Razer Switchblade SBUI unofficial support 2017

Hardware
#1

Recently I got the last Razer Deathstalker Ultimate despite issues reported by users. It is the last of it’s kind since Razer no longer produces or supports updates for it. I faced the same issues but with some trial and error I got things working perfectly. I hope this can help others.

Razer Deathstalker Ultimate comes with Switchblade UI. It was released in 2012 and two other products had this same feature, Razer Blade and Razer SWTOR ultimate edition. This is what it looks like

Revolutionary and only one of it’s kind, it had to face a bunch of software issues in the early days, Win 8 was just released that added to the problems. It was stable after a few updates. Unfortunately it may not have taken off so Razer moved on.

Note: I am on Win 8.1 64 bit. YMMV

Problems

  1. People reported problems with booting PC as it would not recognize this keyboard on USB 3.0. They had to enable some BIOS settings to get past it. I did not have those problems though I also have USB 2.0 ports, I am using USB 3

  2. The top 10 keys are called Dynamic Tactile keys. lets just call it dtk Reported problems say that it blacks out or becomes blank at some point right after installing the keyboard drivers or sometimes before that. This happened to me. I installed Razer Synapse 2.0 and it started installing the drivers etc. During which time Norton went bonkers and started removing files downloaded by Synapse. I think that could be one of the issues. But lets move on.

  3. Weird or buggy behaviour of dtk and touchscreen failing to work or go wonky

  4. In Synapse , the Apps link does not work. so you cant launch the App manager.

  5. Others.

Solution

INSTALLATION

Before you start installing Synpase 2.0 or attaching the SBUI keyboard, disable the Auto protection for atleast 15 mins. Hopefully your AV can remain disabled across the reboot. After installation and when AV comes back ON it might report false detection. Remember to Restore as well as Exclude from future detection. If you don’t do this right. You have to uninstall Synpase 2.0 and all drivers, reboot and reinstall.

After reboot, things may not work. But that’s ok. Exit Synapse. Check your Task manager and End process any Razer software that may be running, look for the icons of Razer. There can be a few. one is called RzApps or something, kill that too.

Now head over to C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\SwitchBlade\RzAppletManager in your windows explorer. There you will see a file called RzAppletManager.

TASK: Dont click it. Right click and select properties. Then go to Compatibility Tab and check the box Run this program as administrator and Apply , close this window.

Do the same TASK as above quote now for C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Synapse for file RzSynapse.exe

Make sure you got the right files.

You’re done. You don’t have to reboot, you can launch Synapse2.0. If your SBUI dtk or screen is not working then in Synapse select the Apps link. it will launch and ask you to Terminate running application in SBUI. Click ok. At this point your SBUI should start working correctly if it hasn’t already.

Tip Hit the Razer icon key on the regular keyboard once and wait a few seconds if you see no activity. You might have to do it a couple of times but always do it with some time in between so it can reset.

Now configure your keys as you like! Drop some apps on to the page on the right in the App Manager, download a few apps.

Sidenote on App Manager: Sometimes you will notice that even after adding icons you can’t see anything in dtk. You are probably on a different page and your SBUI is on a different page. Keep adding some icons in every Page of the App Manager and select Apply. You will eventually figure out which page you’re on. To flip the page use the 3 Finger Swipe

General troubleshooting

  • space for future use

FAQ

  • Space for future use

Using the SDK

  • coming soon

If I get time i will add videos unless someone asks then I can do a specific one.