Restarting in safe mode without using the shift key under Mojave [duplicate]

Question

This question already has answers here:

Keyboard key stuck or not being recognized; how to fix (1 answer)

How can I disable Safe Boot or the Shift Key? (6 answers)

Closed 1 year ago.

I'm trying to restart my MBP (now running Mojave) in safe mode, and for whatever reason holding down shift isn't doing the trick (this complaint is scattered across the internet). Apple offers this alternative for cases in which you don't have a keyboard:

Access the command line by opening Terminal remotely, or logging into the computer using SSH.
Use the following Terminal command:
sudo nvram boot-args="-x"

Unfortunately, when I run this command I get nvram: Error setting variable - 'boot-args': (iokit/common) not permitted. Googling this error gets me a pointer to this bit of info:

...you must use the nvram command to properly set boot-args NVRAM variable. Starting with macOS Sierra, you must be booted to the recovery partition to run this command.

Booting from the recovery partition sounds even harder than getting into safe mode, so it appears I am back to square one. Are there any other ways to get to safe mode?

Answer 1

Problems with MBP's internal keyboard and Mojave not Restarting in Safe mode using Shift key, can sometimes be resolved using External keyboard instead.