MSKLC issues on new 24" ARM Macs / Parallels

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Hi folks -

I have a new 24" Mac running Parallels, and the MSKLC IPA keyboard is not managing to install properly. Long story, our tech support here is befuddled.

Question: noting that there are no MSKLC install packages specifically for ARM machines, does anyone know if there are any known compatibility issues? Or conversely, is anyone using this sort of setup successfully, which could suggest that I actually have a different problem?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance,
Mark

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I haven’t been happy with MSKLC keyboards since Windows 7, so I wouldn’t expect it to work well. One thing I did learn was that it needed to be installed from a folder where there were no spaces in the path.

As the developer of the MSKLC IPA keyboard, I would recommend you switch to using the Keyman keyboard. There is a setting in the keyboard to switch to the same keying system as the MSKLC one was…

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That’s a shame, I’ve actually found that the MSKLC keyboard has worked consistently well even in Parallels up to Win10. I don’t know whether the current problem I have is to do with Win11 or with the new Mac processors though, and I don’t have a means of easily troubleshooting.

I will try Keyman, but would still appreciate it greatly if anyone else knows of any Win11 or ARM processor compatibility issues or lack thereof!

Thanks Lorna
Mark

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Since MSKLC is a Microsoft product, and our long-term recommendation is Keyman, you may want to look on Microsoft’s forums and do some general internet searching. I know that some people have reported issues with Win11.

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The MSKLC keyboard for IPA has not been built for a while. It does not include the ARM64 DLL required (I have just checked the installer). So it won’t work on Windows on Parallels on M1 Macs.

However, Keyman will also not really work properly on ARM64 at this point – support for ARM is in our 18.0 roadmap plans. This is helpful information for us to know that ARM64 support really is needed.

Sorry I don’t have a better answer at this time.!

6

Thanks very much – so, if I understand correctly, it’s not a Win11 issue, it’s a Mac ARM issue, and I therefore won’t be able to operate any SIL-developed IPA keyboards on my new Mac machine at all.

Is it worth trying to downgrade to Win10, or am I basically out of luck (unless I can somehow find an older Mac desktop to trade for)?

Cheers

Mark

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There’s still a ukelele keyboard available. I have no idea if it will work on newer macOS but give it a go:
https://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?id=uniipakeyboard&site_id=nrsi

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If I understand right, that’s for running on MacOSX directly – I have no problem with this running on any Mac, the issue is on Win11 within Parallels – which I need purely in order to run Toolbox……

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You may be able to get Keyman running with Toolbox, because Toolbox is a 32-bit app. There may be some idiosyncrasies around the language switching but it’s worth a try.

It is a Windows-on-ARM issue, and not specific to Mac. Any ARM-based Windows computer will have the same issues. Windows 10 would have the same problems.

But we are working to resolve this fully with Keyman this year.