configure "blue" thinkvantage button to work properly

[iqbalm]

hi everyone

i'd like to start off by saying my "blue" think-vantage button really isn't blue its black, not sure why? okay now on to my question...

i'm not really sure how this happened but one day my think-vantage button just stopped working, so I searched online in hopes of finding something. After wasting an entire day I finally found a thread on the lenovo forum site. Apparently I am not the only one with this problem but most of those other people had older thinkpads, mine is brand new? ONe of the forum members suggested we reconfigure the think-vantage button to launch a program like notepad or word by creating a registry file. this may be a little confusing so here is the link to what i saw (the last comment on the page):

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkVantag ... 545/page/2

so i gave this a go, works pretty well but honestly i don't really use notepad for anything. i know this may be silly but this think-vantage button issue is driving me nuts. i'd like the think-vantage button to function properly as it was intended, i hope someone here can help or advise me? any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

here is my system configuration:

* x230 model 2306CTO
* intel core i5-3210M processor (2.5 GHz clock speed)
* windows 7 pro x64
* 500gb 7200rpm hdd
* 8gb ddr3 ram

[TPpakistan]

in Windows 10, this procedure applies:
First steps (modifying registry to accept any .exe or .bat file)
1. Open regedit as admin

2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\ShortcutKey\AppLaunch (if the directory doesn't exist install Lenovo drivers)

3. In AppLaunch directory create a new Key called 'Ex_17' (without quotes)

3-1. In Ex_17 directory create new DWORD value called 'AppType' (without quotes)

3-2. Right click on the newly created AppType value and select Modify option

3-3. In value data field type '10001' (without quotes). In base, select hexadecimal.

4. In Ex_17 directory create a new Key called 'Desktop' (without quotes)

5. In Desktop directory create a new String value named File.

6. Right click on the newly created File value and select Modify option

7. In value data field provide path to the executable/batch script/whatever you want to launch

7-1. In Desktop directory create a new string value named Parameters. (leave data field blank)

8. Save changes

9. Voila your thinkvantage button now launches whatever app you want on Windows 10

Second: if you want to open Lenovo Vantage, do this:
1. Make a new notepad document in a location of your choice (root, users/ username folder, documents folder... you'll need to provide the exact path in last step)

2. Copy-paste following in the newly created txt file

@echo off
start/min explorer.exe shell:appsFolder\E046963F.LenovoCompanion_k1h2ywk1493x8!App

3. change txt file name and extension. Could be any name (e.g. LenovoVantage) but extension must be .bat

2. In above steps, enter this in step 7: [Location]:[Filename] (e.g. "C:\Users\[username]\LenovoVantage.bat" without inverted commas, replacing [username] with your username)

Lastly if/ in case LenovoVantage windows app location/ name changes, do this to confirm:

1. Run/ Win+R > "shell:appsFolder" (without inverted commas). An explorer window titled "applications" will open

2. Locate Lenovo Vantage. Right click > create shortcut > click yes to dialogue "windows can't create a shortcut here..." to send shortcut to your desktop

3. On desktop Lenovo Vantage shortcut, right click > properties > shortcut tab, look under target/ target type to confirm above name (E046963F.LenovoCompanion_k1h2ywk1493x8!App). Note "target" might be greyed out or full name (e.g. last letters of "!app") not visible. This is OK as you're only confirming. If the name is different, the difference will be before the "!App" ending. If still no success, google "running windows store apps from batch script" to find a slighly more elaborate procedure. Note: in my case, the name got from googling above was slightly different (longer with version numbers, etc.) than in shortcut; it didn't work: so use above steps to get exact syntax but use app name as appears in shortcut.

[heilong]

in Windows 10, this procedure applies:

This, indeed, works. I'm guessing that for these registry settings to do anything, the Lenovo Vantage app needs to be installed (from Microsoft Store).

It's quite a bit simpler to do this by picking an existing registry key with a Desktop child key, such as 8, right-click, export to a .reg file. Adjust the file with a text editor, change 8 to Ex_17, change the File/Parameters to whatever you want to run, then import the file back with RegEdit. I find this to be less work to do, and less potential to make some mistake.

By the way, any changes to these settings take effect immediately, there's no need to restart, re-login etc. I guess the hotkey driver checks the registry settings on every hotkey press.

Another note: there are some default hotkeys configured there as well, such as (these are valid on my X230, X230t and W530):
Ex_13 (Fn-Space): Open Magnifier (Win-+ to zoom in, Win-- to zoom out, Win-Esc to exit)
2 (Fn-F2): Lock your PC
3 (Fn-F3): Open Lenovo Vantage app to Power settings
6 (Fn-F6): Open Lenovo Vantage app to Display & Camera settings
8 (Fn-F8): Open Mouse settings to UltraNav settings
Some other Fn combinations seem to be generating keycodes recognized by Windows itself, e.g.
Fn-F4: Sleep
Fn-F5: Toggle airport mode
Fn-F7: Change projection setting (screen duplicate / extend / etc.)
Fn-F12: Hibernate
Fn-Up/Down/Left/Right: Stop, Play/Pause, Prev, Next (respectively)

On all my **30 ThinkPads (one X230, two X230t, one W530) I've done the classic keyboard mod - installed an **20 keyboard, and reflashed the custom Embedded Controller. As a side effect, Fn-F3 and Fn-F12 keys don't work at all. I don't use hibernation, it's rather pointless with an SSD. So the only thing that I lose is the Fn-F3 hotkey to open the power settings. Not that I use this often, but would be nice to have, I thought.

So I did some tests and it turns out that you can actually add actions for a few unused Fn-Fx keys, namely Fn-F9 and Fn-F11 (by creating new registry keys 9 and 11, respectively). On my X230, Fn-F1 can also be configured, but it doesn't work on my W530.

I moved Fn-F3 to Fn-F9 by just renaming the 3 key to 9. It's rather pointless to have Fn-F2 as "Lock your PC", as Windows itself offers Win-L for this. I changed the Fn-F2 setting to turn off my screen (using Nirsoft's nircmd with parameters "monitor off"). For this, I deleted the existing 2 key, exported the 8 key, edited the .reg file in a text editor, imported the .reg file. I still didn't come up with a good idea about which action to assign to Fn-F11, ideas are welcome. Probably the reason for lack of ideas is that I already have various custom hotkeys for the things I need often. I use AutoHotkey to set those up and automate some things. A lot of my hotkeys involve the Win button.

On a mostly unrelated note, I also made these two mods, which I think make life quite a bit nicer. Windows have a registry mapping between scan codes and key codes, by editing this mapping you can remap various keys on a very low level (so it's super fast and reliable and doesn't rely on software such as AutoHotkey running). Personally I used a program called KeyTweak for this, there's also an open-source SharpKeys that does this. The software is needed only once, to do the remapping, it can be deleted afterwards. To propagate the settings to another Windows PC, just export the relevant registry key and import it on the other PC. So the mods, I've made, are:
- Right Ctrl -> Delete
- Caps Lock -> Right Ctrl
Before I made this mod, I think I've barely ever used either key. With Right Ctrl working as Delete, editing source code or text is super convenient. Having the Delete key so close to the arrow keys means your fingers barely have to move when you need to delete some piece of text. With Caps Lock remapped to Right Ctrl, it's much less awkward for the pinky finger to use hotkeys such as Ctrl-W and Ctrl-T. Additionally, I've added a few hotkeys via AutoHotkey that work specifically with RCtrl (AutoHotkey thinks it's RCtrl, actually it's the Caps Lock key), such as RCtrl-A and RCtrl-S to go to next tab / prev tab. Just try to do Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab, note your fingers position, then compare with CapsLock-A and CapsLock-S, the latter are much more comfortable. Finally, if I ever want to use the actual Caps Lock feature, I can still toggle it via a simple AutoHotkey one-liner hotkey (actually it means Win-CapsLock):

Code: Select all

#RCtrl::SetCapsLockState, % (GetKeyState("CapsLock", "T") ? "AlwaysOff" : "AlwaysOn")

If anyone has further interest in AutoHotkey, tell me and I can post more info in a separate topic.