up vote 64 down vote favorite
27

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?

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2  
Same problem with Hebrew layout (Ubuntu 13.10 with Gnome3). I switch layouts via a key combo, the indicator shows 'he' for Hebrew, but english characters come out. Clicking the language selector with the mouse does change the language but even so its not working all the time. It was actually better before in 13.04 when the language indicator did not appear at all but the keyboard layout did change... – Harel Nov 3 '13 at 23:52
    
Bug report is at bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-keyboard/+bug/… – Steve Byrnes Apr 2 '14 at 14:16
    
possible duplicate of Keyboard layout isn't kept upon reboot – Eliah Kagan Aug 17 '14 at 17:17
    
You want to do this for Ubuntu 14.04: askubuntu.com/a/505362/11333 – Natim Feb 10 '15 at 16:45
    
This stuff is here for more than three years and they still didn't solve such big bug? – João Pimentel Ferreira Sep 28 '16 at 19:50
up vote 31 down vote

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.

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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 '15 at 17:30
    
Do I need to reboot again? Because I did that and it does not work immediately. – João Pimentel Ferreira Sep 28 '16 at 19:46
1  
Would be great to know where you found that window. What is this window, and where do I find it? – sbrattla Jun 13 '17 at 13:54
up vote 15 down vote

(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

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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. – Bernard Decock May 17 '14 at 11:19
3  
Just run: dconf write /desktop/ibus/general/use-system-keyboard-layout true – Eduardo Santana Feb 6 '15 at 18:12
up vote 10 down vote

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

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1  
This fixed the problem on many of the computer that had it. – Natim Feb 10 '15 at 16:45
1  
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 '15 at 21:16
    
This has worked for me on 15.10 – Theo Kouzelis Feb 29 '16 at 23:40
up vote 6 down vote

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.

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If the @Francesco Marmo solution doesn't work, I will setup that one. Thanks. – Natim Jan 5 '14 at 9:39
    
Thanks! This works for me in Skype Web beta under Ubuntu 17.10 setxkbmap es && skypeforlinux – shakaran Sep 7 '17 at 13:01
up vote 4 down vote

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!

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1  
I use Dvorak, and the following command is reset on reboot: setxkbmap -model pc104 -layout us -variant dvorak – Sam King Dec 30 '13 at 23:25
    
Added this command on ~/.profile fixed the issue. – HappyCactus Feb 11 '16 at 9:50
up vote 1 down vote

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.

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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 '13 at 7:38
up vote 0 down vote

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

Open Text Entry

Text Entry

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3  
I type in Dvorak, and I have Dvorak at the top, but it still starts up in Qwerty. – Sam King Dec 30 '13 at 23:26

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