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Not that I have anything against my trans-atlantic cousins, but I want to change my keyboard layout from US English to UK English.

I need to type ' # ' and ' ~ ' and I don't know what position they are at in Ubuntu!

# results in a \

#+shift results in a |

I want to solve the problem using the GUI.

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  • 2
    Solved this question while waiting for an answer. Decided to answer it myself to expand the knowledge base. Is this the right idea?
    – Starkers
    Oct 11, 2013 at 14:23

8 Answers 8

Reset to default
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On ubuntu fresh install:

Login and press Ctrl-Alt-T to open a Terminal and run: 

setxkbmap -layout gb

To get UK keyboard with double-quotes on Shift-2 and @ sign on RHS.

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  • 2
    This works on LUbuntu. Far easier doing this than looking through the menus for system settings
    – cup
    Aug 31, 2015 at 10:54
  • A useful answer for many, as evidenced by the number of upvotes, but note that the Original Poster asked to solve the problem through the UI. I'm not sure if opening a terminal and typing into it satisfies that requirement. It's still good to have this answer here for people who are comfortable typing in the terminal, as the UK layout isn't too different from the US layout. This solution would be less acceptable for changing to keyboard layouts that differ more from the US layout, as the very act of typing in the command would be very difficult.
    – Rob Davies
    Apr 10, 2019 at 15:53
  • It is not necessary to use the layout option
    – birdman
    Jun 14, 2020 at 8:35
  • it's also not permanent and is overrideen on next boot from dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
    – RichieHH
    Oct 7, 2020 at 11:30
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Go to Keyboard layouts under system settings, and click on it. Once open remove English (US), and add the English (UK) that you want. Click on the Plus (+) sign to add, and the minus(-) sign to remove. See images below.

enter image description here

enter image description here

(It will be English UK with Extended Win Keys)

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  • sorry this answer is useless for me now, there is no Keyboard Layout just Keyboard and it doesn't give me the options you state. I don't see why it is so difficult for keys on a keyboard to simply print the character that is marked on it.
    – CashCow
    Jan 25, 2015 at 12:22
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    It's called 'Text Entry' in Ubuntu 14.
    – Dan Atkinson
    Apr 29, 2015 at 10:01
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Aware that using the GUI is very beginner esque, but I need to be able to type before I can get to grips with Ubuntu!

Click on settings, keyboard, and then, in the bottom left, Layout Settings. On the left there is a panel that displays currently installed keyboard layouts. By default, only English (US) is available. Below the panel, click the + icon and select English (UK). This will add English (UK) to the panel. Use the ^ symbol to bump English (UK) above English (US). The panel is hierarchical, so now English (UK) takes the priority.

You can even select English (US) and use the - to delete the keyboard from the panel.

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  • Also useless. No such option as Layout Settings. Only a load of useless Windows type options. I'm not using Windows for a reason yet Ubuntu seems to want to bring in a lot that is s**t about that system like taking over your keyboard to do stuff you don't want because you hold down the shift for a few seconds by mistake and no Ctrl-Z undo.
    – CashCow
    Jan 25, 2015 at 12:27
  • This worked for me. Its a menu now called "Test Entry" then click on the "+" and select English (UK)
    – Dean Meehan
    Nov 9, 2015 at 15:39
  • Does/Did this give you backslash? I can´t seem to find anyway to choose an actual UK layout, with backslash next to Z and backtick next to 1 ... maddening and really bad for Ubuntu in 2024. Iḿ using Kubuntu, and to be fair the ẗest"area is great, but thereś just no option that includes it, seemingly?
    – pbhj
    Feb 14 at 20:28
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Just run the following command in terminal: 

gsettings set org.gnome.libgnomekbd.keyboard layouts "gb"

This will change your keyboard layout to English (UK).

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    I get 0-2:unknown keyword typing that command.
    – artfulrobot
    Jan 7, 2014 at 21:13
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Run the following command.

setxkbmap -layout gb

This worked for me in Lubuntu 15.10.

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  • works on 16.04 as well
    – Infamous
    Jul 4, 2017 at 7:43
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There are two ways to do it in Ubuntu (14.04)

  1. En1, icon at the top right of your screen change it with English (US) or English (UK), checkout keyboard layout chart in same line, to know which key may function. If English (UK) is not there, check out point 2 (reach text entry). Once there Enable Show input source in menu bar to (en) in menu bar.
  2. Go system System Settings -> (in hardware section) Keyboard -> find Text entry link -> on the input source list find the + sign and click to add language (whatever language you want). Once you have added the language you can follow point 1 above to change language back and forth.
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On Ubuntu 18.04 I found it under Settings -> Language & Region.

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Open the search with super key. Find "Text entry", select English (US) and press - to delete it. You should be left with English (UK)

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