Meet Justin. Justin is a freakin idiot! Justin ran in to issues with his desktop, and decided to do a fresh install of Windows, while forgetting that once the process started, everything would be wiped, including the connection to his bluetooth keyboard. Now, Justin gets to wait on his fiance to bring over a USB keyboard because he hasn't used a USB keyboard in a very long time. Trust me, you don't wanna be like Justin. Justin is an idiot!
Goodness gracious y'all, I didn't even think about that until the computer had already started the process. I even tried using an old USB C android keyboard case, with a USB C to A adapter to see if maybe, just maybe, it would work. Nope. So now I get to wait a couple of hours, meanwhile the pc just sits there doing who knows what, as that USB C keyboard case kept making the pc shut itself off. So did the install continue once it was powered back on? Is it sitting at some boot screen? No idea! The USB C keyboard case was worth a shot, but no luck.
Comments
update
Soooo, actually the keyboard case did end up working. But had to plug it in to one of the back ports not one of the front ones. Go figure. But at least we're off to the races.
Re: Windows and Bluetooth keyboards.
I thought Windows was supposed to automatically pick them up now, like the Mac does? I was pretty skeptical of Bluetooth keyboards myself but once you pair the Mac just seems to pick them up right from boot. I thought later versions of Windows, 11 definitely, were supposed to do the same thing.
Backups
This is yet another reason to make regular backups of your system!
I use the program Image for Windows to make backups of my system every few days. Image for Windows is very accessible with a sdreen reader.
It will enable you not only to backup certain folders, but more importantly (and useful), it enables you to make an image disk. They also have instructions for making a bootable and talking USB drive. That way if you do crash your system, you just stick in your bootable USB drive in one port, stick your backup drive into another port, and within an hour your system is back to exactly the way it was.
Anyway, just a suggestion because you never know what could happen to your internal drives. As a side note, sometimes I'll delete a file or folder that I realize later on that I still need. Then you can just go to the Image for Windows disk image backup and recover just that file or folder.
--Pete
Justin is adorable
Also, intelligent fiancé's for the win! 👍
Regarding Bluetooth, he mentioned that he plugged in the keyboard case into a usb port in the back of the machine, while the front ports did not work. Not really sure what that's about, but hey, sounds like he got it working.
As for Bluetooth keyboards working right from the start, I'm not 100% on this, but I think that might only be true for Microsoft manufactured and/or certified keyboards. 🤷
Bluetooth
So once Windows is actually up and running, yes the keyboard will run from boot, but in this case, I was doing a fresh install. It was the station pc. Between backing up all the audio to the cloud, hacking 25h2 on to "incompatible hardware," getting rid of all the bloat that Windows likes to throw at you on a fresh install, reinstalling the stuff I needed, then fixing all the file paths in the broadcast software, it's been a long day!!!! But, station is back online with regularly scheduled programming.