A small number of laptops boast a large full-size keyboard, especially with a number of additional function keys. Most often, in order to save space, developers of laptop computers place additional function keys on the F1-F12 line and add the FN button so that users can use them. Without these function keys it is difficult to work with a laptop, since they allow you to quickly increase/decrease the brightness, increase/decrease the sound and perform other necessary actions.
Many users, after reinstalling the Windows operating system and in other situations, have to deal with the problem that the FN button does not work. Accordingly, the ability to control function keys is lost, which directly affects the ease of use of the computer. In this article, we will look at what to do if the FN button does not work on the keyboard.
Why doesn't the FN button on the keyboard work?
If we exclude the possibility that the FN button does not work due to a mechanical failure, we can assume two options - problems with Windows or problems with the BIOS. The most common causes of failure are the following:
There are a huge number of laptops on the market from various manufacturers. Methods for solving the problem with the FN key not working will differ for different laptops. Below in the article we will provide basic action algorithms that will help correct the situation on laptops of popular brands.
FN button does not work on Lenovo laptop
One of the most popular laptop brands in the world is Lenovo. If the FN key does not work on one of the computer models of this brand, you need to go to the official website of the developers in the drivers section and download the necessary software. Since Lenovo produces a huge number of products and their website is quite complex, we recommend entering search engine request “your laptop model + drivers”. One of the first will be a link to the official Lenovo resource in the section with drivers.
It is worth noting one feature of Lenovo drivers. They are presented on the company's website a large number of, at the same time, it is not always clear which set should be downloaded for specific model laptop. Let's take a short tour of the available sets:
It is worth noting that owners of Lenovo laptops often complain about a problem when only the key combinations responsible for turning Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on/off do not work. In such a situation, you need to separately download drivers for wireless networks, which can also be found on the official Lenovo website.
If the problem is not related to Windows and operating system drivers, then you need to check the BIOS settings. Depending on the laptop model, you can find the “HotKey Mode” or “Fn and Ctrl Key Swap” options in the BIOS.
FN button does not work on Asus laptop
If the FN key does not work on Asus laptop, which means they are not installed on the computer necessary drivers or changes have been made to startup. For the FN key to work, 2 conditions must be met:
Most often, Asus laptops do not have settings in the BIOS that allow you to enable/disable or change the operation of the FN key.
FN button does not work on Acer laptop
Acer boasts an extremely convenient and pleasant website that makes it easy to find the required set of drivers for a specific laptop model. To do this, you need to go to the website, in the “Select a device” section, indicate the exact modification number of your laptop and select the version of the operating system (pay attention to the bit depth). Next, a list of available drivers will appear.
For the FN key to work, a set of drivers for the chipset must be installed, and you must also run the installation of the Launch Manager application (located in the “Application” section). If this does not fix the FN key not working issue, also download and install Acer Power Manager.
Please note: After installing Launch Manager, the program will launch automatically when the computer boots. If you remove it from startup, the FN buttons may not work.
FN button does not work on HP laptop
To find drivers for a specific HP laptop model, you need to do the following:
After installing all the required applications, restart your computer and check if the FN key works properly.
It is worth noting that the BIOS in HP laptops provides the ability to configure the FN key. The user can set the option that the FN button will always be pressed, that is, the F1-F12 keys will work if you press FN, and the function buttons without pressing FN. This is configured in the “System Configuration” section with the “Action Keys Mode” item. 
FN button not working on Dell laptop
If a Dell laptop user encounters a problem with the FN key not working, he also needs to install a set of drivers on which the function key depends. You will need to download and install the following applications from the official Dell website: Dell Foundation Services – Application, Dell QuickSet Application and Dell Power Manager Lite Application.
Please note: if the problem in question with the FN key not working occurred on a laptop running one of the older operating systems Windows systems(such as Vista or XP), then you will also need to download and install the Dell Function Keys application.
All of the drivers listed above must be downloaded for a specific laptop model in the correct version of the operating system. To do this you will need:
There are also problems with the FN key on Dell laptops may be due to incorrect BIOS settings. The situation here is similar to HP laptops, that is, you can change, you need to press the FN key to use F1-F12 or multimedia buttons. This setting located in the “Advanced” section of the BIOS and is called “Function key Behavior”. 
FN button does not work on Sony laptop
Sony Vaio laptops are also susceptible to an issue where the FN button stops working due to incorrect (or uninstalled) drivers. The problem with finding drivers for laptop computers of the Japanese company is due to the fact that Sony Vaio is no longer officially produced. However, Sony's website still contains all the necessary software to keep the company's computers in working order.
Most laptops have a separate Fn key, which, in combination with the keys in the top row of the keyboard (F1 - F12), usually performs laptop-specific actions (turning Wi-Fi on and off, changing screen brightness, etc.), or, conversely, without it Pressing triggers these actions, and pressing the functions of the F1-F12 keys. Common problem laptop owners, especially after a system update or manual installation Windows 10, 8 and Windows 7 - the Fn key does not work.
The Fn key on Asus laptops is controlled by a set of software and drivers ATKPackage - ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities, available for download on the official Asus website. At the same time, in addition to installed components, the hcontrol.exe utility should be in startup (it is added to startup automatically when installing ATKPackage).
How to download Fn key and function key drivers for Asus laptop
After this, you may need to restart your laptop and, if everything went well, you will see that the Fn key on your laptop works. If something goes wrong, below is a section about typical problems when fixing broken function keys.
HP laptops
For full operation of the Fn key and associated function keys in the top row on HP Pavilion and other HP laptops, the following components are required from the official website
- HP Software Framework, HP On-Screen Display, and HP Quick Launch from the " Software- solutions".
- HP Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) support tools from the Utility - Tools section.
However, for a specific model, some of these items may not be available.
To download the necessary software for an HP laptop, search the Internet for “Your_laptop_model support” - usually the first result is the official page on support.hp.com for your laptop model, where in the “Software and Drivers” section just click “Go” , and then select the version of the operating system (if yours is not in the list, choose the closest one in chronology, the bit depth must be the same) and download the necessary drivers.
Additionally: in the BIOS on HP laptops there may be an option to change the behavior of the Fn key. Located in the “System Configuration” section, the Action Keys Mode item - if Disabled, then the function keys work only when Fn is pressed, if Enabled, then without pressing (but to use F1-F12 you need to press Fn).
Acer
If the Fn key does not work on Acer laptop, then usually it’s enough to select your laptop model on the official support website https://www.acer.com/ac/ru/RU/content/support (in the “Select device” section you can specify the model manually, without serial number) and indicate the operating system (if your version is not in the list, download drivers from the closest one in the same bitness as installed on the laptop).
In the download list, in the “Application” section, download the Launch Manager program and install it on your laptop (in some cases you will also need the chipset driver from the same page).
If the program has already been installed, but the Fn key still does not work, make sure that Launch Manager is not disabled in Windows startup, and also try installing Acer Power Manager from the official website.
Lenovo
For different models and generations of Lenovo laptops, different sets of software are available for the Fn keys. In my opinion, the easiest way, if the Fn key does not work on Lenovo, is to do this: enter “Your_laptop_model + support” in the search engine, go to the official support page (usually the first one in the search results), in the “Top Downloads” section, click “View” all" (view all) and check which of the list below is available for download and installation on your laptop for the desired version of Windows.
- Hotkey Features Integration for Windows 10 (32-bit, 64-bit), 8.1 (64-bit), 8 (64-bit), 7 (32-bit, 64-bit) - http://support.lenovo.com /ru/en/downloads/ds031814 (only for supported laptops, list at the bottom of the specified page).
- Lenovo Energy Management (Power Management) - for most modern laptops
- Lenovo OnScreen Display Utility
- Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) Driver
- If only the Fn+F5, Fn+F7 combinations do not work, try additionally installing official Wi-Fi drivers and Bluetooth from Lenovo website.
Additional information: on some Lenovo laptops, the Fn+Esc combination switches the operating mode of the Fn key; this option is also present in the BIOS - the HotKey Mode item in the Configuration section. ThinkPad laptops may also have a BIOS option “Fn and Ctrl Key Swap”, which swaps the Fn and Ctrl keys.
Dell
The following sets of drivers and applications are typically required for function keys to work on Dell Inspiron, Latitude, XPS, and other laptops:
- Dell QuickSet Application
- Dell Power Manager Lite Application
- Dell Foundation Services - Application
- Dell Function Keys - For some older Dell laptops that shipped with Windows XP and Vista.
You can find the drivers required for your laptop as follows:
Please note that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth keys may require original drivers for proper operation. wireless adapters from Dell website.
Additional information: In the BIOS (UEFI) on Dell laptops, in the Advanced section, there may be a Function Keys Behavior item that changes how the Fn key works - it includes multimedia functions or the actions of the Fn-F12 keys. Also the Dell Fn key options may be in standard program"Windows Mobility Center".
Fn key on Sony Vaio laptops
Despite the fact that Sony Vaio laptops are no longer produced, there are a lot of questions about installing drivers on them, including enabling the Fn key, this is due to the fact that very often drivers from the official website refuse to be installed even on the same OS, with which the laptop was supplied with after it was reinstalled, and even more so on Windows 10 or 8.1.
For the Fn key to work on Sony, the following three components are usually required (some may not be available for a specific model) from the official website:
- Sony Firmware Extension Parser Driver
- Sony Shared Library
- Sony Notebook Utilities
- Sometimes - Vaio Event Service.
You can download them from the official page https://www.sony.ru/support/ru/series/prd-comp-vaio-nb (or you can find them by searching “your_laptop_model + support” in any search engine, if on the Russian-language website of your model it didn't turn out). On the official Russian website:
Possible problems and solutions when installing software and drivers for the Fn key
In conclusion, here are some typical problems that may arise when installing components necessary for the function keys of a laptop:
- The driver does not install because it says that the OS version is not supported (for example, if it is only available for Windows 7, but you need the Fn keys in Windows 10) - try unpacking the exe installer using the Universal Extractor program, and find it yourself inside the unpacked folder drivers to install them manually, or a separate installer that does not check the system version.
- Despite installing all components, the Fn key still does not work - check if there are options in the BIOS related to the operation of the Fn key, HotKey. Try installing the official chipset and power management drivers from the manufacturer's website.
I hope the instructions help. If not, and it is required Additional Information, you can ask a question in the comments, just please indicate the exact laptop model and version of the installed operating system.
It would seem that the laptop keyboard is no different from the keyboard of a regular PC. However, there is a certain difference: only this compact device has an Fn button. It exists to improve user efficiency. Fn helps to quickly turn on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, send mail, change screen brightness, volume level, etc. If the Fn key does not work on a laptop, this significantly “cuts down” the user’s capabilities.
Enabling the Fn key opens up a lot of possibilities for the user
Location
The Fn button on almost all devices is located in the lower left corner of the keyboard. This key has long taken its place permanent place on devices of various world famous brands of equipment. It is located before or after the Ctrl button. As practice shows, this placement of the key is very convenient for users.
How it works and what “Fn” means
“Function” - it is from this word that the name of the key we are interested in comes from. With its help you can perform many operations, but in combination with other buttons. They are commonly called shortcut buttons. The key combination differs for each specific model, but the principle of their operation is the same. For example, on a Lenovo laptop, the Fn button can give the following results:
- Fn+right arrow/left arrow - change volume;
- Fn+Insert - option to disable or enable Scroll Lock;
- Fn+F6 - connect a laptop mouse (touchpad);
- Fn+F5 - turn on bluetooth;
- Fn+F4 - change the monitor extension;
- Fn+F3 - used when working with a projector; This combination makes it possible to switch the monitor display to the projector;
- Fn+F2 - option to turn off/on the monitor;
- Fn+F1 - sleep mode;
- Fn+down/up arrow - decrease or increase monitor brightness;
- Fn+F12 - track backward;
- Fn+F11 - track forward;
- Fn+F10 - stop in the media player;
- Fn+F9 - pause/resume;
- Fn+Home - (works in media files) - pause.
By learning these combinations, you will be able to get the most out of your laptop keyboard, even without using a mouse.
Disable/enable Fn
Usually the button is activated by pressing NumLock+Fn, but this does not always work. Often, to enable the Fn button on a laptop, you have to delve into the BIOS.
Using BIOS
There is nothing complicated here, the procedure looks like this:
- Go to the BIOS (you must press Esc, F2 or Del when the device starts).
- Go to Setup Utility.
- Find the System Configuration menu.
- Turn on the Fn option (Action Keys Mode tab).
Installing drivers
The most effective way to enable the Fn key is to check your keyboard drivers. When installing a “broken” OS, the wrong “firewood” is often installed for individual laptop components. Experienced experts recommend downloading drivers only from official pages manufacturing companies. On official resources you can easily find Fn key drivers for HP, Sony, LG, Lenovo, Acer, DNS, Toshiba, Dell and many others.
Using Utilities
Sometimes no changes occur even after following the recommendations described here. In this case, special utilities can help. You can find a lot of programs online to enable the Fn key, many of them are available for free.
Thus, Vaio utilities have been developed for Sony devices Control Center and Sony Shared Library, Easy Display Manager is ideal for Samsung devices (usually this program is supplied on disk in the same package with the purchased equipment). On a Toshiba laptop, it is better to install Flash Cards Support Utility or Hotkey Utility.
There is also universal software that will enable the Fn button on any device - this is the Magic Keyboard utility.
Nothing helped? Clean your keyboard!
Perhaps the problem is mechanical damage to the keyboard. Liquid could have been spilled on it (most often it is coffee or tea) or dust could be the culprit. The issue will have to be resolved programmatic method, but by “treatment” from the outside. It is not necessary to take the device to a service center; you can try to fix everything yourself. Each key on the laptop is fixed in its own slot, and if you apply a little effort, you can carefully remove it (just pry it off with a screwdriver). All buttons consist of a lift, a platform and a spring, these three components are connected using a latch. After removing the problem key, clean the pad, then put everything back.
The functions of the Fn button can be easily assigned to other keys that you are not used to using. It's a little unusual, but effective.
If the keyboard has been spilled with tea, the tracks may be damaged - in this case, the equipment will have to be sent to the service department.
OS bit size
It is sometimes also impossible to eliminate a system violation by installing drivers. This happens if the device you purchased is designed for a 64-bit OS, and you installed 32. Such difficulties arise quite often; the issue can only be resolved by re Windows installations to the required version.
Results
As you can see, the Fn button allows you to quickly enable/disable various functions, which means making life much easier, but on some laptops it may not initially function. You can enable the key using several methods: dig around, install a special utility, clean the keyboard, perform the Fn+NumLock combination, or install OS 64x. We are confident that one of the methods presented here will help enable the coveted key. Write which method was most effective in solving your problem.
Why does the fn key not work on an Acer, Compaq, Apple, DELL, Fujitsu, eMachines, Lenovo, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, Bell, LG, MSI, Roverbook, Packard, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, or Toshiba laptop.
All the models described above, although they have some differences, but the reasons why the fn key does not work are almost always the same.
The only exception is in the names of the drivers, although they themselves are not the main source of the problem (stopped or stuck).
So in Samsung it is “Control Center”, in HP “HP Quick Launch Buttons”, ASUS - “ATK Hotkey” and Toshiba - Hotkey utility.
The fn key is only present on laptops. It was created to simplify work (quickly call components).
Using this button you can usually turn on or off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and reduce or increase the screen brightness.
Also turn off altogether, call email, turn on numeric keypad and several more functions depending on the netbook or laptop model.
In general, there are several reasons why the Fn key does not work on a laptop. The controller – “Keyboard Controller” – is responsible for its operation. What can be done to fix the problem.
The first step is to find out the type of damage: mechanical (dust, liquid ingress) or systemic (damage or missing drivers.)
In any case, all the functions that the fn key combination provides with others can be enabled in another way - this is just a matter of convenience.
So, in case of mechanical damage to the fn key. You can find out more details by following the link. In the case of a system violation, we install .
Also keep in mind that there is a possibility that the fn key may not work at all. For example, you bought a laptop designed for a 64-bit system, but installed a 32-bit one. Lately, such problems have arisen frequently. This is especially true for bluetooth operation.
There are no drivers for 32 (86) on the official websites of manufacturers OS and that's it - period!
No matter how much you look, you won’t find it, and you won’t be able to write it yourself either. You have to give up these conveniences or install 64. In laptops: asus, acer, toshiba and samsung this happens often.
Driver for fn key
I would like to particularly focus on the driver for the fn key. If you want to install a new one, and this is often the reason why this button does not work, then download it only for your model and from the manufacturer’s website.
To do this, do the following, go to the website (in the search write: support = laptop name =), indicate the model and go to the page with drivers for the keyboard (controllers). You can even download everything, it won't hurt, you'll just update them.
By the way, there is one unsurpassed way. It always works 100%.
You can also enter the “device manager”, select “keyboard” and if there is a disk with drivers from the manufacturer, update them from there.
There is also the ability to update drivers via the Internet, but this method is not very effective.
The search takes place in the Microsoft database, not the manufacturer's, and usually ends in vain.
Program for the fn key
There is a program available on the Internet for the fn key, Easy Display Manager. I just don't trust them.
I once used such a creation to install latest versions drivers, as a result I had to reinstall the operating system.
The Fn key refers to system components keyboard, utilities (drivers) are responsible for its operation, and only the only ones of its kind (depending on the laptop model).
Therefore, you need to look for them only at the office. manufacturers' websites, only then can the fn key combination with others be resumed.