ready to use.

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