VirtualBox No backlight on CMSTORM keyboard

This article shows you how to enable the backlight feature (Screen Lock key) on a CMSTORM keyboard.

Environment

1. VirtualBox 5.1.14
2. Ubuntu 16

1. Solution – Quick

To fix it quickly, run the following command in a terminal, and press the “Screen Lock key” again, the backlight should be enabled.

$ xmodmap -e 'add mod3 = Scroll_Lock'

2. Solution – Shell Script + Auto Start

The permanent solution is creating a shell script and set its auto start.

2.1 Create a shell script, and put the following content:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 1
xmodmap -e 'add mod3 = Scroll_Lock'
xset led 3

2.2 Make above shell script executable – chmod +x backlight.sh

$ ls -lsah
total 12K
4.0K drwxr-xr-x  2 mkyong mkyong 4.0K Feb   5 10:24 .
4.0K drwxr-xr-x 17 mkyong mkyong 4.0K Feb   5 10:24 ..
4.0K -rw-r--r--  1 mkyong mkyong   67 Feb   5 10:24 backlight.sh
$ chmod +x backlight.sh 
$ ls -lsah
total 12K
4.0K drwxr-xr-x  2 mkyong mkyong 4.0K Feb   5 10:24 .
4.0K drwxr-xr-x 17 mkyong mkyong 4.0K Feb   5 10:24 ..
4.0K -rwxr-xr-x  1 mkyong mkyong   67 Feb   5 10:24 backlight.sh

2.3 Create a /etc/xdg/autostart/backlight.desktop file and set the above shell script auto start.

$ sudo vim /etc/xdg/autostart/backlight.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Devastator Keyboard Backlight
Exec=/home/mkyong/scripts/backlight.sh
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

Done. Restart VM.

References

1. Xmodmap example
2. xmodmap Hints and Tips