Installing the Russian KU Homophonic keyboard in Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

The Windows operating system provides a keyboard that will allow you to type in Russian, but this keyboard uses the layout of the Russian typewriter keyboard. While many are able to learn to touch type using this different layout, for most students it is easier to use a remapped keyboard on which there are sound correspondences between the Russian and English letters. These keyboards are known as homophonic (meaning "sounds the same") keyboards. The KU homophonic keyboard attempts to reflect sound correspondences when possible, and to map other letters and symbols for ease of typing. For the purpose of illustration, the layouts are provided below:

Keyboard Layouts

Normal State

Shift State

For instructors wishing to include marked stress, we have also included mappings for all stressed vowels. These can be accessed by pressing the desired key while simultaneously holding down the Alt, Ctrl and Shift buttons.

Alt + Ctrl + Shift State

The instructions below will guide you through the process of installing the Russian KU Homophonic keyboard in Windows 7.

1. Windows 7 has a security setting called User Accounts Control. This prevents unknown applications from running without your knowledge. To be able to install the Russian KU Homophonic keyboard, you will need to temporarily turn this off. To do this, open the Control Panel by selecting it from the Start menu.

2. Click on User Accounts in the main Control Panel menu.

3. Click on User Accounts in the User Accounts menu.

4. Click on Change User Account Control settings.

5. Drag the slider down to the bottom to the Never notify option to turn User Account Control off. You will be promted to restart your computer. Please restart before your machine before proceeding to the next step.

6. Download the Russian KU Homophonic Keyboard. A dialog box will appear and ask you what you want to do with the ZIP file. Save the file to your desktop.

7. Right-click on the KU_RU ZIP file and select Extract All...

8. Click Extract to extract the files to a new folder called KU_RU.

9. The KU_RU folder should automatically open. Double click on the KU_RU folder within the KU_RU folder.

10. Double-click on setup to install the keyboard.

11. The installation runs silently in the background and may take several seconds to complete. The following window will be displayed with a successful installation. Click Close to continue.

12. The Russian KU homophonic keyboard was automatically added to the Language Bar during installation. You should now see a button that says EN in the lower right hand corner of your desktop (near the clock).

13. To switch to the Russian KU Homophonic keyboard, click the EN button and select RU Russian (Russia).

14. You should now see a button that says RU. If you need to switch back to English, click on the RU button and select EN English (United States).

15. You will now be able to type using the Russian KU Homophonic keyboard layout. To view the On-Screen Keyboard click the Start button, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Ease of Access, and select On-Screen Keyboard.

16. The Russian KU Homophonic On-Screen Keyboard looks like this:

17. You can pin the On-Screen Keyboard to the Taskbar for easy access. To do this, right click on On-Screen Keyboard in the Start Menu and select Pin to Taskbar.

16. This will place the On-Screen Keyboard icon in the Taskbard where you can quickly access it.