The ThinkPad layout
ThinkPad keyboards differ from most laptops in a few places, and the picture follows them:
- Fn is the bottom-left key, with Ctrl to its right. Most other laptops have it the other way round.
- PrtSc sits between right Alt and right Ctrl.
- Home, End, Insert and Delete end the top row, after F12, in small keys like the function row.
- PgUp and PgDn flank the up arrow, above left and right.
The TrackPoint buttons above the touchpad are mouse buttons, not keys, so they don’t show here; check them with the mouse tester.
FnLock and the Fn/Ctrl swap
Two settings change what the keys send, and both are easy to check here. FnLock (Fn+Esc, with a light on Esc) decides whether the top row sends F1–F12 or its media functions; the BIOS and Lenovo Vantage call the default “F1–F12 as Primary Function”. The Fn and Ctrl Key swap setting makes the corner key act as Ctrl. With it on, pressing the corner key lights up Ctrl in the picture instead of nothing.
When a key doesn’t respond
If a key stays grey here, restart and press Enter at the “To interrupt normal startup” message, then F10 to run Lenovo’s built-in diagnostics, which check the hardware outside Windows. Keys that work there but not here point to a driver or setting. ThinkPad keyboards are replaceable parts: a key that chatters (the detector below flags it) or stays dead after cleaning usually means a new keyboard under warranty.
What this layout leaves out
The keyboard above has 84 keys, and the score counts 83 of them (the dashed keys don’t reach the browser). The tester’s full-size layout has 104. These are the ones this layout doesn’t draw; if you press one through an Fn combination, it appears under “Other keys detected” instead of lighting up the picture.
- System keys: Scroll Lock, Pause
- Number pad: all 17 keys
- Other keys: Right Win, Menu