The bottom line is that there are plenty of great keyboards out there that are designed to be used on Windows machines. Step 5: Click OK and close System Preferences. Step 4: For the Command (⌘) Key setting, select (⌥) Option. Step 3: For the Option (⌥) Key setting, select ⌘ Command. Step 2: Select your third-party Windows keyboard via the Select keyboard drop down box. Step 1: Open System Preferences → Keyboard → Modifier Keys. Fortunately, there is a dead-simple fix for this issue. Such a little thing, the swapping of the Command and Option keys, can cause trouble for someone who’s been typing on a Mac for years. Modifier key arrangement differences between Mac and Windows: The problem stems from their arrangement on the keyboard. The problem isn’t the function of the keys, because as we discussed, from a pure functionality standpoint, the modifier keys (Control, Option, Command) all map 1:1. For example, the Control (⌃) key does the same thing on a Mac that it does on Windows, the Option (⌥) key on Mac does the same thing as the Alt key on Windows, and the Command (⌘) key on Mac does the same thing as the Windows key. All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a functionality standpoint. Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys. Immediately, I could sense relief in my wrists, but because this was a keyboard designed for Windows and not for Mac, the switch presented a whole new problem. I just so happened to have an AmazonBasics wired keyboard available thanks to my recent Hackintosh build, so I decided to use it with my Mac. The shallow key travel of the MacBook’s keyboard is partly to blame. The reason behind such a change was that my MacBook Pro’s keyboard was causing wrist pain. Over the last few days I’ve been finding myself using a keyboard designed for Windows users on my Mac.

How to change keyboard layout for mac