Bluetooth Trackpad No Tap-Click On Login Screen

[Jayboard]

This is a nuisance that's been asked about on the web in a number of places, sometimes with a satisfactory solution, sometimes not. Haven't seen an El Capitan specific version of the question, however, so I thought this entry might be helpful to some.

Problem: Can't use Apple bluetooth multitouch trackpad to select the User to log in as. The trackpad will move the cursor around, but tapping the pad to click has no effect. Apparently, the cause of the problem is that the login screen is accessed through the root user account, and the tap-to-click function of the trackpad is not turned on for the root user (not for all configurations anyway), with no way to do that through System Preferences.

The solution that worked for me is this answer provided in 2011.

Late-2013 21.5" iMac, OS 10.11.6

 

[294307]

I feel your pain. I have the same problem with the different keyboard layout I use under my user account which is not carried over to the login screen, and sometimes the lock screen too. It's not unique to OS X or Apple just trying to annoy us - any Linux/Unix distribution works the same way, since the login UI has to be run by the root user. Naturally, changing mouse/keyboard settings only affect the current Unix account you're logged into.