Datalogic QBT2500 types wrong characters: set the keyboard layout

In keyboard mode the QBT2500 types each barcode as if someone pressed the keys. If the scanner and Windows assume different keyboard layouts, letters, digits or symbols come out wrong. This guide shows how to match them for keyboards in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland and Czechia.

Why it happens

The scanner does not send characters. It sends key positions, and by default it uses the US English layout (Country Mode = U.S. Keyboard). Windows then reads those positions with the keyboard layout that is active on the PC. Where the two layouts put a character on different keys, you get the wrong character. On a Czech keyboard, for example, digits can turn into accented letters such as ě or š, and Y and Z swap places.

The fix is to make both sides agree. You have four options: set the scanner's Country Mode to your layout, use ALT mode, switch Windows to the US layout while you scan, or change the same settings in Datalogic Aladdin.

Find your Country Mode

Look up the layout that is active in Windows, then the matching barcode under Setting Country Mode in the QuickScan 2500 Family Product Reference Guide (PRG). Page numbers are the ones printed in the PRG.

The current PRG (Rev. F, December 2025) lists 98 Country Modes. The shorter list in the QBT/QM2500 Quick Reference Guide has only 21 and no Estonian, Latvian or Finnish, so use the PRG. Country Mode applies whenever the scanner types like a keyboard: through the base in the default USB keyboard mode, and when it is paired directly over Bluetooth HID. With an alternate key encoding interface (ALT mode) the scanner ignores it.

Set the Country Mode with barcodes

Link the scanner to its base first, with the base connected by USB in the default USB keyboard mode.

1. Open the PRG at Setting Country Mode (Keyboard Interface chapter) and find your layout in the table above.
2. Scan ENTER/EXIT PROGRAMMING MODE, printed at the top of every Country Mode page. The scanner gives four low beeps and its light keeps blinking while it is in programming mode.
3. Scan the barcode for your layout, for example Estonian. Cover the other barcodes on the page so the scanner reads only the one you want.
4. Scan ENTER/EXIT PROGRAMMING MODE again. One high and four low beeps, followed by the reset beeps, confirm that the setting is saved.
5. Test as described in the last step.

Use ALT mode for other layouts

ALT mode is the fallback when no Country Mode matches your layout. The scanner then types characters as Alt codes (Alt plus digits on the numeric keypad) instead of key positions. Datalogic calls this alternate key encoding.

1. Scan Select USB Alternative Keyboard from the PRG's interface table (the Quick Reference Guide calls it Select USB Alternate Keyboard). Interface barcodes need one scan only, with no ENTER/EXIT barcode.
2. Scan a test barcode in Notepad and in the program you use.
3. If some characters are still wrong, change the ALT Output Type (PRG p. 70): scan ENTER/EXIT PROGRAMMING MODE, the option you want, then ENTER/EXIT PROGRAMMING MODE.

The PRG offers four ALT Output Types: ALT Codepage for programs without Unicode (Datalogic's example is Notepad), ALT Unicode for Unicode programs such as Word (the default), ALT Universal for all programs, and ALT Unicode for Linux. ALT Universal needs a one-time change on the PC: the PRG section Setup on PC to use ALT Universal sets the registry value EnableHexNumpad to 1, followed by a restart. Ask your IT administrator to make it. Datalogic also notes that the scanner may switch between Alt codes and normal key codes by itself to type characters that the selected keyboard does not have.

To return to normal keyboard mode, scan Select USB Standard Keyboard (Quick Reference Guide: Select USB Keyboard).

Paired directly over Bluetooth HID

The PRG's Bluetooth HID Features section says to set the keyboard settings before you connect the scanner to the host: Setting Country Mode, Encoding Type, ALT Output Type, Keyboard Numeric Keypad and Keyboard Send Control Characters. So set the Country Mode first, then pair. If characters are still wrong, the same section has HID Alt Mode = ON (default OFF), which lets the scanner send labels correctly whatever Country Mode is selected. Scan it between two ENTER/EXIT PROGRAMMING MODE barcodes.

Or switch Windows to the US layout

This needs no scanner change. In Windows 11, open Settings › Time & language › Language & region, open the language options of your language and add the US keyboard. Before scanning, switch to it with Win + Space or the language button on the taskbar, and switch back to type. It suits occasional scanning, but people often forget to switch, so a scanner setting is safer for daily work.

Or change the settings in Aladdin

Datalogic Aladdin, the free configuration program from the Datalogic software downloads page, changes the scanner configuration from a PC, including the keyboard settings described here. This is handy when you set up several scanners the same way.

Test the result

1. Open Notepad with your normal Windows layout active.
2. Scan a barcode that contains capital letters, digits and symbols such as - / . The PRG's Sample Barcodes appendix has test codes.
3. Compare the text with the barcode content. If all letters come out in the wrong case, check that Caps Lock is off on the PC.

After a reset, check the layout again: Restore Factory Configuration sets Country Mode back to U.S. Keyboard. Other problems are in QBT2500 troubleshooting. Using a Zebra scanner too? See keyboard layout for the DS2208 and DS2278.