How to Remap Keys with PowerToys on Windows 11

How to Remap Keys with PowerToys on 🪟 Windows 11

Keyboard Manager is part of PowerToys, and it only applies your remaps while PowerToys is running in the background. If you close or exit PowerToys, every remap stops working until you start it again. Your saved rules are kept, so they come back once PowerToys is running.

If you don’t have PowerToys yet, install it 💿 first:

1. Pick one source: the Microsoft Store, WinGet, or the official PowerToys releases page on GitHub. All three give you the same Microsoft tool.
2. Install it 💿 and launch it. You should see the PowerToys icon in the system tray 🔔 (you may need to click the arrow to show hidden icons).
3. Check that the version is 0.70 or newer. Older builds have a different Keyboard Manager layout, so the steps below may not match.

Then follow these steps to configure a custom layout.

Step 1Open PowerToys and Find Keyboard Manager

1. Open the PowerToys app on your computer. If it is only in the system tray 🔔, click its icon to open the settings ⚙️ window.
2. Select Keyboard Manager on the left sidebar.
3. Make sure the main toggle at the top of the page is turned on. If it is off, none of your remaps will work, even if the rules are saved.

You should now see the Keyboard Manager page with the remapping options for keys and shortcuts.

Step 2Open Key Remapping Settings

1. Find the Keys section on the Keyboard Manager page.
2. Click the Remap a key button.

A configuration window appears for setting up inputs. It is empty until you add your first rule.

Step 3Add a New Key Remap

1. Click the Add key remapping button (the + icon) to add a new rule.

A new empty row appears with two columns. Keyboard Manager does not normally require a UAC prompt for remapping, so you can work as a standard user.

Step 4Choose Your Keys

If you remap one of them to something else, the keyboard can become hard to use, and it may be tricky to reach the settings to fix it. Pick a key you can live without, like Caps Lock, for your first test. Remaps also do not work on the secure sign-in screen, so a remap will not help you type your password there, and Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled by Windows itself and can't be changed. If a remap causes trouble, open the Keyboard Manager window and delete the rule, or turn off the main Keyboard Manager toggle to disable all remaps at once.

PowerToys displays two main columns labelled 'Select' and 'To send.'

1. Click Select in the first column (Original key), then press the key you want to remap. You can also choose it from the drop-down list.
2. In the second column (Mapped to), choose the new key from the list or press it on your keyboard.

To disable a key completely, set the second column to Undefined. The original key then does nothing when you press it.

Step 5Save Your Changes

1. Click the OK button to confirm the configuration.
2. If Windows or PowerToys shows a warning about a key that will no longer work, read it and continue only if that is what you intended.

The new layout becomes active immediately, with no restart or sign-out needed. To delete an entry, click the trash can icon next to the active rule. Once the rule is gone, the key goes back to its normal behavior.

System inputs update the moment configurations save within PowerToys. A key remap applies globally across all active applications, as long as PowerToys is still running.

If you want to change a shortcut instead of a single key, use the shortcut option:

1. Open Keyboard Manager in PowerToys and click Remap a shortcut.
2. Click Add shortcut remapping to add a new row.
3. Enter the original shortcut, then enter the shortcut or action it should send instead.
4. To limit the remap to one program, fill in the target app field for that row with the app's process name, for example the name of its .exe file without the path. Leave it empty if you want the remap to work everywhere.
5. Click OK to save.

A remap limited to one app only changes the shortcut while that app is in use. Other programs keep the normal shortcut. As with keys, you can delete a shortcut rule with the trash can icon.

Summary

Remapping keys on Windows 11 with Microsoft's free PowerToys utility lets you change what each button does to fit your needs. Remember that PowerToys has to stay running for your remaps to work, and that you can always undo a change by deleting the rule or turning off Keyboard Manager.