USB keyboard doesn't work with Debian installer

I can not reply to damn's comment, but adding iommu=soft solved it for me too. I tried with the noapic nolapic options and wih the IOMMU fom the bios and all failed.

Simply follow the same steps as described by slm but add iommu=soft on the start command line instead of noapic nolapic.

When booting try providing this command at the boot prompt:

boot: linux noapic nolapic 

Also you might want to try this:

boot: install expertgui 

NOTE: Given you do not have access to the keyboard during installation providing these might be problematic. You can try adding noapic and nolapic to the end of the linux boot command that's contained in a config file on your USB.

Accessing the "Boot Menu"

If you're able to finagle any keyboard functionality during installation you can access the :boot menu by using the Up/Down keys and highlighting an option, say Graphical Install, within the "Boot Menu" (#1 in diagram). Then hit the Tab (#2) to access the kernel boot command. Here you can append and/or change the options passed to the Linux kernel (#3) prior to booting it.

Accessing the boot menu's config files

If you go poking around on your USB's installation media that you're using you'll notice the following directory structure.

$ ls -l total 570 -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 25 Oct 13 16:59 autorun.inf lr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 1 Oct 13 16:58 debian -> . dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:58 dists dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:57 firmware -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 159629 Oct 13 16:59 g2ldr -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 8192 Oct 13 16:59 g2ldr.mbr dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:59 install dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:58 isolinux dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:58 live -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 33392 Oct 13 16:59 md5sum.txt dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:58 pool -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 366350 Oct 13 16:59 setup.exe dr-xr-xr-x. 1 saml saml 2048 Oct 13 16:59 tools -r--r--r--. 1 saml saml 228 Oct 13 16:59 win32-loader.ini 

Take notice of the directory, isolinux, which contains the "Boot Menu" contents. Specifically look at the .cfg files.

$ more install.cfg label install menu label ^Install linux /install/vmlinuz initrd /install/initrd.gz append vga=788 -- quiet label installgui menu label ^Graphical install linux /install/gtk/vmlinuz initrd /install/gtk/initrd.gz append video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 -- quiet 

Add these arguments to the end of the append line, noapic nolapic.

 append vga=788 -- quiet noapic nolapic 

References

• DebianInstaller FAQ

Solved for me by changing IOMMU in BIOS

There was no need for me to append the install.cfg. I went into my BIOS and enabled IOMMU (in newer BIOS this may be called Intel Virtualization Technology or Intel VT - Check your chipset, name varies).

My specific issue was installing crunchbang (64) and my wireless k350 keyboard and mouse was not working with the Unity Receiver during install (it booted the installer fine, but as soon as you click install the mouse/keyboard went off). Saved me a trip to Walmart for a cheap keyboard which probably wouldn't work.

People seem to hint at the IOMMU, sometimes suggesting kernel command line arguments. I second that, apparently the IOMMU has a say. On an ASUS motherboard with a ThreadRipper, I haven't found an option in the BIOS to enable/disable the IOMMU, but there was an option to enable SR-IOV, which is close, and was disabled by default. So I tried enabling it et voila... USB kb+mouse working. In the installer of Debian 12 with stock kernel 6.1.x. No extra kernel cmdline spells were necessary, for the installer or for the installed system.

• Press e in GRUB/BootMenu to edit the boot command.
• Append iommu=soft to the line containing linux.
• Press F10 to boot.

Also works for Devuan.