How to stop OS X from switching input method (keyboard layout) automatically?

Question

After using the wireless keyboard that comes with the iMac, I have switched to a MS Ergo Natural 4000 one. Surprisingly I had to install extra software as OS X could not work out which keyboard I had.

After which I went into sys prefs and set the main input method to be "British - Microsoft" first and "Swiss German" second (what the wireless keyboard is), on the "input sources" tab:

However... OS X keeps resetting my input method back to Swiss German which is driving me bananas.

I have the flag thingy top right so I can see when this changes.

N.B. I have "input source options" set to "use the same one in all documents" which I am assuming means keep the language the same for anything running.

It also flips back on the login page.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Answer 1

The MS layout for the keyboard on OSX sucks

Use this layout instead http://liyang.hu/osx-british.xhtml

Seems to work

Answer 2

If the system is switching language without you asking to do so, it means that the current input source somehow becomes unavailable. This can happen if you are using a custom input source (put under ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts) and then lock your screen. The lock screen is owned by the system and thus does not have access to your custom layouts, only the system-wide ones. The current source being unavailable, it will automatically revert to another one.

To resolve this issue, ensure that your custom keyboard layout is put under /Library and not /Users/You/Libary. After moving the file, remove the input source from the list, reboot and then put it back again.

Answer 3

One possibility that I had in a similar case is that you are hitting the keyboard shortcut to switch input sources.

In Snow Leopard preferences, the default to select the previous input source is Command-Space. In your screen capture of the Language & Text preferences you can see that this shortcut is active (the other shortcut, to select the next input source, is inactive in that screen capture):

It's a bit odd^† that Command-Space is used, as that is also used for Spotlight. But if a shortcut is assigned multiple times, then Snow Leopard would show a warning, which your screen capture does not show. So, Command-Space won't activate Spotlight on your Mac:

^{† From Apple support: Command-Space: Show or hide the Spotlight search field (if multiple languages are installed, may rotate through enabled script systems)}