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I got some "close to useless" USB sleep buttons for computers from a marketing campaign and was wondering how to use it to something cooler. Like.. Playing sad trombone when pressed.

So I went around looking how does it installs, and finally seems to be simply a HID keyboard key. Googlin' a bit more, I've found Patriot's question which seemed quite the answer - but no. The programs they describe there do not trap the commands from the USB dongle even in "teach mode" if I press it my computer goes to sleep -_-

What would be the correct way to find and remap that key to something specific?

Edit Forgot to mention the operation system. it is Windows 7

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flpgdt
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  • what os? evtest in linux is pretty good for trapping keyboard scankeys - there's vaguely similar things in windows but nothing as good – Journeyman Geek Feb 28 '12 at 10:57
  • Oh, darnit.. Totaly forgot to mention. It is windows 7 I am using. – flpgdt Feb 29 '12 at 12:02
  • Apparently some of those keys have the key-combination they send out hardcoded in an [eeprom](http://hackaday.com/2012/02/28/reprogramming-promotional-usb-dongles-to-launch-custom-urls/) cracking one open might be educational – Journeyman Geek Feb 29 '12 at 12:47

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It looks like this Keyboard Layout tool by Microsoft lets you remap a key on an existing layout. Apparently it is a GUI that lets you edit the registry settings for your keyboard mapping. You can also trying hacking the registry keys under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Keyboard Layout

Good luck. (fade out: whaaa-whaaaarmmm)

jdh
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