typing Russian with system keyboard tools
layout - standard or
NOTE. Recently there were many complains that one could NOT write in Russian in InternetExplorer - in the text input fields on Web pages.
A user inputs Russian text in a usual way but sees something like this on screen:
..............38B5 G09=8:CThis is not related to Cyrillic tune-up of your computer. It means that a plugin connected to your browser causes such thing.
I have here an instruction where I collect related information and offer some solutions:
Internet Explorer: gibberish on display while typing Russian
This page provides Russian keyboard activation instructions for MS Windows, that is, enabling regular system keyboard tools for Russian via Control Panel.
Also, if you want, it shows you how to use - instead of the standard Russian
Same things for Linux or Macintosh computers are covered on other people pages and I provide the links at the end of this page, in the chapter"Final notes about Russian keyboard usage".
I've made my phonetic layout to be similar to US English keyboard, that is, tried
to keep most Russian letters and other symbols and punctuation marks
on the same places where they are drawn on US English keyboard;
if a person types a lot say in German, s/he may want to change my phonetic layout
The instruction below takes a
As it was described in the very first section -
That is, you should not read this keyboard-related page if you don't know yet
the situation with Cyrillic fonts and different Cyrillic encodings.
Please go to the
Note. If you need to write in Russian, but you are not using your own PC, say you are in an Internet-cafe or in the library, where you can read in Russian (fonts are enabled), but can notwrite - can not use Windows Control Panel to enable regular keyboard tools for Russian, then it's still Ok, there is an easywork-around: you can use special Web page with a Virtual Keyboard where you can input Cyrillic text and then copy it to the place where you need it.
That is, even in that case you should not send a transliteration, latin text such as "privet" or
"schast'ye" orzashhishhajushhixsja :) that will bother the readers of thatmessage - you can send normal Cyrillic text.Virtual Keyboard allows you to input via regular keyboard (though mouse can be used, too)
and - important! - you can type"as at home", choosing, in the menu below the image, same layout (Standard or Phonetic) that you useat home! Such method is offered in the section of my site called
"On-screen Russian keyboard"While in Internet-cafe, you can use a short address of that Virtual Keyboard:
Obviously, it's not as handy as typing with regular Windows keyboard tools, so you should use such special Web page only in such
'corner case' asInternet-cafe or library.That is, if it's your own computer at home or at work, you should spend 20
minutes - one time! - to read the instruction on this page,below - for regular Windows keyboard tools activation via Control Panel.Then, if needed, read here how to replace the standard layout with
phonetic (transliterated) one, and thereafter you will be able to type in Russian in the programs where you need it, without going first to a Web page and then copying the text from there!
Moreover, if you have phonetic keyboard installed via regular Windows keyboard tools mechanism, you will be able to modify it as you wish while the layouts on theOn-screen Keyboard Web page are not modifiable.
This page explains how to activate Russian keyboard support via Control Panel for
the following two Russian encodings:
Most people need to know how to install Windows-1251 keyboard layout for Russian, i.e.
Microsoft's Russian keyboard tools and this page will explain the following for
If you need such thing, then this page explains how to replace that standard MS layout with a custom, phonetic layout.
Here is the picture of the Standard MS Windows keyboard layout for Russian,
made for the countries of the former USSR where keyboards always have Russian letters drawn on them:
If you do not have a keyboard with Russian letters on it and/or you are not familiar at all with that Standard layout, then you cannot easily type without memorizing all the locations of the keys in Russian.
In this case many people use another layout, called
the Russian letters are located where the closest English letters
are:
'O'-'O', 'A'-'A', 'T'-'T', Russian 'Ô' - English 'F', etc.
This page offers such Phonetic keyboard layout for your computer (it will work in "RU" mode instead of Standard layout)
and has step-by-step activation instruction for that.
Windows offers to have several keyboard layouts for one language...
It's easy to get back original stage - to make Standard layout work again with "RU" (covered below).
Here is an example of a Phonetic layout (it's modifiable as explained below):
Note. Your physical keyboard may have different layout of "Enter" button. Then you should find the button shown right above "Enter" on my picture somewhere else on your keyboard.
Important.
I do not offer here any keyboard program that say lets you type in Phonetic mode,
These files work with the built-in
Note, that the majority of Russian letters - 26 of 33 (!) have straight-forward,
So just seven Russian letters has to be assigned to some non-letter keyboard buttons, say 'Ø'
could be assigned to '{' (modifiable, you can change my variant).
The point is that there are ONLY seven such letters and one memorizes their location on a keyboard in just a week of use...
Next chapter is devoted to the activation of the Standard Russian keyboard layout.
You may not need to read such instruction (and thus can skip it) if you have a situation from the following list:
If so then you can skip next chapter and go to one of the following parts of this page:
or if you do not need phonetic layout, then go to
This chapter explains how to activate Windows-own keyboard support for Russian.
Reminder: Microsoft uses for Russian a Windows-1251 encoding,
so when you see a word 'Russian' in keyboard setting screens,
it really means
(on the Web, say in MS Internet Explorer, they call it
Again, this was explained in details in the
Now you can start installing standard Russian keyboard layout offered by Microsoft
(that is, keyboard for the encoding
The steps for the activation of the Standard Russian layout are different for different Windows versions, so please choose:
Windows 95/98/ME and standard Russian keyboard layout
Before a user activates Russian keyboard layout under
It means the installation of
This package contains all needed Cyrillic support files, including the file of Russian keyboard
layout kbdru.kbd, so it becomes available and a user can activate this layout later.
Here is the link to my installation instruction for this package that includes Russian keyboard
layout activation steps, too
(come back here after you've done with that if you need a phonetic
layout for Russian):
Text below explains the same keyboard setup for other versions of
click here to do so.
Windows NT 4.0/2000 and
Important! To be able to add a Microsoft's keyboard layout (say, add Russian to the existing English), you must login toWindows NT 4.0/2000 as a system Administrator(has to have Administrative Privileges).
On home computers it's not an issue - an owner is always anAdministrator :) but at work it is an issue.
For those who are at work - it's NOT a network Administrator's privileges, it's for that specific computer only, thus you can ask your IT person to grant you such Privileges to that computer.
In any case please refer to the system manual or your IT group to understand this Rights issue (it is not related to using Russian, so I can not explain it completely).
Important note for Windows 2000 only.
Before going any further you must (if you did not already do so) activateCyrillic support in yourWindows 2000
(otherwise you wouldn't even see "Russian" in the list of available national keyboards).
Cyrillic support covers not just keyboard stuff, but many other needed things.
Here are the steps:
- Start / Settings / Control Panel
- In the CONTROL PANEL window - double-click on the globe-like
Regional Options icon- In the Regional Options window, in its General tab, see the second frame
Language Settings for the System. - See if you have a box "Cyrillic" checked.
If not, then click on this box to activate Cyrillic support and then click on Apply below right.
You will be asked to insert theWindows 2000 CD-ROM and then therequired files (many files!) will be copied fromthere - including the file of the standard Russian keyboard layout kbdru.dll.If you don't have such CD-ROM you will need to borrow it from
someone (friend, etc.) for this one-time job of activating Cyrillic support (for example, I borrowed it for 10 minutes from our IT person).
If you do not have Windows 2000 CD-ROM, then you are in trouble...
Unlike Windows NT 4.0, it is NOT enough just to copy one file kbdru.dll to your systemfolder - "Russian" still will not appear in the list of national keyboards when you try to add one. Only after you insertWindows 2000 CD-ROM and let the system do all the things, you will be able to choose "Russian" in the list and have it in the top,"Input Locale" field shown on thisscreen-shot and later have"RU"/"Russian" indicator on your taskbar.Without Windows 2000 CD-ROM you have two options - either find a person who has it and borrow it for 10 minutes (I just asked an IT person at work), which is a preferred way that will let you see "Russian" keyboard in the list as shown above and later see "RU" on taskbar,
or
if you cannot get this CD-ROM at all, then you can use mywork-around for Windows 2000 (on a separate page), but it's not pretty...
Here is how to activate standard, Windows-own Russian keyboard layout
under
Important! It's all you need to do. Do NOT make
Russian your "Default" keyboard! First, there is no need to do so,
and second, it brings a huge problem with Login screen
Make sure that you have the option
you will see EN or RU at the right end of the Taskbar.
As instructed, use the combination of buttons
LeftAlt+RightShift
to switch between Russian and English.
Note for NT 4.0 only.
If this file was not found, you will see a pop-up dialog box called"Install from disk", that is, you need to tell the system where this file can be found.
In this case you will need to insertWindows NT 4.0 CD-ROM and go to the folder "i386".
Text below explains the same keyboard setup for other versions of
click here to do so.
Windows XP/2003 and standard Russian keyboard layout
Important! To be able to add a Microsoft's keyboard layout (say, add Russian to the existing English), youcan not login toWindows XP/2003 as a "Guest", you must login at least as "User".On home computers it's not an issue - an owner always has higher than "User" System
Rights - s/he is an Administrator there, but at work you should check/ask how you login to make sure it's not a "Guest" login.For those who are at work - it's NOT a network privileges, it's your System Rights to that specific computer only, thus you can ask your IT person about your Login and how to upgrade it if it's a "Guest" login.
In any case please refer to the system manual or your IT group to understand this Rights issue (it is not related to using Russian, so I can not explain it completely).
Here is how to activate standard, Windows-own Russian keyboard layout in
Important! It's all you need to do. Do NOT make
Russian your
First, there is no need to do so, and second, it may brings a problem
with Login screen
As instructed (click on "Key Settings" button to see the options), use the combination of buttons LeftAlt+RightShift to switch between Russian and English.
Now you have standard Russian keyboard layout active and can use it for typing in Russian.
Text below explains the same keyboard setup for other versions of
click here to do so.
Windows Vista and standard Russian keyboard layout
Important! To be able to add a Microsoft's keyboard layout (say, add Russian to the existing English), youcan not login to Windows as a "Guest", you must login at least as "User".On home computers it's not an issue - an owner always has higher than "User" System
Rights - s/he is an Administrator there, but at work you should check/ask how you login to make sure it's not a "Guest" login.For those who are at work - it's NOT a network privileges, it's your System Rights to that specific computer only, thus you can ask your IT person about your Login and how to upgrade it if it's a "Guest" login.
In any case please refer to the system manual or your IT group to understand this Rights issue (it is not related to using Russian, so I can not explain it completely).
Here is how to activate standard, Windows-own Russian keyboard layout in
Important! It's all you need to do. Do NOT make
Russian your
First, there is no need to do so, and second, it may brings a problem
with Login screen
You can use later combination of buttons LeftAlt+RightShift
to switch between
(You can see that comnination listed if you go to a tab
Now you have standard Russian keyboard layout active and can use it for typing in Russian.
The instructions presented above let you install
Now in your Windows just click on the Taskbar language indicator and you will see 'English' and 'Russian'.
You can then use the key combination Left-Alt+Right-Shift or the
mouse on Taskbar's language indicator,
to switch between
Again, the location of Russian letters in that standard layout is the following:
You can (if you want to) use another layout -
If you do not need such Phonetic keyboard layout, then skip next chapter and go directly to the
"Final notes about Russian keyboard usage" at the bottom of this page.
If you already know what Phonetic layout is and just want to start installing it on your computer, then you can skip the explanations below and go at once to theinstallation details.
My phonetic layout (that is, a variant of positioning Russian letters on the keyboard)
has the following characteristics:
I had to assign a Russian letter to the "+" symbol, but it's not a big dela because people rarely use that symbol while typing Russian (unlike symbol "- which is often used as in a text)
Here is the picture of my phonetic keyboard layout:
Symbol 'number' - ¹ - that a standard Russian layout has,
can be obtained on phonetic layout,
If you want to use your printer to have this picture on paper then visit
Different variants were accepted by different groups of users,
for example, users of then-popular editor ChiWriter used one
variant, users of another
I took as a basis a widely used variant called YaWert.
The name comes from the first few letters in what is the QWERTY
line of the
If you'd like to use a different variant of placing Russian letters, then
you can modify my layout
Optional variants. Ready answer for one frequently asked question.In addition to my main variant of Phonetic layout (see again the image right above), I've prepared two more because they are almost as often used by people as that main one, so such people would not need to spend time modifying my main layout to obtain one of these two also-famous variants:
- 1st additional Phonetic layout (all Windows versions).
If you don't like just one thing in my main variant of Phonetic layout, namely you do NOT like that
Russian 'Æ' is assigned to 'V' and Russian 'Â' is assigned to 'W'
and you would like to have it in the opposite way:'Æ/V' and 'Â/W'
and this is your only wish for this phonetic layout,
then you do NOT need to read the "Modify"chapter - I've prepared2nd variant of my phonetic layout which differs from first one just in that pair of letters assignment and it will be offered in the same place of this page as the main variant.- 2nd additional Phonetic layout (only Windows XP/2003/Vista).
Second widely-used Phonetic layout is called "Student" layout and the letters and symbols there are arranged in the following way:
If it's the Phonetic layout of your choice and you work with modern
Windows XP/2003/Vista then you do NOT need to read the "Modify"chapter - I've prepared this variant and it will be offered in the same place of this page as the main variant.
Below are the instructions for the installation of my phonetic keyboard layout.
Keyboard stuff is kind of system-level stuff, it's Operating System tools and therefore it requires a little bit more effort and knowledge than say making browser to read Russian Web pages, so be patient.
Important! About Windows XP/2000/NT and newer versions.To be able to activate such phonetic keyboard layout for Russian to have it work as "RU" instead of a standard Russian layout, you must login to Windows as a system Administrator
(has to have Administrative Rights). On home computers it's not an issue - an owner is always an
Administrator :-) but at work it is an issue sometimes.
For those who are at work - it's NOT a network Administrator Rights, it's Administrator Rights only to that specific computer, so you can ask your IT person to grant you such Administrative Rights to that computer.
In any case please refer to the system manual or your IT group to understand this"be an Administrator" issue (it is not related to using Russian, so I can not explain it completely).
Let's start the activation of phonetic Russian layout.
First thing you need to do is to check whether Windows considers you a
In the menu of Explorer, go to Folder Options screen:
depending on the version, it's either in
But even for other tasks I think to forbid Windows to hide the extensions is a goodchoice - why let Windows consider you a novice who is afraid to see file extensions? In many cases this default hiding can be evendangerous - you will see 2 files, both will have the same name and you would not know which is which, because the extensions are not shown...
If you have Windows Vista then it's all you need to
my file kbd1251y.KBD
my file kbd1251y.DLL
my files kbdru_y.DLL, kbdru_zh.DLL, student.DLL (3 widely used Phonetic layouts)
Before you download my files, you need to create a new directory(folder) to keep them, for
example,
I have created a single file (.zip archive) for each of the Windows
For your version of Windows this archive file includes
all files necessary for phonetic Russian keyboard layout.
Below are the links to download .zip files and
then it will be explained what to do after the download.
|
To download this archive file, just click on the file name for your
version of Windows Save the file to this newly created Now, download the file for your version of Windows: |
for Windows Vista and XP/2003:
- kbdru_Y.zip - main layout shown above
- kbdru_ZH.zip - 1st additional layout with opposite assignment for 'W' and 'V'
- student.zip - 2nd additional layout shown above
- kbdNT_Y.zip - main Phonetic layout shown above
- kbdNT_ZH.zip - optional layout with opposite assignment for 'W' and 'V'
- kbd95_Y.zip - main layout shown above
- kbd95_ZH.zip - optional layout with opposite assignment for 'W' and 'V'
Now you have my .ZIP with Phonetic layout files inside.
Further instructions are different for different Windows
Here are the steps for a user of
If you already activated Standard layout before, you'd rather remove it to have just Phonetic layout working as "RU":
Control Panel / "Regional and Language Options" -
(under
if you see there that for language "Russian" you have two active
(under Vista you need to click on '+' next to word "Russian" to see active layouts),
then place cursor to "Russian" layout line (which is right above
Click again on the same
it will offer you two
Below - same instruction, same Part 2 as above but for other Windows versions, so users of Windows Vista/2003/XP can skip that part and go to the next chapter of this page. Your choice:
or if you don't need such information, then go to the last chapter of this page:
Instructions below are using layout file name kbdXX_y in the text, but it's the same for the file kbdXX_zh of the 2nd variant with opposite assignment for 'W' and 'V'.
NOTE: If the browser instead begins to display the contents of this file on the screen, then try to download it again, but this time hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard while clicking on that file.
After downloading the archive (.zip file), you need to
You can extract files from the archive using the shareware
program
Note. If you use a multifunctional archive program such as WinZip or WinRAR, you MUST use it ONLY to Extract files from archive and not for any other installation steps listed in the next section.
If you don't have PKUNZIP, you can download it here:
pkunzip.exe.
Put it into the folder called Windows (or WinNT),
that is, into the main
To extract files from the archive using pkunzip program,
open an MS-DOS window first and then type two
C:\.....> cd \RUS-Y
C:\RUS-Y > pkunzip KBD95_Y.zip
C:\.....> cd \RUS-Y
C:\RUS-Y > pkunzip KBDNT_Y.zip
Now if you call your file manager program - Windows Explorer
(called by holding a button with windows on it and pressing 'E'),
you should see, in that
Next steps should be done using your file manager - Windows Explorer.
copying the layout file to a system folder and registering it as "RU"
Instructions below are using layout file name kbdXX_y in the text, but it's the same for the file kbdXX_zh of 2nd variant with opposite assignment for 'W' and 'V'.
After you unzipped the archive (i.e. extract the files kept within the archive),
you should see three files in that
The phonetic layout that I implemented is often called YaWERT
(if you look at its picture above, you'll see why - it's Russian letters on first five buttons)
and thus I selected the following name for my
Example. Windows 95. Under
So you need to copy my layout file from
Example. Under
So you need to copy my layout file from
I created special files that register my phonetic layout in the
Windows Registry as
I am not replacing the existing Microsoft layout file kbdru
with my version, or altering the system files on your computer. My
instruction only registers my own layout file kbd1251y as Russian, a process
which is readily reversible.
This decision (avoid altering system files) that
I made couple years ago while creating my first phonetic keyboard layout, is even more beneficial now,
in
After installing my layout you'll see that "RU" on the Taskbar will activate
my phonetic layout and not the standard one.
Note. I also provide (in the next chapter) a way to reverse, undo that and register original Microsoft layout file kbdru again as "Russian", so "RU" on Taskbar will activate that standard layout as it was initially.
Here is what you need to do with my Phonetic registration files:
Windows 95/98/ME
Now "RU" on Taskbar will invoke my phonetic keyboard layout!
Windows 2000/NT
Now "RU" on Taskbar will invoke my phonetic keyboard layout!
Windows 95/98/ME
Now "RU" on Taskbar will invoke the standard Microsoft keyboard layout for Russian.
Windows 2000/NT
Now "RU" on Taskbar will invoke the standard Microsoft keyboard layout for Russian.
As I mentioned above, I did not personally design this variant of placing Russian letters on the keyboard, I just took as a basis the widely used (for years) variant called YaWERT.
If you are not satisfied with my placement of the Russian letters on the keyboard, then you can modify my phonetic layout.
This is my instructional page for such modification, it's on a separate page:
You have now active Russian keyboard layout.
You also should already have Russian fonts (as I explained at the beginning
of this keyboard-related page that fonts needs to be installed before
you start playing with keyboard).
Having both Fonts and Keyboard ready, you can start typing in Russian!
Important.
Some text editors and all older software(for example, MS Word 6) require 2 steps to type in Russian:New, Unicode-based programs (MS Word 97/2000, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Netscape/Mozilla, etc.) do not require
- Select the appropriate Cyrillic font from the fonts list
- Switch keyboard to Russian mode
Step 1 - selecting a font, if you use a Unicode font (which is the preferred way of working with these programs).
Unicode font is a very large font and contains letters of many different alphabets, including Western European, Russian, Greek, etc. It was explained in details in my Fonts and Encodings section mentioned at the beginning of this page.These modern programs use a new approach for typing that is based on the language of the keyboard (non-Unicode programs require a user to choose a
national font first).
If you work with a Unicode font such as "Arial" or"Times New Roman" then these modern Unicode-based applications let you input your own text as follows:
- you do not select a Russian font in the fonts list. For example, in
Word 97 you see just "Arial" in the fonts window (you do not see its parts such as"Arial (Cyrillic)" as it was inWord 6 )
- instead, you just switch the keyboard mode to
Russian ('RU'). Based on the selected keyboard mode, these Unicode applications use the
corresponding part of this large, multi-lingual Unicode font, that is, Cyrillic part of this large font will be used when you type and thus you will see a Russian text on the screen.It's even more obvious in MS Internet Explorer or
Netscape - you don't see any font window at all, you just switch the keyboard to Russian and start typing.
If you need to write in Russian, but you are not using your own PC, say
you are in an Internet-cafe or in the library, where you can read in Russian (fonts are enabled),
but can not
you can use special Web page with a Virtual Keyboard where you can input Cyrillic text and then copy it to the place where you need it.
That is, even in that case you should not send a transliteration, latin text such as
"privet" or
Virtual Keyboard allows you to input via regular keyboard (though mouse can be used, too)
Such method is offered in the section of my site called
"On-screen Russian keyboard"
While in Internet-cafe, you can use a short address of that Virtual Keyboard:
Obviously, it's not as handy as typing with regular Windows keyboard
tools, so you should use such special Web page only in such
Mac and Unix (Linux, Solaris,...) - How to type in Russian
Unix:
Macintosh:
End of the chapter "Final notes about Russian keyboard usage"
Note:
I have separate pages with keyboard instructions for these rarely needed scenarios:
Why it's a rare case? Because it's required only for some older software, for example,
Why? The reason is explained in details
in the
So nowadays almost noone needs
(I used this page's methods to set up Netscape 3.)