I suddenly faced a problem of inconsistent keyboard layouts between my work Mac and home Windows laptops. It is practically impossible to work effectively and maintain blind typing skills when you’re forced to switch physical and logical keyboards twice a day. When I can’t use an external keyboard—due to space constraints at my desk or while traveling—I had to come up with a compromise solution: remapping keys and shortcuts on both machines for better compatibility.

Prerequisites

  • Classic Windows keyboard
  • MacBook M1 Pro keyboard
  • Two keyboard layouts used equally: English and Russian
  • Extensive work with code and console environments

Goal

As a long-term Windows and Linux user, I was very accustomed to traditional PC-style keyboards. However, the Mac keyboard turned out to be surprisingly convenient—even after decades of using something else. So, my goal was to mimic the Mac keyboard layout in Windows 11 as closely as possible, with minimal remapping on the Mac side. Ideally, the list of remappings in Windows should be as short as possible, reusing existing keys and shortcuts wherever appropriate.

Remappings Map

On Mac

  • Fn ↔ Ctrl
    While the Ctrl key is less commonly used on macOS (many functions are handled by the Command key), it’s still important in some apps—especially those not fully adapted to Mac. Swapping Fn and Ctrl places them where they are on a standard Windows keyboard.

  • Caps Lock → Esc
    Does anyone still use Caps Lock? I personally don’t. If you’re using Vim keybindings in your editor, having an extra Esc key here is perfect.

On Windows

  • Win → Alt
    This moves the Alt key one position left—like it is on a Mac keyboard.

  • Alt → Ctrl
    This mimics the Command key on Mac. Common operations like copy-paste, select-all, undo, etc., differ only by this key.

  • Caps Lock → Esc
    Same reasoning as on Mac.

  • Right Ctrl → Win
    While the Win key is sometimes considered a Command alternative, it’s more limited in Windows and rarely used by third-party apps. Still, since it’s needed for native shortcuts, keeping it to the right of the spacebar is essential. I wanted a better solution here, but hit some technical limitations—more on that below.

Shortcuts

Windows is surprisingly restrictive when it comes to remapping system shortcuts. While macOS offers a generous set of options right in system settings, Windows makes it difficult at nearly every step. For example, when changing the keyboard layout, you can choose only from three predefined shortcuts (Shift+Ctrl, `, or Shift+Alt). Custom shortcuts aren’t supported. So, we need external tools—and even then, the combination of remapped keys and custom shortcuts often fails in subtle ways.

Custom Mappings

  • Win+Space → Ctrl+Space
    This remaps the layout switcher shortcut. The Mac equivalent is Cmd+Space. Since we’ve moved Ctrl left of the spacebar, Ctrl+Space makes sense.

  • Ctrl+Tab → Alt+Tab
    On macOS, Ctrl+Tab shows running applications. This maps it to Windows’ Alt+Tab.

  • Alt+Space → Open Command Palette
    This launches the Command Palette (PowerToys Run), equivalent to macOS Spotlight. You can also try third-party launchers like Wox or Keypirinha.

Non-English Layout Support

If you’re using a non-English layout (like Russian), you’ll also want consistency in symbol positioning.

Here’s how I remapped keys in Russian layout to match Mac behavior:

Shift+5 → :
Shift+6 → ,
Shift+7 → .
Shift+8 → ;

Implementation

We’ll need two tools for Windows 11:

PowerToys is great for simple key remapping. The interface is user-friendly—you can apply remappings manually. But remember: shortcut remappings are applied after key remappings!

When you need more complex behavior (like layout-sensitive remaps), use AutoHotKey. It allows scripting virtually any input behavior.

You can read the full AutoHotKey documentation here.

Here’s the script I use to detect Russian layout and remap symbols accordingly:

; Function to check if the current keyboard layout is Russian.
IsRussian() {
    WinGet, activeID, ID, A
    threadID := DllCall("GetWindowThreadProcessId", "UInt", activeID, "UInt", 0)
    hkl := DllCall("GetKeyboardLayout", "UInt", threadID)
    return (hkl & 0xFFFF) = 0x0419  ; 0x0419 = Russian
}

#If IsRussian()
+5::Send, {:}
+6::Send, {,}
+7::Send, {.}
+8::Send, {;}
/::Send, {/}
?::Send, {?}
#If

This script was built collaboratively by me and Claude Sonnet over several iterations. You can adjust it by:

  • Replacing 0x0419 with your language ID
  • Using the appropriate modifiers:
    • + → Shift
    • ^ → Ctrl
    • ! → Alt

Example of a more complex remap:

LCtrl & Space::
    SendInput {Shift down}{LCtrl down}
    Sleep 50
    SendInput {LCtrl up}{Shift up}
Return

To test and debug your mappings, use Key History:

Right-click AHK icon in tray → “Open” → Press Ctrl+K.

Once your script is ready, place it in your autostart folder:

  1. Press Win+R
  2. Type shell:startup
  3. Place or symlink your script in the folder that opens

Done!

Limitations

  • Circular remappings (e.g. Alt → Ctrl and Ctrl+Tab → Alt+Tab) are tricky in AutoHotKey. I gave up and used PowerToys instead—you might have better luck.
  • System keys like Alt, Ctrl, and Win can’t be freely reassigned due to Windows limitations. For example, mapping Alt+Ctrl to Win is not allowed.
  • The Fn key doesn’t send a scannable keycode and can’t be intercepted. So remapping Fn+Ctrl to act as Win isn’t feasible on most machines.

Backing Up Your Config

Once everything is working, back it up!

For PowerToys:

  1. Open PowerToys → Settings → Backup
  2. Save the backup to Documents\PowerToys\Backup

You can upload both your PowerToys backup and your AutoHotKey script to:

Let me know if you’re trying this with another layout or tool—I’d love to hear how you solved it.