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changing Mac OS X's default keyboard layout in the login window
after thinking about a discussion at Slashdot about keyboard layouts, i set myself upon the task of changing the default keyboard layout in OS X login window. besides, after switching to Dvorak, i never did like having to continue using QWERTY just to enter my password and login.
the login window uses the system administrator's keyboard layout (which is QWERTY by default, unless a language other than English was chosen when OS X was installed). in earlier versions of OS X (in Panther, at least), it was possible to change the administrator's keyboard layout by opening System Preferences as root (by typing the command "sudo open /Applications/System\ Preferences.app" in Terminal) and selecting the Dvorak layout in the International panel.
a direct side effect of doing this, of course, is that every user would need to use the newly selected layout to login to their account. that may or may not be a good thing.
well, it turns out that in Tiger (OS X 10.4), there's a new "Show input menu in login window" option listed under Login Options in the Accounts preferences panel. enabling this option puts a little popup menu in the login window under the Apple logo with available keyboard layout.
using Dvorak in OS X's login window
(yes, that's an actual screenshot of the login window.)
so it is possible to use Dvorak in the login window, but this time without using Terminal ~ and changing the default keyboard for every user.
~ Christefano, 13 July 2005
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Anonymous wrote...
One caveat to changing the default in Panther: When you have two different keyboards chosen in the root profile, and US is the default one, you cannot simply select the layout you want to use in International Preferences using the terminal command above. Instead, you need to do the following.
1. Give root a password
2. Change your login preferences to allow you to enter a username and password
3. Login using root
4. If necessary, turn on the display of the input menu
5. Change your default keyboard to Dvorak.
6. Open System Preferences and uncheck the United States layout.
7. Logout and back in as your user
Note: The reason this is necessary, is that when the default keyboard is different from the one you choose in System Preferences, the system will re-enable the default layout. The only way I know to change the default layout is through the Input Menu. However, the Input Menu only changes the layout for the current user, thus the need to login as root.
jojo wrote...
Thanks! this was exactly what I was looking for!