Wireless keyboard not working with Ubuntu 18.04 Live USB

Extensive history to this problem

You are not alone. Someone in Ubuntu forums has reported:

Re: Lenovo Essential Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo doesn't work

I just reported this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1771431

The bug is still present in the latest Ubuntu version (18.04 bionic beaver) with stable kernel.

It's also reported by people from Linux Mint, Fedora and others.

  • https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Linux-Discussion/Professional-Wireless-Keyboard-not-working-on-Linux/td-p/3726486
  • https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2378862
  • Lenovo Professional Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo not working in ubuntu
  • https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=260093&sid=20a073d5dd8abb1b7f23be608d7fdfd7
  • https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/377830/linux-hid-driver-for-primax-wireless-keyboards/

Possible workarounds

Although the bug has been confirmed by the Ubuntu Team, no one has been assigned to fixing it yet. In the meantime there are two workarounds:

  • https://github.com/y-trudeau/linux_lenovo_ultraslim_plus
  • https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/402288/200094

Original forum post content is above, with links edited in and autocompleted where the SE system automatically resolves Ask Ubuntu question links; the bullet points were added for readability.