Why do Macs ask you to press random keys when connecting a new keyboard? (unsung.aresluna.org)

The article explains that when macOS sets up a new keyboard, it asks you to press specific keys to help determine the keyboard’s physical layout variant (e.g., US/ANSI vs European/ISO vs Japanese/JIS), since keyboards don’t reliably report their exact key positions to the computer. The “random key” prompts work across many regional layouts and differing legends, allowing macOS to place keys correctly and, in some cases like Japanese keyboards, ensure the right characters are produced. Apple’s own keyboards skip the prompt because the system can identify their model layout, while many third-party keyboards don’t provide trustworthy identification data.