Ubuntu – Wireless keyboard not working with Ubuntu 18.04 Live USB

keyboardmouseusb

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.

Best Answer

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: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1771431

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.

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:

Original forum post content is above, with links edited in and autocompleted where the SE system automatically resolves Ask Ubuntu question links; the bullet points were added for readability.