Disable or Enable The On-screen / Virtual Software keys In Android!

This is for any of you who may want to enable or disable the onscreen / virtual softkeys in Android 4.0 and up. Some ROMs have this feature enabled by default, but not everyone likes it as it does take up some screen real estate. Conversely, some people really like the functionality of the virtual softkeys and may want to enable them.

If you’ve got Android 4.0 or better and you’re rooted, this how-to mod will let you modify it either way.

To Disable or Enable the On-Screen / Virtual Software Keys:

1. Download ES Explorer
2. In ES Explorer settings -> Root settings, tick ‘Root Explorer’, ‘Up to Root’ and ‘Mount File System’
3. Exit settings and tap ‘Up’ in the top row of icons. This will bring you to the root of your file system.
4. Navigate to ‘System’
5. Scroll down until you see ‘build.prop’. Tap it and then tap ‘Open with ES Note Editor’
6. Scroll down until you see ‘qemu.hw.mainkeys=’ or ‘ro.show.navigationbar=”
7. If you see ‘qemu.hw.mainkeys=’, set to 0 (zero) to enable the onscreen / virtual softkeys. Set it to 1 (one) to disable them
8. If you see ‘ro.show.navigationbar=’, set to yes to enable or no to disable (thanks to user iakinthos for this)
9. Tap settings and save
10. Bam you are done. Reset, or

To disable the hardware/capacitance keys:

1. In ES Explorer, navigate to System -> usr -> keylayout
2. Find ‘generic.kl’ and tap it. Choose ‘Open file as text’ and select ‘ES Note Editor’
3. Scroll until you see ‘key 139 menu’ and add ‘#’ in front so you now have ‘#key 139 menu’
4. Now find ‘key 158 back’ and add ‘#’ in front of it as well.
5. Hit ‘settings’ and ‘save’
6. Bam, you are done. Reset.