No keyboard light on startup? STILL?

Question

Level 1

34 points

No keyboard light on startup? STILL?

I have had a new Macbook. I know that back in the day if you had FileVault turned on, the keyboard light wouldn't come on until after login.

But frustratingly this still seems to be the case on the latest Macs and OS. As someone with visual accessibility needs, trying to enter my login password, on an unlit black keyboard, during the evening, can be very hard.

Other than turning off FileVault, is there any other way to have the keyboard light up on boot/startup?

Thanks

MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023)

Posted on Mar 19, 2023 2:27 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dialabrain

Level 10

136,121 points

Mar 19, 2023 3:03 AM in response to popsynic

popsynic wrote:

Other than turning off FileVault, is there any other way to have the keyboard light up on boot/startup?

No sorry. With FileVault enabled no part of macOS is accessible before your enter the password. It's been true for at least 10 years and is not going to change.

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Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

103,039 points

Mar 19, 2023 2:41 AM in response to popsynic

I do not use FileVault on a M2 MBA running Ventura 13.2.1 - for context

The keyboard will light up immediately on opening the Lid ( joys of Auto Launch on newer computers )

Not sure what a workaround would be in your computer circumstances though.

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Answer 3

popsynic Author

Level 1

34 points

Mar 25, 2023 2:22 AM in response to Owl-53

Thank you. The solution I have come up with for now is shining my iPhone torch onto my keyboard while I log in with one hand. Not the most sophisticated way to log in, but does the trick.

A shame though, I have to compromise my security needs over my accessibility needs, if I want to see my keyboard when logging in. :)

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