How do I disable the on/off button on my notebook?

Question

I need to disable the power button of my laptop. It happens that sometimes I press it by mistake and my work goes.

It'd be optimal for me to make this button inoffensive, e.g. nothing happens pressing it.

How I do that in Ubuntu 12.04?

Actually if I press the button this popup appears:

enter image description here

SirCharlo · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-27 20:10:46Z

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Run the following commands in Terminal to disable the power button:

sudo sed -i 's/action=/#action=/g' /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn
sudo gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power button-power nothing

Note: this will result in syslog logging the following message: skipping incomplete file /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn.

Reboot your computer, and try hitting the power button!

Voilà :)

_{Click here for a user's detailed analysis of the underlying mechanisms that are triggered when someone hits the power button.}

edited Sep 27 '12 at 20:10

answered Sep 27 '12 at 18:35

SirCharlo
7,0071035

	For a moment I was impressed! Then I tried and did the reboot, but the shutdown popup keep showing (see my updated question). – Guandalino Sep 27 '12 at 19:01
	@Guandalino Try again with my edit. – SirCharlo Sep 27 '12 at 19:08
	Still nothing. I'll gladly accept any further suggestion! – Guandalino Sep 27 '12 at 19:16
	@Guandalino So it worked after all? – SirCharlo Sep 27 '12 at 19:48
	Yes! I followed the thread on Ubuntu forum post by post and it did the trick. PS: I'm not sure it's safe commenting the `action` line in `/etc/acpi/events/powerbtn`. It results in this syslog message: `skipping incomplete file /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn`. Maybe say that in your answer. I leaved it uncommented. – Guandalino Sep 27 '12 at 20:03

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