Keyboard layouts for Microsoft Windows

This is a collection of additional non-standard keyboard layouts for Microsoft Windows.

Currently available layouts include:

Layout	Title	Source file	Setup package
US layout with Croatian characters Croatian language	US-HR-v3	US-HR_Keyboard_3.klc	See Releases section
US layout with Croatian characters English US language	EN-HR-v2	ENU-HR_Keyboard_2.klc	See Releases section

Installing layouts

There are two ways to install keyboard layouts:

• Run and install precompiled setup package
• Creating setup package yourself

Installation using precompiled setup package

Download .zip package, extract it into a directory and run included setup.exe

You will need Administrative privileges to install new keyboard layout on Windows operating system. (depending on current Windows language and active keyboard, restart of operating system might be needed after installation before new layout becomes active)

Compiling setup package and installing from created setup package

To create (compile) setup package and install selected layout you need to download and install Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (latest version is 1.4 or actually 1.4.6000.2).

Once Keyboard Layout Creator is started, load layout using File / Load Source File...

You can try out loaded layout using Project / Validate layout

Finally select Project / Build DLL and Setup package to create setup files for installation.

Run setup.exe to install new layout.

You will need Administrative privileges to install new keyboard layout on Windows operating system. (depending on current Windows language and active keyboard, restart of operating system might be needed after installation before new layout becomes active)

Using layouts

After layout is installed simply choose it like any other existing keyboard layout that comes preinstalled, using Language settings.

For detailed instructions see: Add input language

Layouts

US layout with Croatian characters Croatian language

Title	Source file
US-HR-v3	US-HR_Keyboard_3.klc

It is a combination of standard US layout with option to easily type Croatian specific characters (š, đ, č, ć, ž). Croatian characters are composed with AltGr + keys where those characters are placed on standard Croatian keyboard.

I was motivated to create this layout since default Croatian/HR layout is very inconvenient to use while programming and for many often used keys like "", "{", "}", "[", "]", "/" and others you basically need two hands to type.
Besides that, knowing how to touch-type on US layout can be very handy since US layout is almost always present or can easily be switched to if you find yourself in front of a computer with foreign regional settings.

All US keys are positioned same as on US keyboard.
Yes, this means Y and Z are in US layout position (QWERTY), not HR layout position (QWERTZ)!

Standard Croatian keyboard layout is using AltGr key also for composing other characters (e.g. German characters: ä, ö, ü, ß ...). This layout has kept most of those mappings and thus enabled optimal combination of having full US layout while allowing easy access to all characters available on Croatian layout.

Here are images of layout mappings with and without modifier keys:

Modifier	Layout
no modifier
Shift
AltGr
Shift + AltGr
CapsLock
Control

US layout with Croatian characters English US language

Title	Source file
EN-HR-v2	ENU-HR_Keyboard_2.klc

This layout is the same as US-HR layout but the input language is English US.

Additional Resources

MSKLC Guide contains detailed dive into Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator peculiarities, including advanced usage.

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