Troubleshoot drawing tablet detected as a keyboard

Overview

When you plug a drawing drawing tablet into a computer, the computer might say that it detects it as a keyboard.

You can ignore this message.

• It has no negative impact

• There is no problem to be solved

• It is not preventing the tablet from working in some other way

Explanation

First, you should realize that some drawing tablets have auxiliary inputs - things such as buttons, dials, etc. These are very common on drawing tablets though not every drawing tablet has them.

Second, computers (for whatever reason) often detect tablets as multiple devices. This is quite normal.

A great example is pen displays (screen tablets). Computers often do not detect them as a single device but as two separate devices. When you plug in a screen display your computer may think you have plugged in two devices: (1) a monitor - the screen of the tablet and (2) a pen tablet (i.e. a screenless tablet). This is normal.

In a similar way, the auxiliary inputs on a tablet may be detected as another devices - specifically a keyboard. So naturally, the computer starts asking questions about what kind of keyboard it is. Again, you ignore your computers questions about this "keyboard".

Sometimes when people are having problems with their tablet they will see this message and thing that their computer thinks the tablet is a keyboard and does not realize it is really a tablet. And this detection as a keyboard is preventing the tablet from working normally. That's not what is happening. Treat the "keyboard detection" as an unrelated topic. Trying to "solve" it will only waste your your time.