Problem with ButtonKeys on WideFS

[Robson]

Hi all :)

 

I am trying to get old Aribus CDU from Flight Deck Solutions to work with JeeHell software and as advised on MyCockpit forum I am doing it through WideFS and ButtonKeys.

 

I've got all working except for one: F12 code 123.

 

In the WideClient.log I get:

       15 Error: failed to register ButtonKey T126=123,8

And that happens only for this one. It does not happen on main server PC though when I tried it there. Can anyone advise me what can be wrong with it? This is the very last piece I need to call my cockpit fully functional :)

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

I've got all working except for one: F12 code 123.

 

In the WideClient.log I get:

       15 Error: failed to register ButtonKey T126=123,8

And that happens only for this one. It does not happen on main server PC though when I tried it there. Can anyone advise me what can be wrong with it? This is the very last piece I need to call my cockpit fully functional :)

 

The only way I know that the "RegisterHotKey" function can fail is when that keypress is already taken as a hot key by another program.

 

Pete

[Robson]

Is there any way to tell which program can be blocking that hot key?

[Pete Dowson]

Is there any way to tell which program can be blocking that hot key?

 

Not directly, that I know. Try pressing F12 and see if anything happens. Review your list of processes and services in Task Manager, try stopping any which might be responsible. For instance, Geforce Experience can assign hotkeys automatically to control its recording facilities. And there are many FS add-ons which use hotkeys.

 

Pete

[Robson]

Pete, I used this Windows Hotkey Explorer (free version): http://hkcmdr.anymania.com/
and found out that F12 is System debugger.

Also after you mentioned RegisterHotKey i jumped to documentation and found out that F12 is binded to system debugger by kernel. Luckily one can reassign it to different key using registry and then all works perfect. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!

 

Link to page explaining how to reassign system debugger:

http://muzso.hu/2011/12/13/setting-f12-as-a-global-hotkey-in-windows

 

In short:
Now this is pretty much upsetting. But not all is lost. I tried to google for a way to disable the kernel from registering F12, but found instead the description of theHKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug\UserDebuggerHotKey registry key. Modifying this you can set the keycode (scancode) that is registered as a global hotkey for the debugger. By default it's value is zero (0x0), but you can set it to eg. 0x2F (VK_HELP) which is not present on most PC keyboards, thus you can free up the F12 key.  Of course a reboot is necessary after having set this registry key.

[Pete Dowson]

Pete, I used this Windows Hotkey Explorer (free version): http://hkcmdr.anymania.com/

and found out that F12 is System debugger.

 

That sounds like a useful program! Thanks for the link.

 

System debugger? Hmm. I wonder what that does when you press F12.

 

Thanks for all the info, and I'm glad you solved your problem!

Pete