F2 key doesn't rename

Hi all -

I'm happy to have my powerspec b748. I replaced a 10 year old Dell Optiplex so I'm in heaven. My only challenge so far is that on this windows 11 box my f2 key no longer performs a file rename. I've read that I might have to now also press the Fn key and it should work. I don't have a Fn key, and honestly wouldn't want to take up two key press movements where one worked in the past.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my F2 function key to rename files again?

Thank you!

Best Answers

Answers

  • PowerSpec_MikeW
    PowerSpec_MikeW PowerSpec Engineer
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Awesomes 5 Up Votes

    Greetings @xrbbaker,

    Are you using the included keyboard? If not, what keyboard are you using?

  • Yes - I'm using the keyboard that came with the pc. I swapped it out and tried my old keyboard just to check, but same behavior. I feel like the pc is expecting me to utilize a Fn key, which I apparently don't have.

  • fwiw, I just noticed this. If I go into File Manger, select a file, press F2 expecting to be able to Rename, it doesn't work. However if I'm in a xsheet and am on a cell and press F2, it does let me edit the cell.

  • PowerSpec_MikeW
    PowerSpec_MikeW PowerSpec Engineer
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Awesomes 5 Up Votes

    @xrbbaker

    Sounds like something is overriding the behavior in the OS. This wouldn't apply to specific programs. What programs have you installed besides XSheet?

  • Very few: Office 365, Adobe DC, Chrome, Capture NX-d, Freemind, Gimp, Java, Keepass 2 LedgerLive, Malwarebytes, safenet authentication client. All of these were installed on my old machine. Anything look threatening?

  • Well you devil you. Clearly something is gumming things up. I had rebooted a few times. I even had booted to the BIOS system and then gotten totally LOST in the UEFI. Each time I came back to the file explorer I had the same result. f2 failed. Based on your lead, I rebooted and then didn't bring up and application other than file manager. Went to the file in question and bam. f2 worked just fine.

    Given that I think you were right on the money. Something is stepping on that f2 behavior. I never considered that. I 'll have to test the f2 after each time I bring up a new app and see if the behavior changes.

    Thank you so much! I've been d*cking around with this for a few hours and you have solved it! I really appreciate the guidance!!

  • Can we keep this going? I'm seeing something else really strange...


    When I'm in Facebook in Chrome, I start typing something and as soon as I start typing the screen scrolls up and I can't see what I'm typing. Figuring there is something interfering I then rebooted. First thing I open is Chrome. Then FB under Chrome. Same behavior. Again I'm getting some crazy keyboard behavior. How do I track this down?

  • Ok - I figured out the FB issue but don't know how to fix. Because of my ViewSonice hi def monitor, I run my Chrome at 67% magnification. I found that when I'm at 67% as soon as I key something in it scrolls up. If I'm at 75% -100% it doesn't do that. I guess Chrome is just having a baby and misbehaving if I'm at 67%. Didn't have this problem in Win 10 on my old machine. Weird.

  • Cool. Thanks everyone for the support. Can I just say that it is WONDERFUL to have this fast machine?!! Couple of examples...

    1) When I touch the keyboard to wake it up, IT'S AWAKE and ready to go. I don't have to wait 10 minutes for it to wipe the sleep out of its eyes.

    2) No lie - the malwarebytes scan takes about 5 minutes. 5 minutes. On my old machine it ran for 45 minutes and while it did it pegged the disk at 100%. Now Task Manager tells me the disk is at max at 5%.

    3) The coordination between my local/shadow version of google files and the true cloud source is just about instantaneous.

    For an old guy like me this is just magic!

  • PowerSpec_MikeW
    PowerSpec_MikeW PowerSpec Engineer
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Awesomes 5 Up Votes

    @xrbbaker

    I think you're right on here with the magnification issue. This is the browser trying to help you and scroll down as you type, but obviously it's not detecting what's in the visible field correctly. Scroll anchoring is a feature built into Chrome that usually resolves this. Do you have your Scaling in Display Settings set above 100%?

    We appreciate the positive feedback on the B748. All our PowerSpec systems use NVME drives. They operate on the PCIe bus as opposed to SATA. Compared to an HDD operating at up to 150MB/s an SSD on SATA can reach up to 600MB/s. For PCIe depends on the spec and the lanes available on the NVME drive itself. The drive in your system is rated by the manufacturer at 3300MB/s sequential read and 1200MB/s write.

  • For  Scaling in Display Settings if you mean for Windows itself, it is set on 100%. I have the default browser size for Chrome set to 67% - except now I have it at 75% since it seems to choke at 67%.

  • PowerSpec_MikeW
    PowerSpec_MikeW PowerSpec Engineer
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Awesomes 5 Up Votes

    @xrbbaker

    You can try Accessibility - Turn on Navigate Pages with Text Cursor on. Hotkey to toggle it is F7. See if that eliminates the issue on FB.

  • I didn't have any luck with that, but I'm ok with it. Chrome is smart enough to remember to keep the FB tab at 75% when all the rest are 67 so no major inconvenience. Thank you so much. I do appreciate the help!

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