Is it possible to re-assign 'special' keys on a driverless keyboard to other functions in windows 7

I am referring to the keys that start your browser, start your email client, start search, back, forward and so on.

I am assuming that since these keyboards are fairly common (driverless keyboard with extra functionality) that the key code to action mapping must be built into the OS somewhere.

If this is the case, is there a control panel location to re-assign these keys to other functions?

Failing that, is there a set of registry keys to achieve the same goal?

I would prefer to do this without downloading any extra applications.

Solution 1:

I do not have a media keyboard, so I cannot be sure if this will work for you, but you can try using SharpKeys. It's an interface for editing the relevant registry keys, so it's not something that you will need to keep running.

Solution 2:

The registry key paradroid is talking about can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/w2kscan-map.mspx

Solution 3:

Try autohotkey it can be configured for all the media buttons :)