Parallels Caps Lock Reversed – A better fix

Here at Twin Harbor Web Solutions we develop software using Microsoft.Net technology, but we also really like the Mac OS. Our development machines use Parallels to run windows and Visual Studio .net and other Microsoft software to create things like Waypoint and Waypoint Commerce. We use the Mac OS for most everything else, including the graphic design work that goes into Web Development.

So today I ran into a weird problem. Suddenly the caps-lock key became reversed! The caps light light was off on the keyboard. Lowercase letters in Mac apps, but all caps coming up in Windows. Hit the Caps Lock key, get caps in Mac, but lowercase in Windows.

So off to Google I go. Only fix I found after a quick search was to reboot the Windows OS. Come on! I mean sure, one time, but I saw lots of reports of this happening from time to time for many users. Rebooting every time it happens doesn’t sound like fun or a good use of our precious time.

Fortunately, we found a better fix.

From the Start Menu, select Start>>Programs>>Accessories>>Accessibility>>On-Screen Keyboard (This is for Windows Server 2003, location may vary if you use Vista). Click on the Caps Lock button and close the keyboard app. It should be back to normal!

Hope this helps someone else out there!

UPDATE: We found an even easier way to do this! We’re using Parallels 5 now so I’m unsure if this will work for older versions or not. In our case though, if you press your caps lock key when in a mac application, then go back to parallels, the caps lock state will be out of sync. To set it back, just go back to any mac application, hit caps lock, then go back to parallels. Perhaps there is something in Parallels that will sync the state that isn’t working here but this is a pretty quick fix so we’re not too concerned.