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I have a Dell Multimedia Keyboard, similar to this one:

keyboard image

It has many non-standard keys, like the small circular ones across the top, and the "Multimedia" keys above INSERT/HOME/PAGE_UP.

They can be rebound through simple registry entries. Some sample ones are included below:


"ShellExecute"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox"





I've rebound the "MAIL" key to, instead of booting Outlook, to booting Firefox directed at my G-Mail account. I've rebound the button that would normally open "MY COMPUTER" to instead boot the Windows 7 "Snipping Tool", something I find very useful.

Now, I'm looking to do some other things that I don't already know how to do. Note that answering this question doesn't necessarily require any knowledge about the keyboard or rebinding the keys: I can add, for any given key, a "ShellExecute" entry, and it will simply execute the following command as if it was typed at a Command Prompt. (I'm aware I dumbed that down rather significantly, but bear with me. I'm not really a Windows guy myself.)

I use the volume knob for it's intended purpose, to change volume. I would like to change, however, a different key, to "reset" the Windows volume level back to exactly 50%, or, as it refers to it, "50", on it's 0-100 scale.

I'm looking for the "program" (what I would type at a command prompt? these are still just Sys32 programs in the PATH, aren't they?) that, I imagine, would take arguments, to change Sound/Volume settings under Windows 7. Perhaps, for clarification, something that might take the form "C:> SetVolume -slevel 50" or something.

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4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

It looks like you're going to need some additional software to do this for you. There's some excellent links here and here.

In particular:

NirCmd is an application that changes the volume and more.

Example of use:

* Increase the system volume by 2000 units (out of 65535)
nircmd.exe changesysvolume 2000

* Decrease the system volume by 5000 units (out of 65535)
nircmd.exe changesysvolume -5000

* Set the volume to the highest value
nircmd.exe setsysvolume 65535 
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This is almost exactly what I was looking for. Despite involving third-party software (I was hoping for a native Windows solution), sometimes nativity is overrated. The program is small, concise, does everything I could need it to, nothing I don't, and doesn't consume system resources when I don't need it. Thank you. –  Maarx Jan 12 '10 at 3:23
NirCmd is awesome. OT, but a cool example: "at 21:00 nircmd standby" and you've got a Standby schedualed for 9:00 tonight. –  Nathaniel Jan 12 '10 at 4:42
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You can perform "key rebinding" on Windows for any keyboard using AutoHotKey. Here are some examples (from my AutoHotKey startup configuration) that show how to control the sound card:


('#' means the Windows Key, you can also specify any combination of control, shift, and alt keys).

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AutoHotKey is great for rebinding normal keyboard key combinations, but does it also support rebinding extra keys/buttons/knobs that a keyboard like the OP's has? –  martineau Aug 21 '13 at 21:05
Yes: if you bring up the AutoHotKey window and switch to the Key History view, you can view a list of all the recently pressed keys, with the names or codes that can be used inside AHK. –  jdigital Aug 22 '13 at 14:30
+1 Actually I found names for them listed in the AutoHotKey Help file in a section about Multimedia and Internet keyboards -- such as Volume_Mute, Launch_Mail, Browser_Home, etc. –  martineau Aug 22 '13 at 17:53
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Another third party option for fine volume control, volumouse (also from Nirsoft)

alt text

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While I think volumemouse is very useful utility for what it does and use it myself, I don't believe there's any way to configure it to reset the volume level back to exactly 50% -- nor in general rebind the OP's Multimedia keys. You can use it to mute/unmute the volume with certain key + scroll-wheel combinations, however. –  martineau Aug 22 '13 at 18:30
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Thnanks for the how to.

To make the button for mail to make te pc hibernate this is what you have to do, on this kind of keybord.


delete the reg key, named association or associations. create new string value name : ShellExecute Value: C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

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