macOS should try to keep them in sync if there’s only a single admin user, but can get confused. The first of those applies before you have logged in, and the second is specific to that user. Both are named, and they are stored in /Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Preferences (if there is more than one user, each has their own in their Home folder).

MacOS actually maintains at least two separate property lists specifying the keyboard layout to be used. If you’re keying in what you think is the letter Q but your Mac is using a traditional French keyboard and thinks that’s an A, that’s not going to help you much. Starting up with the wrong keyboard is often the more serious, as this can make it incredibly difficult to type your password in.

If you find your Mac starting up in the wrong language or – even worse – with the wrong keyboard, here’s what you can do about it. Macs support so many different languages and keyboards now that it’s maybe not surprising that sometimes they can get a little confuddled.

How to change mac language to english