Wireless keyboard not working with Ubuntu 18.04 Live USB

Question

I created a Live USB with Ubunbtu 18.04 on it so I can look into dual booting on a Windows 10 PC.

When I boot Ubuntu from USB, I can't get my wireless keyboards to work. They both work on Windows, so there is no battery issue. They both use a wireless USB dongle. The wireless mouse with one of them works fine.

I used a wired keyboard to install xserver-xorg-input-all using sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all, but the wireless keyboards still won't work

Is there anything else anyone can suggest that I try ?

Edit:

Output from lsusb is as follows -

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0781:556b SanDisk Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0bda:0129 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5129 Card Reader Controller
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 17ef:60a9 Lenovo 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:0821 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 046e:550f Behavior Tech. Computer Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046e:5411 Behavior Tech. Computer Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The SanDisk device is the Live Usb and Lenovo is the keyboard/mouse. The keyboard/mouse are as supplied with the PC and are Lenovo. My alternative set with the same symptoms is by Microsoft.

Solution 1

Update January 2, 2022

This bug has been fixed according to the bug report: Lenovo Essential Wireless Keyboard doesn't works (Primax Electronics manufacturer) #36 which states:

Julian Alarcon (julian-alarcon) wrote on 2019-09-19: #36

This is finally fixed! I test it in Ubuntu 18.04 kernel: 4.15.0-64, Ubuntu 18.04.3 kernel: 5.0.0-29.

The keyboard and mouse seems to work fine with no issues! I had to disable a workaround used to make it work! https://github.com/y-trudeau/linux_lenovo_ultraslim_plus

Original post

The original post is shown below for historical purposes.

Extensive history to this problem

You are not alone. Someone in Ubuntu forums has reported:

Re: Lenovo Essential Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo doesn't work

I just reported this bug: Lenovo Essential Wireless Keyboard doesn't works (Primax Electronics manufacturer)

The bug is still present in the latest Ubuntu version (18.04 bionic beaver) with stable kernel.

It's also reported by people from Linux Mint, Fedora and others.

• Professional Wireless Keyboard not working on Linux
• Lenovo Essential Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo doesn't work
• Lenovo Professional Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo not working in ubuntu
• Wireless keyboard Lenovo doesn't work properly
• Linux HID driver for Primax wireless keyboards

Possible workarounds

Although the bug has been confirmed by the Ubuntu Team, no one has been assigned to fixing it yet. In the meantime there are two workarounds:

• GitHub - y-trudeau / linux_lenovo_ultraslim_plus
• Linux HID driver for Primax wireless keyboards

Solution 2

If you tried the Lenovo fix from WinEunuuchs2Unix's answer and it did not work, you might want to try this modified fix that I made for another Primax (HP brand) wireless keyboard + mouse combo with similar problems:

https://github.com/JohnJohanssonChalmers/hp_wireless_keyboard

I have seen several reports of these types of problems with Primax keyboards that could not be solved with the Lenovo fix. I suspect that my modified fix might also wok for some non-HP keyboards.

Comments

[David Foerster]

What keyboard model(s) are we talking about? If they're connected through a wireless USB dongle can you please connect it/them, run lsusb and add the output to your question? If it's via Bluetooth can you please add the output of rfkill list? THanks.

[jrtapsell]

If it's USB it really should work out of the box, can you add the VID/PID of the keyboard

[BriteSponge]

@jrtapsell - Can you tell me what you mean by VID/PID of the keyboard ?

[BriteSponge]

@DavidFoerster - One of the keyboard/mouse combos is Microsoft and the other is Lenovo. They both have the same sympton. I'll get the 'lsusb' output and attach to the question shortly.

[jrtapsell]

Vendor ID, Product ID, lsusb should give you them

[BriteSponge]

@xiota - the only other USB devices are the wired keyboard that I need to use temporarily and the live USB I'm using. I can't unplug either of them and still use the system. I've already done the xorg-input-all thing using apt-get, not sure what putting 'aptitude' in there will do.

[BriteSponge]

Although his doesn't solve my problem as it isn't solvable yet it does give me some options to work round the issue. I asked for suggestions for what else to try and this certainly provides some. Thanks.

[BriteSponge]

Thanks. I'll take a look at this tomorrow when I'm at home.

[WinEunuuchs2Unix]

@jkej I've updated my answer and the bug has been fixed. Thanks for linking another possible solution though.