Plug & Pass · Setup

Getting past the macOS Keyboard Setup Assistant

The first time you plug Plug & Pass into a Mac, macOS wants to identify the new keyboard before it will accept any typing. Here is exactly what is happening and how to clear it — in about a minute.

Why your Mac seems to ignore the device

When any new USB keyboard is connected to a Mac, macOS opens the Keyboard Setup Assistant and ignores every keystroke the keyboard sends until it has been identified. The Assistant asks you to press the key to the right of the left ⇧ Shift, then the key to the left of the right ⇧ Shift.

Plug & Pass has no such keys to press, so it can't answer the way a normal keyboard would — which is why a brand-new device can look like it "does nothing" on a fresh Mac. You only need to clear this once per Mac for each device; macOS remembers the device afterwards.

The fix: the Keyboard Auth macro

Load this short macro onto your device and run it while the Assistant is on screen. It answers the Assistant for you — Continue → Z → / → Done — which identifies the device as a standard US (ANSI) keyboard and closes the check.

# Answers the macOS Keyboard Setup Assistant (identifies as a US keyboard).
DELAY 4000
KEY ENTER
DELAY 1200
KEY Z
DELAY 1500
STRING /
DELAY 1500
KEY ENTER

Step by step

Open the Plug & Pass configurator (get it at plugandpass.com) and open its macro editor.
Set the keyboard layout to US English first (see the note below — this matters).
Paste the macro above, set it to run on the button, and save it to the device.
Plug the device into the Mac. When the Keyboard Setup Assistant appears, press the device's button to run the macro.
The Assistant identifies the keyboard and closes. Re-open the configurator, choose your own keyboard layout, and store your password as usual.

Set the layout to US English before writing this macro. KEY Z is a raw key code, but / is typed as text and only the US/UK layouts put / where macOS expects it. Pick your real layout again when you store your password.

Set it to run on the button so you can fire it with the Assistant already on screen. If the Assistant is slow to appear, raise the first DELAY (it is 4000 ms = 4 seconds).

Prefer to do it by hand?

If your Mac has a built-in keyboard (any laptop) or another USB keyboard attached, you can simply complete the Assistant yourself with that keyboard, or quit it from the menu bar. Once the Assistant is cleared for this device, Plug & Pass will type normally on that Mac from then on.

Two more handy macOS macros

Dismiss the Assistant and type your password in one go. This runs instead of the stored password, so replace the STRING line with your own password (it is typed exactly as written).

# Dismiss the Keyboard Setup Assistant, then type your password.
DELAY 1500
GUI w
DELAY 400
ESC
DELAY 400
STRING type-your-password-here
ENTER

The keys that close the Assistant can vary by macOS version. If it doesn't dismiss, try a longer first DELAY, or add another GUI w / ESC pair.

Approve the "allow accessory / allow files" dialog. Tabs to the Allow button and presses it.

# Approve the macOS "allow accessory / allow files" dialog (Allow).
DELAY 1500
TAB
DELAY 300
SPACE

Tab only reaches dialog buttons when Full Keyboard Access is on (System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard navigation). If Allow is already the highlighted blue default button, a single ENTER works instead — delete the TAB and SPACE lines and use ENTER.

Still stuck?

Nothing happens when you press the button → make sure the macro is saved to run on the button, not on plug-in.
The wrong characters appear → the configurator layout was not US English when you wrote the Keyboard Auth macro. Re-write it with US English selected.
The Assistant reappears → it hadn't finished loading; raise the first DELAY and run it again.

← plugandpass.com · Pro device: pro.plugandpass.com

Keystrokes that dismiss or answer macOS dialogs can vary by macOS version and settings — these are reliable starting points. Nothing here is typed or stored anywhere but on your own device.