"Copilot Key" Remapping Soon to Be Officially Supported Without Hacks
In the latest news, we can clearly see another proof of just how much power Microsoft holds over hardware manufacturers.
Guess what? — Microsoft has finally admited that Windows 11's dedicated Copilot key breaks certain workflows, and has confirmed plans to let users restore the "Right Ctrl" or "Context menu" key later this year.
This key has been a menace for people utilizing the right Ctrl key for specialized software like VirtualBox as a "host key", for screen reader users who have relied on it for ages, or for Linux OS crowd who found themselves stuck with a useless key on their new laptops.
Remapping it has never been a trivial task because it isn't a modifier like the original Ctrl key was. Instead, it sends a single hard-wired Left Win + Left Shift + F23 keyboard shortcut. All existing hacks to make it act as Ctrl have been extremely unreliable, often breaking out of nowhere. It seems this may soon become a thing of the past, and users will finally be able to use that key the way they want.
This event is not a celebration of "Yay, Copilot is failing!", or a sign that "Microsoft is finally changing its ways" — It's a sobering reminder that for years, not a single manufacturer of so-called "Copilot+ PCs" (basically all Windows laptops with 16+ GB of RAM) provided a way to change the behavior of that button, whether via BIOS or device-specific management software.
The fact that users had to rely on hacks because manufacturers refused to introduce a trivial firmware toggle effectively hints that this was a strict requirement for "Copilot+ PC" certification, meant to help Microsoft shamelessly promote its glorified AI slop button and force users to cope.
And the manufacturers complied.
Well, I did my part by not buying a single laptop with a dysfunctional right Ctrl key in the mean-time. And will continue to vote with my wallet whenever some greedy corporation and its spineless manufacturing disciples decide to take away a standard piece of user utility and replace it with a useless billboard for their trendy garbage.