Karabiner Elements stops working on internal keyboard on MacOS 26.4 beta 1

[Sprospring]

It shows no errors, just stops working. Probably not a karabiner issue since it was working before, but I wanted to warn.

[blesio]

Yep, noticed the same, now I can't use Polish letters properly because the right Option - Command switch stopped working.

Are we doomed?

2026-02-17 10:54:03.230712+0100 0x157b Activity 0x21fb 542 0 Karabiner-Core-Service: (TCC) TCCAccessRequest() IPC
2026-02-17 10:54:03.232094+0100 0x4166 Default 0x0 542 0 Karabiner-Core-Service: (libxpc.dylib) [com.apple.xpc:connection] [0x8f08703c0] activating connection: mach=true listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.gamepolicyd.app
2026-02-17 10:54:03.237503+0100 0x4166 Info 0x0 542 0 Karabiner-Core-Service: (CoreAnalytics) [com.apple.CoreAnalytics:client] Dropping "com.apple.iohid.protectedDeviceAccess" as it isn't used in any transform (not in the config or budgeted?)
2026-02-17 10:54:04.173972+0100 0x157e Error 0x0 542 0 Karabiner-Core-Service: (IOHIDLib) [com.apple.iohid:default] IOServiceOpen failed: 0xe00002c7
2026-02-17 10:54:04.174074+0100 0x157e Info 0x0 542 0 Karabiner-Core-Service: (IOHIDLib) [com.apple.iohid:default] Failed to create IOHIDQueue plugin result: 0x10000003

[tekezo]

It works fine in my environment. I'm using an M1 Mac mini.

[blesio]

Try remapping Right Command to Right Option, and vice versa is you can, and post whether it's working or not :D and post the version of Karabiner Elements you're using, please.
After remapping, try copy/paste using the physical Right Option button (after remapping should be Right Command)

[tekezo]

Try remapping Right Command to Right Option, and vice versa is you can, and post whether it's working or not :D and post the version of Karabiner Elements you're using, please.

Of course, swapping the right command and the right option, the key behavior will be converted accordingly.
I've confirmed this with Karabiner-Elements v15.9.0.

If this is happening right after an upgrade, restarting macOS might change the situation.
Another possibility is that external security software doesn't support the macOS beta yet and is blocking Karabiner-Elements.

[johanntan]

Doesn't work here either, in fact I first noticed this stopped working after my rule to remap caps lock to insert, for when I'm in Parallels Desktop window. This is needed for my Windows screen reader to act as its modifier key.
I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling, and then I found this issue, confirming what I thought of it being a bug when running Mac OS 26.4 beta 1.

[Sprospring]

I'll clarify, Karabiner Elements gives me no errors. Karabiner Event viewer doesn't either but no keyboard inputs show up on the event viewer. I tried uninstalling andd reinstalling no luck either.

[dryanovski]

To add some more info - the issue seems to be with the internal MacBook keyboard only. Everything works as it should with a bluetooth Magic Keyboard. Tested with both the latest stable and beta versions of Karabiner Elements.

[johanntan]

@dryanovski Confirming this, it works fine on my external keyboard, however not on the MacBook internal keyboard.

[tekezo]

Okay, I’ll check this issue on a MacBook Air.

[blesio]

@tekezo

If this is happening right after an upgrade, restarting macOS might change the situation. Another possibility is that external security software doesn't support the macOS beta yet and is blocking Karabiner-Elements.

I have no security software installed on my system.

[uthark]

for me remapping from caps lock to delete stopped to work. happens both on stable and beta versions. probably, some change in the macos itself.

[sfkmk]

Same issue for me. Hyperkey mapping stopped working. No events show on Karabiner EventViewer for internal macbook keyboard.

[tadeucbm]

There seems to be a problem here related only to the built-in keyboard. All my mappings work fine on my external Apple keyboard, but not on the built-in one. I'm using a macOS Pro M4.

[Linyxus]

The same for me. External keyboard works while the internal one stops working. Mine is a M2 Pro.