windows-macos-input-setup

Windows macOS Input Setup

Set up a Logitech keyboard in Windows layout so the physical Mac legends behave consistently:

• cmd | alt (left of Space) acts as Command for common shortcuts.
• option | start acts as Option and Option+Tab opens Windows app switching.
• Physical Control remains Control.
• Control+Tab remains native Control+Tab for switching browser/editor tabs; it must not duplicate Option+Tab.
• Control+Up opens Windows Task View (Win+Tab) with all windows and virtual desktops, matching macOS Mission Control muscle memory.
• Control+Left/Right switches virtual desktops.
• Control+Option+Left/Right moves the focused window between monitors.
• Native Option+Up maximizes the focused window because the physical Option key is Windows Left Win. Do not use Control+Option+Enter; Windows reserves its physical Win+Control+Enter chord for Narrator and may consume it despite the Narrator toggle being off.
• Option+Left/Right can be mapped explicitly to Windows Control+Left/Right for word navigation without taking the physical Control+Left/Right desktop shortcuts away.
• Windows natural scrolling is enabled when requested.

Read references/setup-and-validation.md before changing the machine. It contains the exact profile, conflict cleanup, current PowerToys caveats, restart procedure, and automatic verification workflow.

Invariants

• Keep only the one-way modifier remap Left Alt -> Left Ctrl. Never add the reverse Left Ctrl -> Left Alt: it turns physical Control+Tab into Alt+Tab and duplicates Option+Tab. Use a small set of explicit, non-overlapping shortcut remaps. PowerToys can keep physical Control+Left/Right mapped to desktop switching while separately mapping physical Option+Left/Right to text navigation.
• Keep 162;38 -> 91;9 for Control+Up Task View. Do not remove 91;9 -> 164;9; that separate rule preserves physical Option+Tab as Windows Alt+Tab.
• For virtual-desktop arrows, use physical Left Control as the source but Right Control in the generated Windows shortcut: 162;37 -> 91;163;37 and 162;39 -> 91;163;39. Reusing Left Control in the target can fail after the source modifier is suppressed by Keyboard Manager.
• Do not run Kinto, mac-keyboard-behavior-in-windows, or a custom AutoHotkey profile concurrently with this PowerToys profile.
• Do not add another remapper to reproduce macOS Option+Left/Right; use direct PowerToys shortcut rules. Control+Shift+Arrow, then a plain arrow, remains a fallback rather than the preferred configuration.
• Back up existing PowerToys configuration before mutation and preserve unrelated settings.
• Restart the full PowerToys runner after profile changes; verify the Keyboard Manager engine is its child process.
• Test observable behavior automatically. Never infer success only from valid JSON or a running process.
• Never configure Control+Option+L for monitor 3 on this layout: it contains protected Windows Win+L and can lock the PC. Use a safe numeric alternative only when explicitly requested and independently testable.
• Never map physical Control+Option+Enter. Keep Narrator and its keyboard shortcut disabled, and leave native Option+Up -> Win+Up unremapped for maximizing. Do not invent a third shortcut scheme.