USB Keyboard Plugged into Monitor Often Doesn't Work

This is strange, and it's also strange that this has been going on for years. At my office, many of the desks have thunderbolt displays and we take our laptops but not necessarily the monitor when we move desks. I didn't have this problem with the first monitor in this office, but I've been having it on a daily basis since moving to a new desk with a different (although supposedly identical) Thunderbolt monitor. Perhaps it's a manufacturing defect with some of the monitors (or some of the keyboards).

Same here. MBP late 2013, "old" Apple Cinema Display AND fix with USB extension works like a charm.

Thank you guys for figuring out this workaround!

Yep, thanks, Dell Monitor with the extension cables makes keyboard work!

Thank you, this post/advise totally restored my usb ports on my Apple display monitor

I have found that the only time my Apple Extended Keyboard won't work properly when plugged into any Mac running any OS is when "Mouse Keys" are enabled. The Mouse Keys (accessibility feature) effectively hijack the 10-key keypad to turn the keys into pointer direction points. It's mighty handy in certain circumstances but I find myself going to the keypad way too often in the normal course of business to allow Mouse Keys to have full reign. SO, if you extended keyboard isn't working properly (you can't use the 10-key pad, chiefly), go to System Preferences/Accessibility/Mouse & Trackpad and make sure "Enable Mouse Keys" is unchecked. Then click the Keyboard button just above Mouse & Trackpad and click Open Keyboard Preferences. Select "Change Keyboard Type" in lower left corner and follow the prompts. With your keyboard plugged into a USB port on any Mac (desktop or portable), any OS. I've been working on Mac for 28 years and have ALWAYS upgraded to the extended keyboard; I've never had issues with it working or not, until someone turned on Mouse Keys. 🙂 Hope that helps and that it's not too ridiculously late.

This worked for me too

+1 happens to me as well. Minor bug but consistent annoyance.

Had this problem too, all Apple hardware (brand new MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid 2015; brand new 27-inch thunderbolt, new apple keyboard, Magic Mouse over bluetooth).

Using the keyboard extension cable solved the problem for me.

I fought this issue for many months (Mac Book Pro, Retina 15; Thunderbolt 27"). I was constantly unplugging and replugging my keyboard from my Thunderbolt monitor in order to get it to recognize the keyboard.

One day, I picked up an Anker 4 port USB hub (Amazon item# B00IJ331WY). I plugged that into my Thunderbolt USB port and my keyboard into the Anker USB hub. From then on, no more keyboard connection issues.

So, I'm sure this is similar to the USB extension fix others have mentioned. (Note that I did have a really short USB extender that came with the keyboard, but it did not fix the problem.)

So 4 years and 8 pages of replies later and the solution is go buy a USB cable extension so you can use your brand new keyboard on a brand new thunderbolt display connected to a brand new $2000+ apple laptop?

Does apple monitor these forms? I can't believe there isn't a bug logged/software solution for this.

I have a Topre Realforce keyboard, and on mine, my keyboard would stop working if I used it to wake up my MBP. I'd have to unplug it plug it back into the Display. I wasn't sure if the extension cable trick would work with me, since I have a different keyboard from everyone else here, but sure enough, it worked!

I wonder if it's an inductance issue, or a resistance issue. I'm tempted to go buy a ferrite clip to see if that works just as well as the extension cable.