Sony Vario SVF 15A1M2ES - windows 10 installed- Keyboard backlight

[kijg19]

Hi

Please can anyone tell me how to turn off the keyboard backlights on my Sony Vario Model name SVF 151M2ES,   Model Number SVF15AA1QM, which has windows 10 installed.

All of the advice I have seen so far suggests I go to vario control centre and select the keyboard settings , but this option is not available to me here.

many thanks

Jimmy Grinter

[Spendwell · Accepted solution]

Disclaimer - All at your own risk. Backup first.

What you almost certainly have is Control Centre but not the Hotkey Package which includes Control Centre. Without the package the Keyboard backlight control simply will not appear in your control centre menu.

I am not sure if you have "upgraded" or if you have fresh installed.

A good starting point would to do a full back/image up of W10. Then uninstall your existing Control Centre and then run Ccleaner. Then proceed

To get the Keyboard Backlight working you have to have the following two items.

1. Vaio Hot keys (which also installs Control Centre).

2. Shared Library.

Lets do Hot Keys first. If you look at the support page for your model you will see that the HotKeys package is missing from software downloads. That is the bad news. The good news is that Hotkeys has been on version 1.0 forever and is still on version 1.0. So you need to find it somewhere else. I found it on the USA support site. Here:

https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/swu-download.pl?mdl=SVF1421DCXW&upd_id=8632&os_group_id=24https://esu...

This is the exact version that I used and it works in Windows 10. Install it (not in compatibility mode. Just install it) Be patient. Eventually it will say installed so reboot. When you reboot just wait.... it will take you through the same install procedure again!

Eventually it will say install complete. And may ask you to reboot for a second time!! After a few moments it may warn you that you are changing your power/hibernate setting. And are you sure. Say no to that. If you say yes just go into your power plan later and restore defaults.

Now look at your Windows 10 app list. You now have Control Centre. The keyboard backlight control is still missing. That is why you need Shared Library.

The good news is that Sony Shared Library does appear in the software for downloads for your Vaio. Here.

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/content/cnt-dwnl/SVF15A1M2E/list

Halfway down the page. Under windows 8. Just install it as normal. (Not in compatibility mode).

Now go back to your Windows 10 app list and open your new Control Centre. You should now have your Keyboard Backlight Controls. And a control to turn your trackpad on and off.

But wait.......Why would you risk installing Hotkeys for a different Vaio model just because somebody on the Internet says that it is the same version 1.0 software across a large model range? And why would you install a Windows 8 Sony Shared Library on your W10 installation.

Well.......possibly because you don't have much choice if you don't want your Keyboard Backlight glowing for the rest of eternity.

I am sorry to say this but Sony have abandoned you.

You asked for support more than a week ago.

Where is the support??

So you have to adapt. The above procedure is exactly how I got a fully working W10 Control Centre on my own  supported but not supported Vaio Laptop. And my Laptop is also an SVF model.  But this is why you should and must do a full W10 image/backup before proceeding.

One more thing. There is an update for Control Centre (for W10! Wow!) which is just cosmetic I think. You don't have to have it. If you want it post back and I will search for it.

Let me know how you get on.

[kijg19]

Thank you so much for the time and the effort you have put in to responding to my problem. What has happened in the mean time is I contacted the microsoft support team and one of their technicians suggested that I revert my laptop back to an earlier back up point before the problem occured . This he did for me and it solved the keyboard light issue. However, I am going to save your reply , just in case the same thing ever happens again !!!!!

You are correct about Sony not being much help. They suggested that I deleted evrything on my laptop, and reset it back to factory condition - which had windows 8 installed on it  and NOT installing Windows 10 as they said there were so many problems with it I would be better off staying with windows 8 !!!!!  Why roll out windows 10 if its not up to the job and fit for purpose??????? Anyway, once more thank you very much for your reply and I am very pleased to say I am not being blinded by those bright keyboard lights any more ! Cheers Jimmy

[Spendwell]

Thanks Jimmy. You are more than welcome and I am glad you are sorted.

For anyone else finding this thread (or for you in the future) the procedure outlined is how I got the Control Centre fully working on a W10 fresh install on an SVF model Laptop.

I wanted to fresh install. I didn't fancy the over the top Upgrade.

I didn't want any Sony software. None at all! Only the Control Centre to control the Keyboard Backlight.

The 2 bits of software outlined in my previous post are the minimum needed to achieve this.

Lots of people want to fresh install Windows 10. It is frustrating that after 1 year Sony have still not put Windows 10 drivers and software on the support page for many models.(including the SVF models).

[Echo1_apollo]

Hi I am going through the same stuff except I can't install the library on my laptop it doesn't work :/. My model's : SVF15A1C5E. PLEASE HELP I've been at it for almost 2 days now. I am so tired. This is probably the worst experience I've ever had with a software service.

[kijg19]

Sony could not solve the problem for me as I had updated my laptop from win 8 to win 10 .  This upgrade was offered to me when my laptop was brand new and first switched on, so i upgraded it to win 10.  The tool for turning the backlights off was only available on win 8 NOT on win 10, so sony suggested I revert my laptop back to win 8, but when we checked, win 10 had deleted win 8 off my laptop, so it could not be reinstalled. Sony suggested, I sent my laptop off to a contact they gave me the phone number for, and they would completely wipe the laptop and put it back to when it was bought with win 8 installed, but this would cost me. I tried ringing the phone number Sony gave me and the number was unavailable................so I ended up buying a new laptop with win 10 installed and NO back lights on the keyboard. 

[Echo1_apollo]

Man this is such a [edited by moderator to remove asterisked profanity] situation :/. I just brought the laptop recently if it wasn't for this issue I would be fine with it. 

[kijg19]

I spent approx 4 -5  months dealing with Sony and Microsoft support team and wasn't really getting anywhere, so out of frustration and spending hours and hours and hours on to Sony & Microsoft, I decided to just buy a new laptop !!!!! So I had an excellent Sony laptop , but because it now doesnt have all the programs etc that it was sold with, I can't use it any more, quite upset with Sony & microsoft  to be honest. I hope you can sort out your issue. Cheers Jimmy