Apple Keyboard driver for Windows

[rspete]

Hi

 

I hope someone can help, this is my first post so please be kind!

 

I have a wired Apple keyboard connected to my Windows 7 64bit Home Premium PC. Mostly it works fine however as this forum know not all the keys have their functionality. (It is very nice and quiet!)

 

So in my search for a solution , if any, I stumbled on this site. Brilliant I thought no problems now!

 

Unfortunately that is not the case. I have followed the instructions given, downloaded AppleKeyboardInstaller64 and BootCamp64.msi. Installed both as per instructions.

 

Rebooted and failure to lload OS as it goes into repair mode followed by recent restore point.

 

Now I know I am not that clever round Pc's and maybe just maybe I am missing something. however I have repeated this several times with the same result. However if I don't reboot I appear to have some additional functionality, with the exception of the one thing I was really after and that was PrntScreen option. (This only works until the next reboot)

 

Any ideas and suggestions to get this working would be most welcome!

[robmac1]

After many hours of research , just want to post it in one place:

it attachment drivers for Apple Aluminium Wired Keyboard both for Win7 x64 and x86 enjoy!

 

Many thanks Poohla and others for setting up these files to enable the rest of us to get our very stylish Apple USB keyboards working. My W7 32bit notebook now has the dedicated numeric keyboard working and most function keys. Cheers. Rob

[feeei]

Hey all,

 

After googling for two days straight, going carefully through all the advice on this thread and ressurecting my Windows system from near-Bootcamp veggiefication, I've decided to post the issues that I'm having in the hopes that someone might have better insight into my driver problems.

 

Objective: To get the proper drivers installed for my Apple Wired Keyboard (AWKB) so that I can register proper scancodes off of the Fn-button and all the other buttons using AutoHotkey (software that automates hotkeys).

 

Item 1: Wired Apple Keyboard with 2 USB ports and numpad, bought early September 2011 in Toronto area. For precise layout, see attachment 0.

Hardware ID: HID\VID_05AC&PID_024F&REV_0074&MI_00

 

Item 2: Windows 7 Home Edition x64, on a custom tower built July 2011.

 

1. First of all, when the keyboard is first plugged in, Win7 automatically assigns generic drivers to it. These you can see when you go to Start > Devices and Printers > Apple Keyboard > Hardware tab. The following six drivers are assigned to it: Generic USB Hub, HID Keyboard Device, HID-compliant consumer control device, USB Composite Device, USB Input Device and USB Input Device (see attachment 1). According to my research, all of them serve a different function to make the keyboard work:

 

Generic USB Hub - the controller for the dual USB connection

HID Keyboard Device - all the common keyboard buttons

HID-compliant consumer control device - special button, I think it is for the eject button

USB Composite Device - the whole thing is called a "composite device" as it has both a keyboard and USB input on it.

USB Input Device x2 - the ports for the two USB plugs on either side of the keyboard.

 

At this point, the keyboard works like a standard Windows keyboard with the following remarks:

- F13-F19 doesn't respond

- Eject button doesn't respond

- Fn button doesn't respond

- As a consequence of Fn's dysfunction, no media buttons work on the F keys

- Clear button is NumLock, which toggles numeric vs. arrow key functionality on the numpad.

 

2. The following logical thought was to try and get the proper drivers for it so it at least can register all the buttons as scancodes. I tried:

- Installing Bootcamp 2.0 > doesn't work well with Win7, and definitely not with x64 systems

- Installing Bootcamp 3.0, with only the AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe > no results

- Installing Bootcamp 3.0, in full > tons of stuff is installed, but no proper drivers for the keyboard observed

- Tried installing later versions of BootCamp (BC) thinking my keyboard is so new the proper drivers aren't in BC3.0, but to no avail - after installing 3.0, BC updates refuse to run on my attempts.

 

3. Then I tried culling out the keyboard driver from the install, so I unzipped the contents of the AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe file. I tried installing the drivers manually for the HID Keyboard Device in Device Manager, but it would never detect any compatible drivers in the BC folder, ever. Only the generic drivers were compatible, apparently.

 

4. I decided to dig deeper and went into the KeyMagic.inf file found inside the AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe. I read up about what inf files were on this very informative site. Upon looking at the compatible devices that it would search for, the Hardware ID for my keyboard was NOT listed - so basically, all the previous BC installs never even tried installing keyboard drivers since it didn't detect any compatible Apple keyboards! Just to demonstrate what I mean:

 

My keyboard Hardware ID:

HID\VID_05AC&PID_024F&REV_0074&MI_00

or

HID\VID_05AC&PID_024F&MI_00

 

The highest Hardware ID value in the file (see the PID):

... VID_05AC&PID_0238&MI_00

 

So being the risk-taker that I was, I edited the list of compatible hardwares and added my keyboard's hardware IDs to the list (see attachment 2). I highly don't recommend this, as it almost rendered my computer to a veggie. Bootcamp definitely force-installed the driver onto the keyboard, and upon reboot NO INPUT DEVICES were working once Windows had arrived to the logon screen. No keyboard, no mouse (especially sad about the mouse as it is the saving grace with the on-screen keyboard option). Luckily the keyboard DID work during BIOS, so I popped in my Win7 CD and launched Windows from the CD drive, and restored my computer to a previous point before the driver disaster. Phew.

 

5. So being back to square one, I was ready to give up and just use daonlyfreez's Autohotkey tutorial of remapping the Fn key, but instead using the F13 key as fn (because at least I got a scancode from it). But long story short, that too did not do much good as AutoHotkey keeps on not being able to read HID codes coming from the keyboard properly for some reason. To diagnose what scancodes his devices are giving, he uses the AutoHotkey HID-Support program that you can find on the tutorial website. The fellow describes that he got good scancode readings when he selected to listen to his Apple Bluetooth Keyboard as an "HID" device, while I can only get readings from my keyboard when selecting "KEYBOARD" (see attachment 3). This, I think, affects how I can record scancodes later in the game, as I can never get the correct scancodes to register in other AutoHotkey programs even when I can see them in the AutoHotkey HID-support program.

 

--

 

I'll continue pursuing the AutoHotkey option but as you can see from my long and sad story, I'm not far from where I began two days ago, and it's beginning to become extremely tiresome. Most ideally I would have liked to just get the good drivers for the keyboard once and for all, and this remains my primary objective.

 

Honestly, I think I got the only damn Apple keyboard on the planet that refuses to work no matter what. But I hope my writeup about my problems can help shed some more detailed light into the driver-situation in relation to Apple keyboards on Windows 7 x64. And of course, I hope someone out there can offer some constructive advice as to how I can realistically make the keyboard work for me, instead of me working for the keyboard!

 

Cheers,

Fei

[Jokuaga]

I got exactly the same problem than previous poster. Keyboard itself works fine, but eject and fn (and because of fn also the media keys) doesn't work at all.

 

I've tried every advise in this topic without success. Also I've tried to use newer versions of bootcamp (3.2), doesn't work. All I can do at this point is trying the newest Bootcamp and hope that it works.

 

Is there anyone here who has manged to get this keyboard working with Win 7 pro x64? I got same keyboard model than previous poster.

[groundhog32]

Hi guys, I have figured out a working solution. I have attached all needed files.

How to use apple keyboard on Win7 X64 (any).

 

Lines inside quotes below aren't necessary here (refer to it, if you want to use your own extracted bootcamp 3.0 files), since all necessary files are already attached.

 

"""""Begin optional part""""""

Burn or mount the Bootcamp_Driver_3.0.iso

 

Go to Folder "Boot Camp" > "Drivers" > "Apple"

 

then copy "BootCamp64.msi" to your desktop.

 

In the folder "x64" copy the file "AppleKeyboardInstallerx64.exe" to the desktop too.

 

Extract "AppleKeyboardInstallerx64.exe" with your archive packer of choice.

 

You can remove the disk or image now.

""""""""End optional part""""""""""

 

Make sure the extracted "AppleKeyboardInstaller64" directory and "BootCamp64.msi" file from my archive are both on the desktop.

 

When it's done run the file "DPInst.exe"

 

Note, that the keyboard special keys will not work yet.

 

After that, search you need to run "BootCamp.msi" as administrator:

1. You need to open cmd as administrator ("start menu" > "all programs" > accessories > "command prompt" then right click "run as administrator")

 

In the command prompt, go to your desktop (cd /Users/*your users' name*/Desktop).

Then type "BootCamp.msi".

 

When the install is finish, reboot and it's ok!

 

***Note***

1. After install and restart type "msconfig" (without quotes) in the start menu and remove "boot camp" entry from the "Startup items", because it is not necessary and just

delays start-up procedure.

 

2. Stop and disable following services (type "services" in the start menu):

- Apple OS Switch Manager

- Apple Time Service

 

2. To change the fn-key behavior (to default F1-F12 and not to fn+F1 - fn+F12):

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\KeyMagic\OSXFnBehavior

 

Change the value to REG_DWORD and value zero.

 

Optional: you can download bootcamp 3.1 from Apple site and update.

 

**********

 

 

ENJOY!

 

Brilliant fix, works perfectly. Thanks so much for this.

 

Two things I'd like to add:

 

1. If you use WinRAR to extract the BootCamp64.msi file and run it from within the command prompt window, it will automatically invoke WinRAR functions. You need to right-click the file on your desktop, select properties and change the Opens With default from Command line RAR to Windows installer. Then it will install properly from the command line.

 

2. Regedt32 and Regedit are now interchangeable (in Win7). Entering either in the Run box will open the same Registry Editor. At one time, with Win XP, you could use either editor, but only one of them had a search/find facility. (I forget which one).

[swordiee]

I've been following the instructions that many of you guys have been posting on this thread, however there is one obstacle thats preventing me from succeeding.

 

Every time I try to run the Boot camp installer, I get the message that "This version of Boot Camp is not intended for this computer model". This pops up even while running as administrator. I'm using the Apple Wireless Keyboard (the latest model) on a Windows 7 x86 that's not on Mac hardware.

 

Anyone able to enlighten me on this one?

 

Cheers

 

OK I managed to find out what the issue was (ended up installing Boot Camp 3.0 and it worked fine). However the issue I have now is that the 'Keyboard' tab is missing in the Boot Camp Control Panel.

 

Anyone know why this is the case?

 

Thanks!

[Simon42]

Just reinstalled my Win7 x64 from scratch. I had all keys working as they should with BootCamp 3.1 on my previous install but the computer wouldnt wake up from sleep~hibernate and I wanted to correct it when reinstalling. Well it turns out it did everything perfectly until I reinstalled Bootcamp to get full keyboard function (its the wired fullsized one with numpad btw). I went back a restore point and sleep was back to working as it should. I figured out why that was reading posts from Mac owners who couldnt wake their machine after sleep in Windows. Turns out BootCamp interferes and looks for an HFS main partition (that I dont have) when it wake up; so the screen stays blank.

 

I'll investigate other "emulation" options under Windows to get the key functions - in fact I already have before but nothing would open the CD drive from the keyboard under Windows. That function is crucial for me since I'm running a Hackintosh inside a G4 case and I have no other handy way to eject CDs. I wish remapping keys was as simple as under OSX where I use Spark and I got full F-key function on multiple hacks, from EeePc to this Quad Core Intel G4. If you have any tricks for me, please share. And if anyone can figure out how to split the BootCamp package so that the service is still handling the key signals properly but doesnt try to force the Bootcamp side and EFI return from sleep a normal Mac would have that would be awesome. Thanks!

[nickjf20]

I've got a really weird problem -- bootcamp works fine with all animations e.t.c. but won't eject any disks ?

 

Can anyone shed any light on this as I've got a G5 case which is a pain to eject disks from now !

[htquang]

I've been using my apple aluminum keyboard for a while but there's a bug that's been driving me insane.. wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

 

Every 30-45 seconds or so the alt key will send even if I haven't touched the key. So for example if I'm in notepad and I hold down 'f' it will trigger the file menu on it's own.

 

This gets extremely annoying when I'm writing in documents as it activates the menus.

 

I've tried looking this problem up but I can't seem to find any help. I've replaced the keyboard already so it's definitely a software issue?

 

This happens before and after bootcamp drivers are installed.

 

Sorry my poor English. :wink2:

I had the same kind problem like cheungri. In my case, The left control key always send even. Then, I found and installed AppleKeyboardInstaller64 and BootCamp64.msi version 4.0, the newest bootcamp version and this problem was solved.

 

I attach 2 files, they work in my case (follow M4xim's instruction to install them).

AppleKeyboardInstaller64_v4.0.rar

BootCamp64_v4.0.rar

[nickjf20]

Sorry my poor English. :wink2:

I had the same kind problem like cheungri. In my case, The left control key always send even. Then, I found and installed AppleKeyboardInstaller64 and BootCamp64.msi version 4.0, the newest bootcamp version and this problem was solved.

 

I attach 2 files, they work in my case (follow M4xim's instruction to install them).

 

Thanks man, seems to be working again on Windows 8 Pro x64

[zeddys]

Sorry my poor English. :wink2:

I had the same kind problem like cheungri. In my case, The left control key always send even. Then, I found and installed AppleKeyboardInstaller64 and BootCamp64.msi version 4.0, the newest bootcamp version and this problem was solved.

 

I attach 2 files, they work in my case (follow M4xim's instruction to install them).

Thanks works great on windows 8 64

[MDFanatik]

Hello!

Thank you for your files htquang. When I let bootcamp startup the system won"t go to sleep (it crashes). Disabling startup of bootcamp makes you lose brightness and eject, but you will keep the mediakeys (only play, forward and rewind). F3 is search. Also the driver for the keyboard messes up the f14-f16 keys: they should start at f13 (scrolllock etc). I'm trying to combine it with sharpkeys, but get some conflicting keys like numlock. Do you think it is possible to change the ini file in the installation package of the keyboard so that we can choose the keys our selves?

Many thanks!

[svyatogor]

Sorry my poor English. :wink2:

I had the same kind problem like cheungri. In my case, The left control key always send even. Then, I found and installed AppleKeyboardInstaller64 and BootCamp64.msi version 4.0, the newest bootcamp version and this problem was solved.

 

I attach 2 files, they work in my case (follow M4xim's instruction to install them).

 

Thank you so much! It solved the problems with my Apple Wireless keyboard! FN key is now fully functional.

[Chrontius]

I've got this problem, too - it worked last time, this time it doesn't.  HTQuang's graciously provided files don't work - I've already got that version of the Apple keyboard driver installed, and BootCamp4x64 "encounters problems" before it can start writing files.  Anyone know a good way to scrape out all the remaining traces of old Boot Camp drivers I may have missed?

[Chrontius]

It appears that the version of Boot Camp successfully installed on one 32-bit Windows 7 system is 3.3 - I'm going to try to install that on the big bad workstation and see if it works.

[cyberbabacool]

Hi, I got my wireless apple aluminium keyboard running on 7 x64 with bootcammp drivers and this http://code.google.com/p/uawks/

[nickjf20]

Latest file on this page still works on Windows 8.1 x64, however no OSD is shown

[nickjf20]

Here are the updated drivers from Bootcamp 5.1
 
OSD display works perfectly Windows 8.1 x64

 

AppleKeyboardInstaller64.zip

 

Same instructions to run BootCamp.msi as admin still apply

[profd]

FYI those drivers are buggy for me in windows 8.1.

 

The function keys do not always register (but do sometimes).

 

Within OSX the keyboard works fine consistently. With these drivers removed the function keys seem to work fine.

 

For now i have removed them, just wanted to note that in case someone has a similar problem to me.

[TrakDah]

Hi.

 

I'm going to revive this excellent thread to say that it still works! I've just used the BootCamp 5.1 files provided by nickjf20 (on page 6)

 

I do have one question, if someone still reads this old thread: I had an Overlay for Volume etc working previously, and it wasn't either Autohotkey nor AppleWirelessKeyboard. It was some overlay that did very little, but it did it well. It added the capability to use the Fn-keys for media, and added the overlay, and it also added the Apple type "blop" sound when you changed the volume. 

 

Any ideas what it is I'm looking for?

 

After some Googling, I found it.

First I found the thread from 2012 on Lifehacker that proposed AppleWirelessKeyboard. And reading through the comments, I found the guy who had created the tool I'm proposing (and that I've been using). Problem: He didn't name it, and the link was dead. Luckily, he had named it; he said: "To enable the volume keys: -Install 3RVX".

So back to Google, and I Googled for 3RVX. And lo and behold! He's still developping that small excellent tool!

 

If you're a user of any Apple Keyboard on Windows you want this! Go grab it!

http://matthew.malensek.net/projects/3RVX/ 

 

And huge regards to m4xim, Bergdoktor, nickjf20 and the rest in this thread, that have all made it possible for me to use my wireless keyboard since 2010!

 

/TrakDah

Edited January 5, 2015 by TrakDah