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For some reason, Scroll Lock is not enabled by default. I submit this bug as an enhancement, since as of this moment, I have no idea why Scroll Lock is not already enabled by default. That is the behavior that I expect.

My laptop keyboard does not have a key for Scroll Lock, so I did not notice anything was amiss. It is not until I purchased a keyboard with LED lighting that I noticed that when I pressed the Scroll Lock key, nothing was happening. I was expecting that if I pressed the Scroll Lock key, then the Scroll Lock indicator LED would turn on and the LED in my keyboard would turn on as well, but none of those actions happen. The LED indicator for Caps Lock and Num Lock worked fine, but not for Scroll Lock.

How can I make the Scroll Lock key to work?

2 Answers 2

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Temporary Solution

This solution will last as long as the current session. Once you turn off the computer, this modification is erased.

  1. Add scroll lock as a modifying key by commanding xmodmap -e "add mod3 = Scroll_Lock"

Less Temporary Solution

This solution will persist across sessions, but once you upgrade the operating system, this modification is erased.

  1. Open with admin privilege the XKB configuration file located at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us
  2. Modify it by adding modifier_map Mod3 { Scroll_Lock }; at the end of xkb_symbols "basic"
  3. Reset the XKB layout cache by executing sudo rm -f /var/lib/xkb/* and sudo rm -f /var/lib/lib/xkb/*

Permanent Solution

The scroll lock key needs to be enabled by default. I have added a ticket to X.org's Bugzilla site where you can leave your comment and let them know that this bug affects you.

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  • xmodmap no longer works on Ubuntu 18.04
    – Planky
    Apr 4, 2019 at 16:42
  • 5 years later it's still not working in Ubuntu 20.04. Jun 22, 2021 at 18:49
  • @DonFoumare this bug is now tracked in GitLab Jun 24, 2021 at 2:27
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I'm a Newbie, 'I know nothing' but just replying to this post

I tried just runnig the code but didn't work then I ran xmodmap -pm before xmodmap -e "add mod3 = Scroll_Lock" worked for me

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/164245/why-is-the-scroll-lock-key-disabled-in-cinnamon-linux-xorg

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