M1 MacBook Pro not recognising external Keyboard until in Recovery Mode

The M-series laptops have a new security feature regarding the USB-C ports.....by default the USB-C ports are "disabled" until you approve the connected device to have access to the laptop. Of course you cannot approve the external wired USB keyboard until you log in & approve it. The external wired USB keyboard is available for the Startup Options screen & Recovery Mode, but not for macOS until you log in and approve the keyboard's use.

You may be able to adjust the USB-C port settings so that the wired external keyboard is available for the login screen, but I am not certain since I have not tried this yet.

FYI, the new M-series USB-C security setting to control this can be found in the Privacy & Security System Settings and is called "Allow accessories to connect". This is just a single line in the "Security section located past the "Privacy" section options & located just before the Filevault setting.

readyeddy wrote:

Using macOS Sonoma I have some possibly faulty keys, my external USB A keyboard is not recognised when the login screen is present. After booting into recovery mode I can enter my password via the external keyboard and have resinstalled OSX.

On rebooting again the external keyboard is not recognised.

I’m using an Apple UBA to USBC adapter that has pass through power and an HDMI adapter so it’s unlikely the power draw of the keyboard is the issue.

I’m looking for a way to enable the external keyboard permanently.

Another quirk here is that the diagnostic utility doesn’t show any issues with the internal keyboard or any of the hardware.

I did run the disc utility but no issues were reported.

if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect the charging cable before booting(?)

...typical for Safe Mode/ or Recovery with external keyboard.

This will make it act as a wired keyboard