How do I change the function row to be a row of function keys and not all of these other random keys I rarely use? I looked in the spare BIOS and around in Windows 11 configurations not finding anything.
You can toggle Fn lock by pressing Fn + Esc. That will switch the media and function keys until it’s toggled off, but it won’t switch the arrow keys.
12 Likes
Thank you! Will this have to be done every boot?
Usually not with most laptops, but I’m not sure with the Framework. You can always check and toggle when needed.
No.᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼᲼
4 Likes
Just to clarify, the fn lock status persists across reboots and is OS independent.
7 Likes
Haha I just spent a week confused by this - thought it was a kernel update that has switched them. Never heard of an fn lock before. Thanks so much for the fix!
Is there a way to configure the setting via a CLI tool?
As I’m devops-ing my framework I want to make sure the setting is always set correctly.
I had multiple situations where I got reset to multimedia keys - my suspicion is this happens during BIOS upgrades/ resets?
1 Like
I forgot how to do this again and this helped me out again! XD
I had it reset back to special functions after the battery died.
1 Like
damn i wish this was just a bios setting,i NEVR want to EVER see multimedia keys as default on any keyboard
ever ever ewwwww
4 Likes
Completely agree.
I guess it’s a user-friendly choice, but I personally hate it (like most power users, I guess?)
People who live with shortcuts need an ALT + F4 to be two key presses, not three.
I rarely ever change my brightness or use media controls (not to mention airplane mode). Those few times I can tolerate using a combo with Fn.
I guess they had to make a decision and opted for the more mainstream-user friendly one (which IMO is a bit incoherent with the target audience).
I also wish this was persisted/configurable via BIOS.
Fn lock is persisted. Toggle it once and it is remembered across shutdown.
2 Likes
Just to add a sort of errata note, it seems that this value isn’t retained if the laptop’s battery is allowed to fully drain.
1 Like
Not even that, just the when the CMOS battery drains (11th gen) the fn-lock needs to be re-done.
That cmos battery on the 11th gen is reaaaallly annoying in retrospect.
Sorry to be bumping an old thread, but the function lock combo described here doesn’t seem to be working on my new Framework 13 7840U that is loaded with Windows 11 Home. No matter how many times I press Fn + Esc, the media commands stubbornly stay on. Is there another way to force this toggle? I use AutoHotKey scripts for some custom keystroke commands that rely on the function keys acting like function keys, and adding the Fn button to those combos make them really cumbersome to launch.
fn lock wont cut it for me
if your somewhat of a power user wich is i thenk somewhat of a target audience for the company you probably use the f1-f12 keys for anything they can be used for , and wih screenshot becomming more convenient win+shift+s on windows thats prtscr is only used in linux with alt+prtscr+r [f|r|e|i|s|u|b] to oomkill or to safely unmount and restart a crashed system firfst toggling fnlock for that is not a problem there, but you also use the arrows allot of the time (terminal history, text editing , unless your a vimmer, but any kind of curses based tui also requires them , editors like jed also use f-kys and arrowkeys
as an extra all features covered by the keys that are the default now are covered by the os aswell, but for the bios key , F12 , AND since you guys are the designers i bet you can make both keys enter the bios , being f12 and the bios key…
so how i see it the current default c onfig makes the least sense out of the possible choices
and tbh programmable keyboards are all the rage on desktops i was expecting framework to be the first to come with one for laptops aswell ,… the spot for being first is still open, make it a qmk compatible one if possible ,…
You toggle it once and then you don’t have to toggle it again. It persists across reboots and loss of power. It does not permanently switch the arrow keys to their “navigation cluster” variants.
Is there some other reason that toggling it one time and getting the behavior you seek is not sufficient for your super powerful use case?
They already do this. Regardless of the Fn Lock state, the key with the F12 legend opens the boot menu. This is also true of F2 and F3.
Since you have had time to explore all of the issues dual-function keys have supposedly caused, maybe you will have time to explore all of the available remediations too.
2 Likes