---
title: Base Keyboard Dialog
---

The Base Keyboard dialog allows you to select the physical Latin-script layout
of your keyboard, which will allow certain Keyman keyboards to remap themselves
dynamically to match your key caps.

For example, the top alphabetic row of the US English layout starts with
`QWERTY`. However, a French layout uses `AZERTY` on the same keys.  Keyboards
that support mnemonic layouts will be able to change their key positions to make
using them more natural on your hardware keyboard.

Only Latin-script hardware layouts will be listed in this dialog. When you have
selected a layout, Keyman will reconfigure any keyboards that support mnemonic
layouts to work with your chosen base keyboard layout. This process requires
administrative elevation in order to write the updated keyboard configuration.
