Why are the Ctrl and Fn keys swapped on my ThinkPad?

Question

I just used a ThinkPad for the first time ever. It's weird; the Ctrl and Fn keys are swapped. Why is this? How can I fix it?

Answer 1

Simply a foolish design. I'm using ThinkPad X200, and I've hated it for long.

Answer 2

This is by design. However, future ThinkPad models will have the option to swap the Fn and Ctrl key in the BIOS.

• Lenovo Adds BIOS Option to Configure Ctrl and Fn Key Functions in Future ThinkPad Notebooks

Answer 3

This is indeed by design.

If there is not enough light you don't have to search for the right keys and instead just press the most left bottom key and the most right top key for the keyboard light embedded in the top of the display.

I don't think there is an official "right" way for the position of the Fn key.

Other notebooks, for example, have the Del key among others in, in my opinion, ridiculous places.

Answer 4

If you are not opposed to learning a new placement for the Ctrl key, you can remap it using a Windows Registry entry (see below).

Someone screwed up keyboards a long time ago. Apple and Sun had it right. As everyone knows Ctrl should be where Caps Lock is. I've kept this configuration the same as long as I can remember.

Use this for the remapping:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,3a,00,1d,00,1d,00,3a,00,\
  00,00,00,00

This may help with the Fn key confusion.

Answer 5

Lenovo conducted a usability study and this won, apparently. (I used to work for them and this is what we were told.)

All the machines that have this now have the ability to swap it in the BIOS.

Answer 6

Evidently IBM's ThinkPad was the first to have an Fn key, so, pedantic as it may be, it's everyone else that swaps it.

As for why, one rationale is for turning on the ThinkLight keyboard illumination in the dark, which is Fn+PgUp: the lower-left corner and the upper-right corner.

Note that Apple also has Fn before Ctrl.

Reference: Why is the FN key on the outside left instead of CTRL?

Answer 7

New (as of 2025) ThinkPad keyboards have Ctrl on the left, Fn to the right. This brings ThinkPads into line with most non-Apple laptops. I will focus on the "how to fix it" since the "why" part of the question has been covered by others (and I'm not sure is within the scope of the site anyway).

For ThinkPads with the traditional Fn on the left, Ctrl on the right, your ability to "fix" this depends on the age of the model. Some have the option to swap this in BIOS. This seems to be your only option if you are not using Windows as your OS, e.g. Linux users. If you are a Windows user, you may also be able to do this through the Lenovo Keyboard Manager which you can access via Control Panel or possibly F11 (unfortunately the availability of this varies significantly by model). But perhaps the easiest way for Windows users is through Lenovo Vantage or Lenovo Commercial Vantage software that will have come preinstalled with the laptop or can be downloaded from Lenovo. You can find it by typing Vantage into the Windows search box. Once opened, Go to the dashboard in top right and under "Device Settings" select "Input & Accessories".

Lenovo Vantage Dashboard > Device Settings > Input & Accessories

Then scroll down to "Fn and Ctrl key swap" and you can toggle them.

Toggle Fn and Ctrl key swap on ThinkPad in Lenovo Vantage

For a fuller guide, see http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht074187-how-to-swap-the-fn-function-and-ctrl-control-keyboard-keys-in-bios

Answer 8

My Gateway MX6448 is the same way. It drives me crazy when I'm using the HP from work (Ctrl is the farthest left on the bottom) then go and use my Gateway. I didn't really think twice about it when I first got the Gateway about 3.5 years ago, but I am going to be much more critical of keyboard layout from now on.

Just an aside, I haven't found any magical tricks (like was mentioned by fin with the Lenovo light) that would make sense for Gateway switching key order. I think they did it just to annoy me. It’s a conspiracy!!!