Swapping Function (Fn) and Control (Ctrl) Keys on Lenovo ThinkPad W500

The bios swap for the function and ctrl keys is now implemented by Lenovo! If you have a newer Lenovo laptop (mine is a thinkpad x201), you can find the option to switch them under the "configure keyboard and mouse" options. (For my laptop, I access the Bios by pressing the blue "ThinkVantage" button while the computer is booting up).

Apparently the FN key is not handled by the Windows keyboard driver, but rather by drivers developed by Lenovo. Hence remapping of the FN key is impossible by any Windows utility that switches keys, because the Fn key doesn't generate any scan-codes.

Apparently Lenovo is currently considering a modification to the BIOS that will make this possible. See this article: "Switch Mode for Fn/Ctrl Keys".

In conclusion you should (1) regard your BIOS to see if such an option already exists, and if not (2) check the Lenovo site for BIOS upgrades from time to time (just note that BIOS upgrades need to be done very very carefully, since a mistake means bricking your computer).

In the meantime, you can use this solution (just joking):