I'm a Windows user with a Windows-oriented keyboard, and I switched the Command and Ctrl keys in OSX, because I want to use the same keyboard shortcuts whether in Windows or OSX. This came back to haunt me though when I installed a Windows VM in Parallels, and it broke the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combo to login to Windows in the VM (since the Ctrl key is mapped to Command). I would like to create a shortcut mapping Command+Option+Del to the Parallels menu item Devices -> Keyboard -> Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but the shortcuts section of System Preferences -> Keyboard does not allow me to use the Del key.
I tried following the instructions in this answer, adding this:
<key>Ctrl+Alt+Delete</key>
<string>@~</string>
to each of
~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.Parallels.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.Parallels Desktop.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.desktop.console.plist
but the key combo is not activating the menu item to send Ctrl+Alt+Del when adding the XML to any of those.
What am I doing wrong here? Do I need something special to activate the options in the "keyboard" submenu of "Device"? Do I have the wrong code for the Del key? Am I putting the XML in the wrong plist file(s)?
[Edit]
The problem is worse than I thought, because the keys stay switched in Windows. Is there a way to set the modifier key behavior on a per-application basis? It would be great if I could swap the Command and Ctrl keys generally, and swap them back in Parallels.
Best Answer
I did not find an answer to the base question, but I did locate a sufficiently good workaround. Karabiner offers finer-grained control of keys than OSX's keyboard settings, including the ability to add exceptions to key switching. I used these settings:
Now all of the Ctrl keyboard shortcuts I am accustomed to work in both OSX and my VMs.