KB ID 0001441
Problem
I was building some HP blade servers today via iLO, and while trying to install ESX, I reached this stage;
Pressing F11 on a mac just increases the volume, and with the other function keys (F1 to F10) you simply press ‘fn’ and the appropriate F key, and it works properly. But not on a mac, ‘Fn+F11’ just shows you your desktop.
Even changing function keys in the keyboard settings has no effect!
Solution
System Preferences > Mission Control.
Change ‘Show Desktop’ to another key (in this case F13).
Problem solved!