70

I just installed Ubuntu 13.10, and really enjoy it. I am from Denmark, and use the supported Danish keyboard-layout (and chose it as default in the install), but whenever I reboot Ubuntu switches back to English keyboard-layout, though the little icon in the panel says it's in Danish. I have to click on the icon every time to change it back to Danish. I tried removing the English keyboard-layout, but it didn't help. Any suggestions?

7

8 Answers 8

31

I'm Italian and I had the same problem as you before yesterday evening. I came also in this thread but I didn't find a solution.

Default layout keyboard was selected as Italian but at every boot "switched back to English keyboard-layout, though the little icon in the panel says it was in Italian. I have to click on the icon every time to change it back to Italian. I tried removing the English keyboard-layout, but it didn't help". It was frustrasting.

I solved my problem changing Text settings from these:

enter image description here

to these, that work fine for me:

enter image description here

Now my default keyboard layout is italian and works as italian by default, not as english. Now I don't have to click on the icon every time to change it back to Italian. I hope this can help you.

3
  • 1
    Hi! I must add that after that clever workaround you can turn back the setting to the original value and the problem will not happen again, at least on Ubuntu Desktop 15.04 64bit. Thanks, Francesco Marmo and Dennis Rasmussen. /Angel
    – Angel
    Oct 27, 2015 at 17:30
  • Do I need to reboot again? Because I did that and it does not work immediately. Sep 28, 2016 at 19:46
  • 4
    Would be great to know where you found that window. What is this window, and where do I find it?
    – sbrattla
    Jun 13, 2017 at 13:54
16

(Updated 2014-05-28, thanks to Bernard Decock's comment.)

In the ubuntu software center, install "dconf Editor" (dconf-editor) (if you don't already have it). Open it, then open desktop -> ibus -> general. Now enable the property "use-system-keyboard-layout". (You want it to have a checkmark next to it.)

Source: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-keyboard/+bug/1240198

2
  • 2
    You don't have to uninstall Ibus. Open dconf-editor and open the desktop.ibus.general folder. Make sure the "use-system-keyboard-layout" property is enabled. This will resolve the conflict between ibus and your keyboard settings. May 17, 2014 at 11:19
  • 3
    Just run: dconf write /desktop/ibus/general/use-system-keyboard-layout true Feb 6, 2015 at 18:12
11

This is how I solved it (for me, at least - running 14.04):

In a terminal, type ibus-setup, the IBus Preferences window should open. Under the Advanced tab tick the use system keyboard layout option, like in the screenshot below.

enter image description here

3
  • 2
    This fixed the problem on many of the computer that had it.
    – Natim
    Feb 10, 2015 at 16:45
  • 2
    My language was reverted to English any time I switched windows but the tray icon kept showing the prevous language. This solution fixed it for me.
    – ppp
    Oct 11, 2015 at 21:16
  • This has worked for me on 15.10 Feb 29, 2016 at 23:40
6

I had the same problem, with Ubuntu 13.10 and after using it few weeks, my keyboard layout suddenly started to change from spanish to english every time I login.

As a workaround I created the following script and then added it to startup applications:

#!/bin/bash

setxkbmap es

I tried adding the command setxkbmap es directly to startup applications, but it didn't work, for that reason I made the script.

2
  • If the @Francesco Marmo solution doesn't work, I will setup that one. Thanks.
    – Natim
    Jan 5, 2014 at 9:39
  • Thanks! This works for me in Skype Web beta under Ubuntu 17.10 setxkbmap es && skypeforlinux
    – shakaran
    Sep 7, 2017 at 13:01
4

I used:

setxkbmap es

and Finally! it worked, now I'm able to use the ñ and the tildes áéíóú in the right key in the keyboard!

2
  • 1
    I use Dvorak, and the following command is reset on reboot: setxkbmap -model pc104 -layout us -variant dvorak
    – Sam King
    Dec 30, 2013 at 23:25
  • Added this command on ~/.profile fixed the issue. Feb 11, 2016 at 9:50
0

First open Text Entry Settings, then put Danish on top of the input sources list:

Open Text Entry

Text Entry

1
  • 3
    I type in Dvorak, and I have Dvorak at the top, but it still starts up in Qwerty.
    – Sam King
    Dec 30, 2013 at 23:26
0

This also affected me and I own a pt-br keyboard. I actually don't know how to solve the problem, but a possible workaround (it worked for me) is to use setxkbmap until they fix it:

http://zuttobenkyou.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/xorg-switching-keyboard-layouts-consistenly-and-reliably-from-userspace/

I hope it helps.

1
  • 2
    Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
    – Braiam
    Oct 22, 2013 at 7:38
0

Workaround

This is an X.Org bug that is at least a decade old.

Symptoms are:

  1. In a Ctrl+Alt+F1 console, the layout is correctly set after booting, and
  2. The correct layout gets also suddenly set in all windows after physically disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard.

Some more xev test results are described elsewhere.

The workaround consists in automatically running the setxkbmap command without any arguments at startup (login), as shown below for Xubuntu:

Application Autostart

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .