Windows – way to use Dvorak keyboard layout, but with command keys mapped to qwerty

After dealing with this issue for long time, I contacted with Milan Vidaković of KLM. Very kindly he explained me how to solve the problem. Here is his response:

To do so, you need to change the Virtual Key assignment for the key. For example, on the QWERTY keyboard, the 'A' key has the Virtual Key value of VK_A (0x41 hex). This means that if you press Ctrl+A, it will do the proper action (Select All). I use the QWERTZ keyboard and it is not enough to just change the 'Y' key to the 'Z' key and vice versa. I also need to change the Virtual Key assignments for both keys. To see and change Virtual Key, look at the upper right corner of the KLM Keyboard Editor window:

Now, if you for example place the 'A' character on the 'B' key, and then if you press the Ctrl+B, you would expect that it will now select all because you have placed the 'A' character on the 'B' key. This will not happen because the 'B' key has the VirtualKey value of VK_B:

You need to change the Virtual Key assignment of the 'B' key so the computer thinks that it is the 'A' key. To do so, you need to open the VirtualKey combo box in the KLM and change the virtual key to be the 'A' value:

However, don't forget that the 'A' key also have the VK_A value, so you need to change its Virtual Key value to 'B', or something else. You can let the computer resolve all the virtual key assignment duplicates by clicking on the Resolve VKs button.

Since the regular demo version of klm doesn' let you change the Virtual Key, I have placed the modified demo version here (both 32-bit and 64-bit executables):

http://www.klm32.com/KLM32/demo/demo.html

Best regards,

Milan Vidaković

The keyboard layout is contained in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout.
The REG_SZ item "1" contains the first layout, "2" the second, etc.

The article Windows Keyboard Layout lists most keyboards ids. You would also find your above layout ids defined as sub-keys of the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\keyboard layouts.

Analyzing your registry info :

Preload determines which keyboard layouts are present in the keyboard switch button (on the bottom right of the taskbar), and the number determines the ordering. You have two of them : d0010409=Dvorak English and 00000409=US English. This list order does not mean much more than that.

Substitutes maps the value d0010409 to the layout 10409 which is also Dvorak. I assume that the changing of the upper half of the key code isn’t significant and is properly mapped by the substitutions hive.

What is missing is perhaps the substitution that maps 00000409 (US) to 00010409 (Dvorak). This can be done by entering it manually, or by the command :

reg add "HKCU\Keyboard Layout\Substitutes" /v 00000409 /d 00010409

When changing the registry take all due precautions : Create first a system restore point and also export the entire registry key.