When I installed my Windows system XP-Pro service pack 2, I was using an IBM English only keyboard. I also installed the multi-lingual MS Office 2003 so that my daughter could work in Japanese. I uninstalled the English keyboard and installed a Japanese USB keyboard, which XP detected and indicated that everything was fine. I went to the Language and Regional section of the Control Panel to set up the Japanese options. I can indeed type Japanese characters using IME, BUT the keyboard layout is assumed to be the original English one and therefore a number of special characters do not line up with the location of those characters identified on the Japanese keyboard.

How do I get the system to recognize the keyboard as a Japanese keyboard layout? Do I need to change something in the registry or actually reinstall Windows XP to tell it I am using a different keyboard layout?

Assistance will be much appreciated.

Hokkaido Ken

Is the new Japanese keyboard connected via usb or PS/2? I've never had one to test but have you installed the Supplemental Language Support in Regional & Language icon in Control Panel, Languages tab?

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for taking an interest in my problem. It is a USB model because the English keyboard I was using is the PS/2 type. I have installed all of the Asian Languages and other requirements to handle Japanese and they do indeed work correctly. The OS does not seem to recognize that this keyboard is not standard in the layout of the keys.

I noticed that Microsoft has some utility software for developers which they can use to change the layout assignments, but when I went to install that utility it said I had to install or become a member of the .net package. I also downloaded something that might get me into that situation but I am looking for an easier solution before trying all of that.

I still plan to take my keyboard back to the shop and ask them to see if it works on their machine. Maybe a more expensive model will load correctly.

Ken