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Help with strange type cover/keyboard!

mikethebike007

New Member
I'm a fairly new user having bought a used but fairly new SP 4 on ebay. It came with a pen and type cover/keyboard. I spend the summer in France and bought it whilst over there and my wife brought it with her from the UK. AT first I did not notice that the keyboard was 'different' not having another keyboard to compare it to. But the thing I did notice was that one or two of the keys did not give you what it said on them!
Having done some investigation I now realise that it's a US keyboard not a UK one. On the 2 and 3 keys it's showing (as a shift) as @ and # respectively. The key showing \ and | (when shifted) is not next to the z key like it should be but instead is above the RH enter key. There are a few other odd things including (obvious why now) no £ sign anywhere.
So, clearly I am planning to buy a new one as this one is hopeless, but the problems don't end there and this is where I need some advice. The previous owner has in fact 're-mapped' some of the keys to make for easier typing (if you can touch type lol), so some of the symbols are in fact in their 'normal' place which is all well and good if you can remember where they are!
My question basically is this. When keys are 're-mapped' does it make the changes in the keyboard itself or in the Surface Pro? I can't test it any other way as I don't have another SP to attach it to. But my main concern is that if I buy a standard UK keyboard will that work fine or will there be any issues due to the re-mapping that was done with the first keyboard?
Secondly, I would like to try and sell this keyboard as it's like new and works perfectly, but is it possible to put it back to normal so that you get what you see on all the keys? I did download some software called Sharp Keys but I was a bit wary of using it for this very reason ie. does the 're-mapping' change just the keyboard or does it actually alter something in the registry inside the SP?
Any advice much appreciated
 

Wevenhuis

Member
It's sounds like a language setting issue in windows. By simply changing the pc region&language settings keyboard to UK English, the issue should be resolved.

Go to windows settings (windows + i key), navigate to Time and Language settings page, go to region and language, Check that UK English "local-experience package" is shown in the language preference list. If not press the "+" icon and choose "English (United Kingdom). Make sure you download the keyboard package through options of your prefered language and proritize your language to the top of the list with the arrow button. The will save "English (United Kingdom) as your default system and keyboard language.
 
OP
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mikethebike007

New Member
Amazingly all the issues vanished when I bought another keyboard and connected that up. So I'm not sure what that means as people were saying that the issues have to be in the sp as the keyboard cannot hold info? But all I know is, with the correct keyboard attached, all the keys do exactly what it says on them! But your reply has reminded me of another, slightly less important issue. When I go into the MS app store on my surface, the prices shown for buying apps are in some weird currency, like Norwegian or something! Is that something that could be fixed by going into the settings you mentioned and ensuring UK English is selected?
 

Wevenhuis

Member
Amazingly all the issues vanished when I bought another keyboard and connected that up. So I'm not sure what that means as people were saying that the issues have to be in the sp as the keyboard cannot hold info? But all I know is, with the correct keyboard attached, all the keys do exactly what it says on them! But your reply has reminded me of another, slightly less important issue. When I go into the MS app store on my surface, the prices shown for buying apps are in some weird currency, like Norwegian or something! Is that something that could be fixed by going into the settings you mentioned and ensuring UK English is selected?


Yes.
 
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