Win key (compose) shows Application Launcher in Kubuntu 18.04

Question

I'm trying to setup Left-Win as the compose key in Kubuntu 18.04.4. Problem: whenever I hit the key, the Application Launcher popups.

I read in this AU-answer that setting the shortcut Alt+F1 for the launcher, automatically ALSO maps the Win-keys. Apparently, Win-key and Alt+F1 are mapped to each other somehow?

What I have done

System Settings -> Hardware -> Input Devices -> Keyboard -> Advanced -> Position of Compose key -> select Left Win

Also, the contents of /etc/default/keyboard:

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc104"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT="euro"
XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch,compose:lwin"

BACKSPACE="guess"

What works:

Pressing Left-Win+e ' or Left-Win+' e results in é. However, this only works sometimes, as if there is some toggling going on.

What I want (what I am used to) is that I can press Left-Win ' e to get é. But this results in the popup of the Application Launcher :(

Q

Perhaps the question is: how can I unmap Left-Win to Alt+F1?

Answer 1

Edit ~/.config/kwinrc to include the following section:

[ModifierOnlyShortcuts]
Meta=

Or, from a terminal, run

kwriteconfig5 --file kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta ""

Log out and log back in for the change to be effected.

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Personally, I wouldn't use the Win key as the Compose key. It may clash with many of the preset keyboard shortcuts using Win. I set the CapsLock key for that purpose.