FN+F4, F5, F6, F10 not working

[MTs_CZ]

Hi,

I installed windows 11 on my HP ZBook Studio G3 (PN: T7V78ES#BCM). I know that windows 11 does not officially support this machine (TPM, CPU), but everything works fine 🙂 !!!  I have only problem with the FN key + F4 (touchpad), F5 (brightness-), F6 (brightness+), F10 (microphone). This shortcuts not work. I experimented with the HotKey UWP driver (service), but none worked for me. I also read several solutions discussed here, but they didn't help me either ( for example https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Hotkey-Support-warning/td-p...).

Windows 11 do have a shortcut WIN+A, which displays the brightness control and others settings, but I would like to know if there is a way to activate the classic FN key on my old (and not supported by HP) laptop.

Thanks for help.

[MTs_CZ · Accepted solution]

I'm going to solve the problem today! 🙂

ZBook Studio G5 already has Windows 11 support. So I used the driver. Unfortunately, after downloading and running SP151095.exe, it didn't install automatically. Maybe because I experimented with other versions before and they stayed in the system... So I uninstalled everything manually:

sc.exe delete HPAudioAnalytics

sc.exe delete LanWlanWwanSwitchingServiceUWP

sc.exe delete HotKeyServiceUWP

I manually deleted all folders with HotKeyServiceUWP.exe too. (C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\hpqkbsoftwarecompnent*).

Reboot/restart  windows

Then I started C:\SWSetup\SP151095\install.cmd  as administrator and checked that the file HotKeyServiceUWP.exe exists (in my laptop it was on C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\hpqkbsoftwarecompnent.inf_amd64_6c234fdd160946fe). But as I wrote, it didn't appear automatically in the services, so I added it manually:

sc.exe create HotKeyServiceUWP start=auto binpath="C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\hpqkbsoftwarecompnent.inf_amd64_6c234fdd160946fe\HotKeyServiceUWP.exe"

And then after starting the service (named HotKeyServiceUWP ), all fn keys works ! I didn't register the other services (HPAudioAnalytics, LanWlanWwanSwitchingServiceUWP), I don't need them.

Edit: HP Support assistant must also be installed, because it includes some framework that hotkeys also needs to work (otherwise empty error message appears after pressing the FN key) !!! https://support.hp.com/ph-en/help/hp-support-assistant

So hopefully this procedure will help someone else...

Original name of service installed by HP installator:

HP download page:

Keyboard driver (here is 11.1.9.1, but 11.1.8.1 located at C:\SWSetup\SP151095\src\driver\x64\Base works too):

My location of service file:

[Pierre2Grenoble]

Not sure that the following shortest path would have worked for Windows 11 but it might as it does for Windows 10. The culprit in your case could be just the HotKeyServiceUWP service. Just deactivating it, no need to remove it at first try, then just installing the Soft Pack 91903 could have make your hotkeys working. This old Soft Pack does support your ZBook Studio G5 model as it is maintained since 2018 and updated to support newer HP laptops and notebooks. It does work with Windows 11.

See release notes: https://support.hp.com/soar-attachment/711/col97761-ob-249216-1-ob-249216-1_sp91903_releasedoc.html

For downloading the pack: https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp91501-92000/sp91903.exe

By the way interesting to know that you needed to install the HP Support assistant software too to make it work. This additional software utility might have installed a virtual driver to make the SP151095 compliant with the new HSA requirement. But not sure of this. I just can say that I did not need to install this utility. I just deactivated the '"HP Hotkeys UWP Service" service. If I leave this former service activated, it won't prevent the newer "HP Hotkeys Service" to work: it will just display the error popup you mentioned along with my hotkeys working fine.

You might have just suffered issues with a not fully HSA-compliant UWP driver, see one HP note as an example here: https://support.hp.com/soar-attachment/711/col97761-ob-249216-1-ob-249216-1_sp91903_releasedoc.html

You might also be interested in this HP Soft Packs compatibility matrix: https://ftp.ext.hp.com/pub/caps-softpaq/cmit/HP_Driverpack_Matrix_x64.html