Unable to use laptop keyboard during installation

[Topogram]

Hi,

I'm trying to install linux on a Microsoft Surface laptop to dual boot. I've done this many times in the past over the years on different laptops.

No matter what I do, the keyboard doesn't work at all (no keypresses are registered) when trying to install the distro from a bootable USB stick. The trackpad works but not the keys. Everything is fine in Windows. I can't proceed with installation. I've tried booting the live image (keyboard still doesn't work) or going straight to the installer.

This is the same with Ubuntu 20.04, Mint 20 and Fedora workstation 33.

The laptop only has one USB port so I can't even try plugging in an external keyboard to continue with the installation.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks,

 

[KGIII]

I suppose you could use the on-screen keyboard and then look for a driver post-install. A USB hub *may* work.

Another distro may have the drivers needed. 20.04 doesn't yet have the HWE stack kernel or anything, so oddly 18.04.5 might be better suited.

 

[Topogram]

Thanks.
Managed to install using a USB hub. After installation, I installed the Linux-Surface kernel and the keyboard started working.