diff --git a/Xi/chdevhier.c b/Xi/chdevhier.c
index db16349af..631857d58 100644
--- a/Xi/chdevhier.c
+++ b/Xi/chdevhier.c
@@ -117,7 +117,11 @@ ProcXChangeDeviceHierarchy(ClientPtr client)
 
                     if (!c->sendCore)
                         ptr->coreEvents = keybd->coreEvents =  FALSE;
-
+#ifdef XKB
+                    /* supplying NULL for rules simply means we re-use
+                       whatever ruleset we used for the previous devices. */
+                    XkbSetRulesDflts(NULL, "pc105", "us", NULL, NULL);
+#endif
                     ActivateDevice(ptr);
                     ActivateDevice(keybd);
 
diff --git a/dix/devices.c b/dix/devices.c
index 6b8cecb5a..9feca90b4 100644
--- a/dix/devices.c
+++ b/dix/devices.c
@@ -526,7 +526,6 @@ CoreKeyboardProc(DeviceIntPtr pDev, int what)
 #ifdef XKB
         if (!noXkbExtension) {
             bzero(&names, sizeof(names));
-            XkbSetRulesDflts("base", "pc105", "us", NULL, NULL);
             XkbInitKeyboardDeviceStruct(pDev, &names, &keySyms, modMap,
                                         CoreKeyboardBell, CoreKeyboardCtl);
         }
diff --git a/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Config.c b/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Config.c
index 1210a8fcc..9bf18b555 100644
--- a/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Config.c
+++ b/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Config.c
@@ -1008,6 +1008,12 @@ configServerFlags(XF86ConfFlagsPtr flagsconf, XF86OptionPtr layoutopts)
     xf86Info.allowEmptyInput = (xf86Info.autoAddDevices && xf86Info.autoEnableDevices);
     xf86GetOptValBool(FlagOptions, FLAG_ALLOW_EMPTY_INPUT, &xf86Info.allowEmptyInput);
 
+    /* AEI on? Then we're not using kbd, so use the evdev rules set. */
+#ifdef XKB
+    XkbSetRulesDflts(((xf86Info.allowEmptyInput) ? "evdev" : "base"),
+                     "pc105", "us", NULL, NULL);
+#endif
+
     xf86Info.useDefaultFontPath = TRUE;
     xf86Info.useDefaultFontPathFrom = X_DEFAULT;
     if (xf86GetOptValBool(FlagOptions, FLAG_USE_DEFAULT_FONT_PATH, &value)) {