Key is not detected in KeyHistory

[CaroS]

Current system I am using: dell xps17

Problem: 'Increase brightness' key not detected in KeyHistory. Therefore, the name of this key is unknown to me, which prevents me from setting it as a hotkey.

On the keyboard of the XPS 17 the 'increase brightness' button is located on the default spot of the F7 key as you can see in the picture. Pressing both Function key + 'increase brightness' keys activate F7, which is still read by KeyHistory.
Other keys like the 'decrease brightness' button appear have similar behavior.

Why is autohotkey unable to detect the key. Might it be a low-level driver problem? Might there be a workaround for detecting these special keys?

[mikeyww]

There isn't a brightness key per se. Your computer handles Fn and figures out what to do. You can use hotkeys to change the brightness: scripts have already been posted in the forum for doing that.

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=394008#p394008

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=81807

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=367333#p367333

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=59644

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=365164#p365164

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=395344#p395344

If you search the forum for "brightness", you will find more information.

[CaroS]

Glad that you answered so quickly . I have fixed the problem by toggling "increase brightness" button/F7 via FN + esc. This way the "increase brightness" button is now detected in keyhistory as F7 and can act as a hotkey.

[mikeyww]

That's good. In many cases, too, the BIOS can be configured to swap the function keys, so that the default is the normal key rather than the auxiliary function. In other words, it eliminates having to press Fn+Esc.

[sofista]

In many cases, too, the BIOS can be configured to swap the function keys, so that the default is the normal key rather than the auxiliary function.

If available, it is the simplest solution and the one I used on my laptop. It worked very well.