Sorry for the very long post that's about to follow.
I previously got very frustrated and spent a lot of time trying to resolve this problem when I got Win7.
Hopefully some of this post will help you, or someone else.
Yes! This problem is reallly annoying!
Why couldn't Microsoft put that "Turn off advanced text services" option in Windows 7, like they had for XP? :/
I don't know how much of all this will apply to everyone else, as it might be different because I use a UK keyboard, and I don't set my Windows "Default input language" to Japanese -- I use
Microsoft AppLocale instead. (recommended)
Windows XP, IME works perfectly:
- LeftALT + SHIFT = switch language on language bar (EN -> JP -> etc.)
- ALT + ` (UK) / ALT + ~ (US) = toggle Direct Input on/off
- SHIFT + CapsLock = toggle input mode between Alphanumeric <-> Hiragana
- CTRL + CapsLock = switch input mode to Hiragana
- ALT + CapsLock = switch input mode to Katakana
Windows 7, things are VERY different...
- LeftALT + SHIFT = doesn't work, however I use different key combos to switch languages anyway:
LeftALT + SHIFT + 1 = EN (United Kingdom)
LeftALT + SHIFT + 2 = JP (Microsoft IME)
LeftALT + SHIFT + 3 = PL (Polish) - I don't even know why I have that installed...
In FFXI, ALT+SHIFT on it's own won't even switch between EN and PL.
ALT+SHIFT+3 does manage to switch to PL, ALT+SHIFT+1 switches to EN, but ALT+SHIFT+2 still won't switch to JP. :/
* Easy option: Use the mouse to switch the languages on the language bar every time you want to type Japanese.
* Easier option: Just switch the language once and stay on JP, using either ALT+` for English or SHIFT+CapsLock for Romaji.
The problem for me though is that Microsoft IME only uses the US keyboard layout, but I want UK layout.
* Complicated option:
In Text Services and Input Languages (right click language bar and click "Settings...") you likely only have one keyboard listed for Japanese, "Microsoft IME"?
If so, click add "Add...", find and expand "Japanese (Japan)" and add the keyboard: "Japanese"
Go back and click the "Advanced Key Settings" tab, and add a key combo to "Japanese (Japan) - Japanese"
(I choose LeftALT + SHIFT + 4)
Now in FFXI if I press LeftALT+SHIFT+4 it actually switches to JP! However, the keyboard is still on "Japanese" but you need it on "Microsoft IME"...
Luckily, if you change the keyboard to "Microsoft IME" by clicking it once on the language bar it stays on it for some reason! (atleast for me).
So now I can freely switch between EN with LeftALT+SHIFT+1 and JP with LeftALT+SHIFT+4, and it works, even though LeftALT+SHIFT+2 should have done the exact same thing anyway!
- ALT + ` (UK) / ALT + ~ (US) = Doesn't work, but CTRL + ` does work, BUT!... not LeftCTRL only RightCTRL! (very wierd)
- SHIFT + CapsLock = Actually works!
- CTRL + CapsLock = Works also!
- ALT + CapsLock = Doesn't work... neither LeftALT nor RightALT.
Now, not having ALT+CapsLock for Katakana input is pretty annoying, so to fix this too...
In Text Services and Input Languages again, click "Microsoft IME" on the list, and click "Properties..."
Click the "Editing" tab, and for "Key Template:" click the "Advanced..." button.
Here you can assign new key combos or modify existing ones, so you can assign a different combo instead of ALT+CapsLock for Katakana input.
Here's what I assigned to use in FFXI (in the "No Input / String Conversion" column):
CTRL+F1 = IME ON/OFF (Direct Input on/off)
CTRL+F2 = Direct (toggle on/off Half-width Alphanumeric + No Conversion)
CTRL+F3 = ToggleKana (Hiragana -> Full-width Katakana -> Half-width Katakana ->)
CTRL+F4 = ToggleAlpha (Full-width Alphanumeric <-> Half-width Alphanumeric)
CTRL+F5 = Alpha Key
CTRL+F6 = Hiragana Key
CTRL+F7 = Katakana Key
CTRL+F8 = Input Mode (Kanji Input -> Direct Input -> Code Input ->)
Some of these combos are pretty deadly if used outside FFXI, CTRL+F4 for example... I had retype virtually this entire post due to pressing that... ; ;
To OP, if none of that had anything to do with your problem, I might still be able to help :)