WinVNKey

Vietnamese Multilingual Keyboard Driver for Windows

We are proud to announce the latest release of WinVNKey 32-bit versions for Windows NT/2K/XP/2003/Vista/2008 platforms:

WinVNKey 5.5.451 (version 5.5, build 451) - November 26, 2008

Previously Han/Nom support was bundled in every release of WinVNKey. Recently WinVNKey has received large Han/Nom databases, courtesy of Mr. Thanh Son Le and Kiet The Dang. They not only dramatically enhance Han/Nom typing capability but also greatly increase the package size. To better serve individual users with different typing needs, WinVNKey is now released in 8 packages:

Group A:

1. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-with-HanNom.exe (7.5 MB)

2. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-with-HanNom.zip (5.9 MB)

3. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-with-HanNom.rar (5.0 MB)

4. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-with-HanNom.7z (3.8 MB)

Group B:

5. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-without-HanNom.exe (2.4 MB)

6. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-without-HanNom.zip (1.6 MB)

7. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-without-HanNom.rar (1.3 MB)

8. wvnkey5.5.451-winnt-without-HanNom.7z (0.8 MB)

Group A has additional support for typing Han/Nom characters but group B does not. You need to download one package only. Normally, you should download an exe package because it supports automatic installation. However, the automatic installation sometimes fails on certain Windows XP or Vista computers. In this case you can download the corresponding zip package, unzip it, and click on the file winvnkey.exe to run. The rar package is similar to the zip package but its size is just smaller. The 7z package is similar to the zip package but its size is the smallest. Package 7 or 8 can fit easily on a floppy.

Once installation is complete, you can run WinVNKey and browse to the installation directory:

WinVNKey | Run | Open folder | WinVNKey Install Folder

This will bring up Windows Explorer with the right panel showing the installation directory. If you install package 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, you will see a HanNom folder, which contains all Han/Nom databases and subfolders. If you install package 5 or 6 or 7 or 8, you will not see a HanNom folder. That's the only difference between packages 1/2/3/4 and 5/6/7/8.

If you install package 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 and later want Han/Nom support, all you need to do is copy the entire HanNom folder from another installation that has Han/Nom support (i.e., copy from another computer). Or you can download package 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 and install on top of the current installation.

· Please click here for details on this release.

· Please click here for a general introduction to WinVNKey.

I. Features & Bug Fixes

o Fixed DEP bug (Data Execution Prevention). Thus this version should run well on XP and Vista.

o Fixed bug in clipboard method when typing Vietnamese in Pidgin

o Supported lazy word macros to correct spelling for single as well as multi Vietnamese words.

II. Work-around

A. If unable to type Vietnamese diacritics in Notepad/Wordpad

You should be able to type Vietnamese in Notepad and Wordpad with WinVNKey 5.5.451. But in case you find out that you cannot type any Vietnamese diacritics in Notepad (or Wordpad) with WinVNKey on your system, you can try one of the following methods:

Open Windows Explorer and browse to the installation folder. Right click on the file "WinVNKeyNT.exe" and choose: Properties / Compatibility. Then check the box for

[x] Run this program in Compatibility mode for: Windows 2000.

Or replace your Notepad.exe copy with another version that works with WinVNKey. You can certainly use the file Notepad.exe in Windows 2000. Or find another Windows that has Notepad work well with WinVNKey.

First, save your Notepad.exe file. To this end, go to C:\Windows\system32 on your Windows and rename file Notepad.exe to Notepad.exe.saved
Copy Notepad.exe from another machine that works with WinVNKey to your folder C:\Windows\system32. Usually Notepad.exe is located in C:Windows\system32 in other machines as well.

Do the same thing for Wordpad.exe if it does not work with WinVNKey. The file Wordpad.exe is usually found in C:\program Files\Windows NT\Accessories.

B. If WinVNKey cannot run on 32-bit Windows Vista

WinVNKey 5.5.451 should run well on 32-bit Windows Vista. However, if it cannot run on your particular Vista system, you can try one of the following methods:

Open Windows Explorer and browse to the installation folder. Right click on the file "WinVNKeyNT.exe" and choose: Properties / Compatibility. Then check the box for

[x] Run this program in Compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service Pack 2).

Or open Control panel / User Acounts / Turn User Account Control On or Off / Then uncheck the box: Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer.