Hello,

Is there an oficial response for this question ? 

I have google several anwsers but no conclusion about if it is possible or not.

I would like to have it always ON is this possible ?

Best Regards.

It's not possible, at least on Windows. Some Debian users reported, that it's possible to save backlit setting, so it would be restored after every reboot. More information in topic below:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Keeping-keyboard-backlit-ALWAYS-ON-on-X270/td-p/3791818

EDIT: It seems, that somebody made a script for Windows 8/10, which changes the way how backlit works. It may or may not work on your laptop:

https://github.com/ligius-/lenovo-backlight-control

Hi Kacperas,

indeed it worked for me very well by adapting ligius_ script and tool (https://github.com/ligius-/lenovo-backlight-control/releases) on my maschine (Win10, ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5th SN# 20HRCTO1WW with Lenovo Vantage App). If you are able to understand German, please visit https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/tp02_de/message-id/4628. Briefly you just need to change the path to the lenovo driver 

Keyboard_Core.dll

on your machine, which is defined in the AutoHotkey script. Open the file with notepad and search for the path. For me it was enough to change it to

C:\ProgramData\Lenovo\ImController\Plugins\ThinkKeyboardPlugin\x86\Keyboard_Core.dll

Save the thinkpadlightv01.exe in same dir as the ahk script file and place a shortcut to the script in your windows  startup folder.

Thanks for the hint!

Ruffy

Ruffy,

I too have a new Lenovo P51.  I'm not a programmer and really don't understand the script.  After installing autohotkey, I have tried changing the script for the target .dll, but still no joy.  Could you possiblly PM me with the script you are using?

Thanks a bunch

Ruffy,

Thanks a bunch, I finally got it.  My problem wasn't the script itself.  I had the AHK file set to open with notepad as default from when I had edited the script to point to the target .DLL...  After changing that to Autohotkey everything works GREAT!...  I really appreciate you're help and that of everyone with a special thank you to Ligius.

Hey all,

I would like to post my recent version of the .ahk scipt here, since I've introduced a small update. It includes the capability to toggle and keep the backlight setting during the OS session. there is also has a .bat inlcuded, which kills the tposd.exe service which handles pop ups while changing backlight level (which is done automatically).

The HotKey is set to [Ctrl]+ [Space] which toggels between level 0, 1 and 2 of the backlight.

greets Ruffy

; Ligius (2017) - try to make the Thinkpad keyboard backlight behave more like a normal one
; Ruffy (2018) - adaption to work on Win10 with Lenovo vantage app
; To deactivate "Lenovo OnScreenDisplay Service" (status display for backlight keyboard, microphone, Fn lock) prevent execution of "C:\Program Files\Lenovo\HOTKEY\tposd.exe" 
; by (auto)starting (WIN + R: shell:startup) a short cut (minimized) to the following "killtposd.bat":
; @ECHO OFF
; TASKKILL /IM tposd.exe

global START_WITH_BACKLIGHT := 1 ; set to 1 if you want backlight on startup, 0 otherwise
global BACKLIGHT_LEVEL := 2 ; set to 0 for no backlight, 1 for the first (dim level), 2 for the brightest level
global IDLE_DURATION := 20000 ; after how many milliseconds of inactivity the light should turn off
global POLLING_PERIOD := 1000 ; how often (ms) should the program check for inactivity; lower turns backlight on faster but drains cpu


; TODO: make the backlight wake up after screen off, Ruffy, done.

;#InstallKeybdHook
;#InstallMouseHook
;SetTimer, Check, POLLING_PERIOD
;return

global wasOn := 0
setBacklight(START_WITH_BACKLIGHT ? BACKLIGHT_LEVEL : 0) ; if "START_WITH_BACKLIGHT" is "true" than (?) setBacklight = BACKLIGHT_LEVEL else setBacklight = 0 

; https://a   utohotkey.com/board/topic/94002-send-escape-key-after-idle-time/
#SingleInstance Force
#Persistent
SetTimer, Check, % POLLING_PERIOD         ;set the timer to POLLING_PERIOD
return

; timer check
Check:
If (A_TimeIdle>=IDLE_DURATION)
{
  setBacklight(0)
  ; SetTimer, Check, Off ; for testing purposes
}
else
{
  setBacklight(1)
}
return

; set backlight on or off
setBacklight(isOn)
{
  ; do not call backlight program if level is already set
  if (wasOn != isOn){
    wasOn := isOn
    level := isOn ? BACKLIGHT_LEVEL : 0
    Run, thinkpadlightv01.exe "C:\ProgramData\Lenovo\ImController\Plugins\ThinkKeyboardPlugin\x86\Keyboard_Core.dll" %level% , , Hide
  }
}

; ------------------Ruffy, 2018-06-10, Script to toggle and set BACKLIGHT_LEVEL permanently during OS session

^Space:: 							; hotkey "Ctrl + Space" to toggle global var "BACKLIGHT_LEVEL" between 0; 1; 2
if (BACKLIGHT_LEVEL = "2"){ 					; if (BACKLIGHT_LEVEL is "2") 
    BACKLIGHT_LEVEL := "0"					; then set "BACKLIGHT_LEVEL" to "0"
    wasOn := isOn    						; turn OFF immediately by writing BACKLIGHT_LEVEL to Keyboard_Core.dll
    level := isOn ? BACKLIGHT_LEVEL : 0
    Run, thinkpadlightv01.exe "C:\ProgramData\Lenovo\ImController\Plugins\ThinkKeyboardPlugin\x86\Keyboard_Core.dll" %level% , , Hide
    } 						
else 								; else ..
    {BACKLIGHT_LEVEL := BACKLIGHT_LEVEL + 1 			; add integer "1" to "BACKLIGHT_LEVEL"
    wasOn := isOn						; and turn ON immediately by writing BACKLIGHT_LEVEL to Keyboard_Core.dll
    level := isOn ? BACKLIGHT_LEVEL : 0
    Run, thinkpadlightv01.exe "C:\ProgramData\Lenovo\ImController\Plugins\ThinkKeyboardPlugin\x86\Keyboard_Core.dll" %level% , , Hide
    } 
;  msgbox, 0, , Backlight is set to %BACKLIGHT_LEVEL%, 1 	; shows value of "BACKLIGHT_LEVEL" in msgbox, timeout 1 sec, for setup und trouble shooting
  return
 
; ------------------Ruffy, 2018-06-10, Script to toggle and set BACKLIGHT_LEVEL permanently during OS session

This is amazing, works perfectly on my X1 Carbon 6th. Was trying to get this working for days. Much appreciated!

I can't find a keyboard_core.dll on my Lenovo X1 Carbon 6th Gen.  Where do I get it?

On my X1C 6th it is in: c:\ProgramData\Lenovo\ImController\Plugins\ThinkKeyboardPlugin\x86

Ruffy, HELP!

For some reason I keep getting that charm appearing again.  I have renamed tposd.exe in the lenovo hotkey folder.  That worked for a long time but all of a sudden it was there again.  It drives me crazy.  I've tried to rename the same file in windows store folder but no matter how hard I try it's no joy.  Even after I have taken ownership nothing just won't let me get there.  ANY SUGGESTIONS???

Moderator comment: Post edited to conform with the Community Rules. Keep it clean.