virtual key code (n)~ A symbolic constant name hexadecimal value or mouse or keyboard equivalent that provides a hardware and language-independent method of identifying keyboard keys. Each virtual key code represents a unique keyboard key and also identifies the purpose of that key. The keyboard driver must provide one or more keyboard layouts that maps keyboard scan codes to the appropriate virtual key codes. virtual LAN (n)~ A logical grouping of hosts on one or more local area networks (LANs) that allows communication to occur between hosts as if they were on the same physical LAN.