Input source language keeps changing on Mac OS X 10.9.4

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Show Info in Finder (or just Show Info)

from the contextual menu.* An Info dialog should open.

☞ Does the dialog show "You can read and write" in the Sharing & Permissions section?

☞ In the General section, is the box labeled Locked checked?

☞ What is the Modified date?

If you don't have read and write access to the item, change the settings as directed here. Note, however, that if one file has wrong access settings, most likely others do as well. If the item is locked, unlock it.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

Remove US from the list of active input sources and test. You can easily put it back after the test.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Step 1

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

Create a new account in the Users & Groups preference pane, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Step 2

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

What were the login items?

The last sounds most likely.

Hi.

I do have the same problem as gaeluirbeach with Mavericks 10.9.4 on my MacBookPro : each time we come to the starting window (the one where we choose among the users accounts for opening a session), the language is by default French of France instead of French Canadian (CSA).

As you probably know, the keyboard in Canada is a QWERTY one, which isn't the case in France. So we have to change the keyboard attribution before logging.
This bug never happened with previous versions of Mavericks, nor with previous systems; it doesn't happen neither on my iMac (with Mavericks 10.9.4).
For sure, we made localizations on each account through the System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Advanced, to have Canada measurements, etc. as environment.

Bizarrely, this wrong by default choice of keyboard at starting up does not occur when starting with alt-key ; the logging is then interpreted correctly as being coded on by a CSA keyboard (because it works) and after opening the safety Mavericks partition, the CSA icon keyboard appears in the menu bar (along with the USA keyboard as the other favorite one). I chose Utility Disk and made disk and permissions reparations, but the bug still remains when I restart the MacBookPro (without alt-key).

So I followed the steps described above by Linc Davis (mainly suppressing items activated when opening a session) but the bug still remains.

Thanks for reading and help.

I've seen a few other reports like yours. It seems to be a bug.

Can't hurt.