Using a Microsoft remote control in Windows: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:30, 20 December 2010

This article applies to remote controls that use the Microsoft eHome device driver. If you are unsure whether your remote is an eHome remote look in the Device Manager under Human Interface Devices and see if there is a device called "Microsoft eHome Infrared Transceiver" or something similar.

The above example is from Windows 7. If the eHome device does not appear you aren't using the eHome driver and you should read no further. For MCE remotes see Using an MCE remote control in Windows and for general notes on remote controllers see Remote Controls.

Introduction

The simplest way to use an eHome remote with XBMC is to configure it to emulate a keyboard. The eHome driver can be configured by modifying the registry (details below). The details are rather involved, but there are various resources you can use that make it all very simple.

EliteGamer360 has written a registry config file and associated keyboard.xml and these are available from http://xbmccustomregis.sourceforge.net/.

jhsrennie has written an add-on to configure MS remotes. To install it run XBMC and go to Settings, Add-ons, Get Add-ons, XBMC.org Add-ons, Program Add-ons and select MCERemote. Once installed, you can open the add-on by selecting Programs from the home page then MCERemote. The addon includes an option to display the instructions.

Default eHome configuration

Any version of Windows from Windows XP onwards will automatically detect and install a Microsoft remote as soon as you connect it. With versions of XBMC from v10.0 Dharma onwards most of the buttons on the Microsoft remote will work immediately. The exceptions I know about are:

The Info button; sometimes labelled More or just i.
The volume buttons will control the Windows volume setting not the XBMC volume
The four coloured buttons (not all MS remotes have these) won't do anything
With Vista/Windows 7 the Live TV, Recorded TV and Guide buttons will start Windows Media Center. With Windows XP (non-Media Center Edition) these buttons won't do anything
The Green/Windows button will start Windows Media Center

For most people this will be fine, and in that case you don't need to do anything further. The only reason for continuing with this article is if you want to customise the Microsoft remote to change the actions of any of the buttons or to make the Info and coloured buttons work.

Useful resources

http://xbmcmce.sourceforge.net/ has various utilities to help with tweaking the button mapping. ShowKey will show you what keypresses or AppCommand messages are being sent, and KeyMapEdit is a utility for editing the keyboard.xml file.

The remainder of this article describes the gory details of configuring the Microsoft remote. This probably looks frighteningly complicated to most of us, but very few people need to read further as EliteGamer360's scripts and/or the MCERemote add-on should do everything you need. Only the curious and determined need read further.

How the MS remote works

The Microsoft remote, or more accurately the eHome device driver, keeps the button configuration in the registry value ReportMappingTable in the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
 \SYSTEM
  \CurrentControlSet
   \Services
    \HidIr
     \Remotes
      \745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

This is a binary array consisting of rows of 7 bytes. Each row defines one button. The seven bytes in the row are:

Byte	Action
0	button number (see below)
1	always 0
2	always 0
3	always 0
4	04 and 01 send keystrokes; 03 sends an IR signal
5	Key modifier or low byte of multimedia command (see below)
6	Key modifier or high byte of multimedia command (see below)

Byte 4 determines what the eHome driver will do when the button is pressed. If byte 4 is set to 0x03 the eHome driver will generate a "Raw Input" message and if byte 4 is 0x04 this will cause the button to send a keypress i.e. Windows will react as if a key had been pressed on the keyboard. If byte 4 is 0x01 the eHome driver will either send either a multimedia keypress or an APPCOMMAND message.

Byte 4 = 0x03: Raw Input messages

If byte 4 is set to 0x03 the eHome driver will generate a "Raw Input" message, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms645536(v=vs.85).aspx. The only raw input messages likely to be useful are:

<button>,00,00,00,03,81,00	System Power: will cause Windows to shut down
<button>,00,00,00,03,82,00	System Sleep: will cause Windows to hibernate
<button>,00,00,00,03,83,00	System Wake: will cause Windows to wake from hibernation

Byte 4 = 0x04: Normal keypresses

If byte 4 is set to 0x04 then byte 5 contains modifiers like control, shift, alt, etc and byte 6 contains the key code.

The value of byte 5, the key modifier, can be:

Byte	Action
0	No modifier
1	Control
2	Shift
3	Control-Shift
4	Alt
5	Control-Alt
6	Shift-Alt
7	Control-Shift-Alt
8	Windows
9	Control-Windows
a	Shift-Windows
b	Control-Shift-Windows
c	Alt-Windows
d	Control-Alt-Windows
e	Shift-Alt-Windows
f	Control-Shift-Alt-Windows

If you're happy with binary numbers you've probably spotted that bit 0 specifies Control, bit 1 specifies Shift, bit 2 specifies Alt and bit 3 specifies the Windows key.

The key code is not an ACSII code or a scan code. It's an arbitrary code selected by MS. You can find a list of the codes in http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/translate.pdf. The button numbers obey no obvious logic.

To give a specific example, suppose you want to configure the Play button to send the Media Center keyboard shortcut for "Play", the 7 bytes would be:

16,00,00,00,04,03,13

Byte	Value	Notes
Byte 0	16	The number of the Play button is 0x16 (see table below)
Byte 1	00	Bytes 1 to 3 are always zero
Byte 2	00
Byte 3	00
Byte 4	04	The value 0x04 means send a normal keypress
Byte 5	03	Ctrl = 2 and Shift = 1 so 3 = 2 + 1 mean ctrl-shift
Byte 6	13	0x13 is the key code for "P"

Byte 4 = 0x01: Multimedia key or APPCOMMAND message

The Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard and various clones have keys for functions like "Play" and "Stop". If byte 4 is set to 0x01 the eHome driver may generate a multimedia keyboard keypress. Alternatively, and with no onbvious logic, it may generate the Windows message WM_APPCOMMAND instead. The WM_APPCOMMAND message is used to send commands like "Play", 2Pause", "Stop", etc. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms647591(v=vs.85).aspx for details.

The multimedia keys have key codes that can be greater than 255 (0xFF) so they need two bytes to represnt them. Byte 5 is used for the low byte and byte 6 is used for the high byte, though in most cases the high byte will be zero. This means that there is no byte available to specify the key modifiers, so you cannot combine a multimedia keypress with ctrl, shift, alt, etc.

Following on from the example above, suppose you want to configure the Play button to send the Multimedia Play/Pause keypress i.e. Play then Pause the media on alternate presses. The 7 bytes would be:

16,00,00,00,01,cd,00

Byte	Value	Notes
Byte 0	16	The number of the Play button is 0x16 (see table below)
Byte 1	00	Bytes 1 to 3 are always zero
Byte 2	00
Byte 3	00
Byte 4	01	The value 0x01 means send a multimedia keypress
Byte 5	cd	The code for the play/pause key is 0x00CD so put cd as the l,ow byte
Byte 6	00	and 00 as the high byte

The key codes for the multimedia keys are also listed in http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/translate.pdf. They are the keys with the "HID usage page" set to 0C. The normal keys have the "HID usage page" set to 07.

Table of remote button codes

The following table lists all the known button numbers. Thanks to the many people who put effort into discovering these numbers.

Button no.	Button name	Comments
00	0	Standard MS remote
01	1	Standard MS remote
02	2	Standard MS remote
03	3	Standard MS remote
04	4	Standard MS remote
05	5	Standard MS remote
06	6	Standard MS remote
07	7	Standard MS remote
08	8	Standard MS remote
09	9	Standard MS remote
0A	Clear	Standard MS remote
0B	Enter	Standard MS remote
0C	Main Power	Standard MS remote
0D	Windows	Standard MS remote
0E	Mute	Standard MS remote. This button does not work on the 360 universal remote.
0F	Info/More	Standard MS remote
10	Volume Up	Standard MS remote. This button does not work on the 360 universal remote.
11	Volume Down	Standard MS remote. This button does not work on the 360 universal remote.
12	Channel Up	Standard MS remote
13	Channel Down	Standard MS remote
14	Fast Forward	Standard MS remote
15	Rewind	Standard MS remote
16	Play	Standard MS remote
17	Record	Standard MS remote
18	Pause	Standard MS remote
19	Stop	Standard MS remote
1A	Next/Skip	Standard MS remote
1B	Previous/Replay	Standard MS remote
1C	#/Refresh	Labelled with a curved arrow (meaning refresh) on the 360 universal remote.
1D	*/100	Labelled "100" on the 360 universal remote.
1E	Up	Standard MS remote
1F	Down	Standard MS remote
20	Left	Standard MS remote
21	Right	Standard MS remote
22	OK	Standard MS remote
23	Back	Standard MS remote
24	DVD Menu	Standard MS remote
25	Live TV, Red (B)	Red button labelled "B" on the 360 universal remote
26	TV Guide, Yellow (Y)	Yellow button labelled "Y" on the 360 universal remote
27	Zoom/Aspect Ratio	Top left button on the Asrock and Mediagate remotes
28	Open/Close	Only on XBox 360 universal remote
29	Discrete Power On	Present on the Harmony universal remote
2A	Discrete Power Off	Present on the Harmony universal remote
32	Visualisation
33	Slideshow
34	Eject
3B	Close App
46	My TV
47	Music Library	Present on the Asrock remote
48	Recorded TV	Standard MS remote
49	Picture Library	Present on the Asrock remote
4A	Video Library	Present on the Asrock remote
4B	DVD Angle	Present on the Mediagate MG-IR02BK remote
4C	DVD Audio	Present on the Mediagate MG-IR02BK remote
4D	Subtitles	Present on the Mediagate MG-IR02BK remote
4E	Print	Labelled "Print" on the HP remote
4F	Display	Labelled "Display" on the 360 universal remote
50	Radio	Present on the Asrock remote
51	Title	Labelled "Title" on the 360 universal remote
5A	Teletext	On some, but not all, models of the MS remote and many compatibles
5B	Red teletext button	On the v2 Microsoft remote
5C	Green teletext button	On the v2 Microsoft remote
5D	Yellow teletext button	On the v2 Microsoft remote
5E	Blue teletext button	On the v2 Microsoft remote
64	XBox button	Large "X" button on the 360 universal remote
66	Green (A)	Green button labelled "A" on the 360 universal remote
68	Blue (X)	Blue button labelled "X" on the 360 universal remote
6C	Channel Up	Channel up button on the 360 universal remote. Note that the standard MS remote uses number 12 for this button.
6D	Channel Down	Channel down button on the 360 universal remote. Note that the standard MS remote uses number 13 for this button.
6E	Play/Pause	You can configure the button to send VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE using 6e,00,00,00,01,cd,00

Table of key codes

This data is taken from http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/translate.pdf. The data has been reproduced here just in case Microsoft ever remove the link to the tranlate.pdf file:

Key	Code
aA	04
bB	05
cC	06
dD	07
eE	08
fF	09
gG	0A
hH	0B
iI	0C
jJ	0D
kK	0E
lL	0F
mM	10
nN	11
oO	12
pP	13
qQ	14
rR	15
sS	16
tT	17
uU	18
vV	19
wW	1A
xX	1B
yY	1C
zZ	1D
1!	1E
2@	1F
3#	20
4$	21
5%	22
6^	23
7&	24
8*	25
9(	26
0)	27
Return	28
Escape	29
Backspace	2A
Tab	2B
Space	2C
-_	2D
=+	2E
[{	2F
]}	30
\\|	31
Europe 1	32
;:	33
'"	34
`~	35
,<	36
.>	37
/?	38
Caps Lock	39
F1	3A
F2	3B
F3	3C
F4	3D
F5	3E
F6	3F
F7	40
F8	41
F9	42
F10	43
F11	44
F12	45
Print Screen	46
Scroll Lock	47
Break (Ctrl-Pause)	48
Pause	48
Insert	49
Home	4A
Page Up	4B
Delete	4C
End	4D
Page Down	4E
Right Arrow	4F
Left Arrow	50
Down Arrow	51
Up Arrow	52
Num Lock	53
Keypad /	54
Keypad *	55
Keypad -	56
Keypad +	57
Keypad Enter	58
Keypad 1 End	59
Keypad 2 Down	5A
Keypad 3 PageDn	5B
Keypad 4 Left	5C
Keypad 5	5D
Keypad 6 Right	5E
Keypad 7 Home	5F
Keypad 8 Up	60
Keypad 9 PageUp	61
Keypad 0 Insert	62
Keypad . Delete	63
Europe 2	64
App	65
Keyboard Power	66
Keypad =	67
F13	68
F14	69
F15	6A
F16	6B
F17	6C
F18	6D
F19	6E
F20	6F
F21	70
F22	71
F23	72
F24	73
Keyboard Execute	74
Keyboard Help	75
Keyboard Menu	76
Keyboard Select	77
Keyboard Stop	78
Keyboard Again	79
Keyboard Undo	7A
Keyboard Cut	7B
Keyboard Copy	7C
Keyboard Paste	7D
Keyboard Find	7E
Keyboard Mute	7F
Keyboard Volume Up	80
Keyboard Volume Dn	81
Caps Lock	82
Num Lock	83
Scroll Lock	84
Keypad , Brazilian Keypad .	85
Keyboard Equal Sign	86
Keyboard Int'l 1	87
Keyboard Int'l 2	88
Keyboard Int'l 2	89
Keyboard Int'l 4	8A
Keyboard Int'l 5	8B
Keyboard Int'l 6	8C
Keyboard Int'l 7	8D
Keyboard Int'l 8	8E
Keyboard Int'l 9	8F
Keyboard Lang 1	90
Keyboard Lang 2	91
Keyboard Lang 3	92
Keyboard Lang 4	93
Keyboard Lang 5	94
Keyboard Lang 6	95
Keyboard Lang 7	96
Keyboard Lang 8	97
Keyboard Alternate	98
Erase	99
SysReq/Attention	9A
Keyboard Cancel	9B
Keyboard Clear	9C
Keyboard Prior	9D
Keyboard Return	9E
Keyboard Separator	9F
Keyboard Out	A0
Keyboard Oper	A1
Keyboard Clear/Again	A2
Keyboard CrSel/Props	A3
Keyboard ExSel	A4
Left Control	E0
Left Shift	E1
Left Alt	E2
Left GUI	E3
Right Control	E4
Right Shift	E5
Right Alt	E6
Right GUI	E7

Multimedia keys

Button	Code	Action
Play	00B0	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 46 - play
Pause	00B1	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 47 - pause
Record	00B2	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 48 - record
Fast forward	00B3	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 49 - fast forward
Rewind	00B4	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 50 - rewind
Scan Next Track	00B5	sends keypress VK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK
Scan Previous Track	00B6	sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PREV_TRACK
Stop	00B7	sends keypress VK_MEDIA_STOP
Play/Pause	00CD	sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE
Mute	00E2	sends keypress VK_VOLUME_MUTE
Bass Boost	00E5	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 20 - toggle bass boost
Loudness	00E7	not known
Volume Up	00E9	sends keypress VK_VOLUME_UP
Volume Down	00EA	sends keypress VK_VOLUME_DOWN
Bass Up	0152	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 21 - increase bass
Bass Down	0153	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 19 - decrease bass
Treble Up	0154	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 23 - increase treble
Treble Down	0155	sends WM_APPCOMMAND 22 - decrease treble
Media Select	0183	sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT
Mail	018A	sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MAIL
Calculator	0192	sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP2
My Computer	0194	sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP1
Info	0209	not known
WWW Search	0221	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_SEARCH
WWW Home	0223	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_HOME
WWW Back	0224	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_BACK
WWW Forward	0225	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FORWARD
WWW Stop	0226	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_STOP
WWW Refresh	0227	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_REFRESH
WWW Favorites	022A	sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FAVORITES

@@ Line 729: / Line 729: @@
 <table border="1">
-   <tr><td><b>Button</b></td><td><b>Code</b></td><td><b>Action</b></td><td><b>XBMC key name</b></td></tr>
+   <tr><td><b>Button</b></td><td><b>Code</b></td><td><b>Action</b></td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Play</td><td>00B0</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 46 - play</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Play</td><td>00B0</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 46 - play</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Pause</td><td>00B1</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 47 - pause</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Pause</td><td>00B1</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 47 - pause</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Record</td><td>00B2</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 48 - record</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Record</td><td>00B2</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 48 - record</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Fast forward</td><td>00B3</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 49 - fast forward</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Fast forward</td><td>00B3</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 49 - fast forward</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Rewind</td><td>00B4</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 50 - rewind</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Rewind</td><td>00B4</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 50 - rewind</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Scan Next Track</td><td>00B5</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Scan Next Track</td><td>00B5</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Scan Previous Track </td><td>00B6</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PREV_TRACK</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Scan Previous Track </td><td>00B6</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PREV_TRACK</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Stop </td><td>00B7</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_STOP</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Stop </td><td>00B7</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_STOP</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Play/Pause</td><td>00CD</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Play/Pause</td><td>00CD</td><td>sends keypress VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Mute</td><td>00E2</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_MUTE</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Mute</td><td>00E2</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_MUTE</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Bass Boost </td><td>00E5</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 20 - toggle bass boost</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Bass Boost </td><td>00E5</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 20 - toggle bass boost</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Loudness </td><td>00E7</td><td>not known</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Loudness </td><td>00E7</td><td>not known</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Volume Up </td><td>00E9</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_UP</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Volume Up </td><td>00E9</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_UP</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Volume Down </td><td>00EA</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_DOWN</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Volume Down </td><td>00EA</td><td>sends keypress VK_VOLUME_DOWN</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Bass Up</td><td>0152</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 21 - increase bass</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Bass Up</td><td>0152</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 21 - increase bass</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Bass Down</td><td>0153</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 19 - decrease bass</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Bass Down</td><td>0153</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 19 - decrease bass</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Treble Up</td><td>0154</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 23 - increase treble</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Treble Up</td><td>0154</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 23 - increase treble</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Treble Down</td><td>0155</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 22 - decrease treble</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Treble Down</td><td>0155</td><td>sends WM_APPCOMMAND 22 - decrease treble</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Media Select</td><td>0183</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Media Select</td><td>0183</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Mail</td><td>018A</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MAIL</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Mail</td><td>018A</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_MAIL</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Calculator</td><td>0192</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP2</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Calculator</td><td>0192</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP2</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>My Computer</td><td>0194</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP1</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>My Computer</td><td>0194</td><td>sends keypress VK_LAUNCH_APP1</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>Info</td><td>0209</td><td>not known</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Info</td><td>0209</td><td>not known</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Search</td><td>0221</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_SEARCH</td><td>browser_search</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Search</td><td>0221</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_SEARCH</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Home</td><td>0223</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_HOME</td><td>browser_home</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Home</td><td>0223</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_HOME</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Back</td><td>0224</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_BACK</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Back</td><td>0224</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_BACK</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Forward</td><td>0225</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FORWARD</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Forward</td><td>0225</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FORWARD</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Stop</td><td>0226</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_STOP</td><td></td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Stop</td><td>0226</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_STOP</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Refresh </td><td>0227</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_REFRESH</td><td>browser_refresh</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Refresh </td><td>0227</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_REFRESH</td></tr>
-   <tr><td>WWW Favorites </td><td>022A</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FAVORITES</td><td>browser_favorites</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>WWW Favorites </td><td>022A</td><td>sends keypress VK_BROWSER_FAVORITES</td></tr>
 </table>
 [[category:Remote]]