Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 won't work on OS X El Capitan

"Not sure if that still happens in Sierra."

Unfortunately it does, but I can't pinpoint it. Sometimes IntelliType keeps working even after rebooting. This morning, it just stopped working after waking up my device (after locking it yesterday evening). No Sierra Updates were applied in the meanwhile.

Unfortunately it does, but I can't pinpoint it.

If System Integrity Protection is enabled, the IntelliType drivers will randomly stop working. Could go for days or weeks, then all of a sudden not be there on the next startup or restart. The only solution is to disable SIP and reinstall IntelliType. The full solution after that is to leave SIP off. Then the drivers always work. The real solution would be for MS to get off their lazy butts and properly update the installer.

Well that explains it, tx. I guess people bugged MS already to make them aware of this issue 🙂

I read you keep SIP off. I'm wondering if it's very risky, since I read "Do so at your own risk, this is not specifically recommended.". I'm seriously considering it..

I'm wondering if it's very risky,…

More than anything else, it depends on a user's computing habits. Having it off is no different than using Yosemite or earlier. If you're careful about what you download and install, and where you go online, you're likely to never have a problem.

I've been using computers since we bought a brand spankin' new IBM XT clone running DOS 3.1. Through multiple computers and OS's, Windows and Mac, I've only ever seen one virus. My wife was in Windows and clicked on an email through her company's remote email access. It immediately downloaded a nasty self-repairing virus that made a mess of her Windows install. Fortunately, I keep restorable backups of everything and simply saved off necessary documents that hadn't been backed up, restored the clean Win backup and put the personal files back.

Risky behavior begets malware (P2P downloads, torrents, pirated software, etc.). Getting your third party apps from trusted sources, as in the original vendor, and your risk is extremely low. That, and keeping a close eye on your hardware. No computer is safe from direct access. There are always ways to bypass security when you have full control of the machine. The only two that are almost impossible to get past are a firmware password and an encrypted drive.

Your story applies to me as well and I really like this keyboard (I use it at work) but I'm done jumping through hoops and having to think about taking risks.

"The real solution would be for MS to get off their lazy butts and properly update the installer."

I'm waiting for that day to come.. Until then, I'll just use key-combo's instead.

Thanks for all the support!

Until then, I'll just use key-combo's instead.

Yup, you don't need the drivers at all if the only, or most important thing to the user is to switch the keys in the System Preferences so the Command and Option keys are where you expect them to be placed on a Mac. But I quickly found I missed the extra silver keys across the top. I use them a lot.

But I quickly found I missed the extra silver keys across the top. I use them a lot.

Same here.. 😟

To be specific about what I meant by key-combo's: I use 'command+1' now to open the application, where I used the silver 'home'-button before. 'command+2' instead of the 'magifier' etc.. I also mapped some F-keys, instead of the silver 1-5 keys.

See if I can get used to that.

Workarounds are good! I prefer to reinstall every time, though, because I really use those keys, esp. all the assignable top row keys. I always set the Mag Glass button to go to Finder instead of Search, because I go to Finder 100s of times a day. On the 1 thru 5 buttons up top, I put the apps I'm currently working with often. One of them pretty much stays set for a text editor, and another set to Illustrator.

When I work, I do a lot of switching between apps. Constantly doing Cmd Tab becomes painful after a while, so if I'm switching from Finder to Illustrator to a video editor 100 times a day, having a button is less strain on the hands than holding down Cmd Tab. Preventing pain is the whole reason for having this keyboard.

I don't use F keys or Cmd-1-type shortcuts because so many apps that I use already need those keys, and keyboard shortcuts are less stressful in general than mousing around, so I use an app's shortcuts and also customize them when I can so that the most-often-used functions get a keyboard shortcut that's easy on my hands.

Absolutely agree with everything you mention. I love those extra keys. I did try Karabiner and the demo of USB Overdrive to see if I could do without IntelliType. But without the IntelliType .kext driver, none of those keys send a key code back to the OS. Because of that, it's impossible to assign a function to them with either app.

For some reason, my 'special' keys suddenly started working.. (the cleaner hit my keyboard and I saw the "My Favorites Key Settings"-popup the next morning 🙂 ). They still work after rebooting.

But I'm afraid I don't have any specific steps that I took to accomplish that. I didn't recently take any efforts to 'fix/re-install' the drivers. I just keep my OSX up to date. I have IntelliType Pro v8.2.0 (v.305) and System Integrity Protection status is enabled.

More people with that experience?

Ok, the cleaner did it again.. The same happened as on Apr 24, 2017: the cleaner hit my keyboard and I saw the "My Favorites Key Settings"-popup the next morning.

Maybe the fix is 'hitting some random keys while your computer is locked'? 🙂

I'm in exactly the same boat. Curious as to what you might find.

Okay, so I'm away from that computer, but I have found a partial workaround.

The biggest problem for me is the windows/alt keys being reversed. Those can be switched in the keyboard preference pane. So, of course, it will ALSO switch the keys on any mac keyboard you have connected, but for me the command key being in the right place on the ergo keyboard solves 80% of the issue right off.

Now, beyond that, I'm not at my work computer so I can't attest to the other solutions I found. Both are keymap helpers. Besides the command and option keys being fixed, the number keypad is the next biggest thing that needs to operate for me. There is a preference pane called doublecommand. It's at http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/index.html I installed it on my macbook here and it appears to install and work on EL Capitan... though I have no access to the MS keyboard here, so I can't verify completely it's functionality.

The other key-remapper is now an app called Karabiner. https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

Haven't installed it, but my try tomorrow AM in order to get other functions working if I can't get joy from the internal OS X preference pane and Doublecommand. If anyone has success or failure to report, I'd love to hear about it.

Regards,

Bill

Thanks Bill, https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ resolved this issue for me!

An app called Karabiner fixed the issue for me. https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

I used a MS specific section to fix the Windows/Alt Command/Option key problem, though just reversing the keys via the standard Option/Command modifiers area works fine too.

The Number keypad was fixed by a Logitech specific command:

And now everything that I need works for me. Function keys and volume/mute keys, etc. all work. I never used the programmable keys, but I think with Karabiner and event viewer, you could make any and all of it do whatever you'd like.

Best of luck to all of you. I'm back in.

Regards,

Bill