Ctrl + Alt + Arrow key doesn't switch workspaces

Question

My Ctrl+Alt+Arrow key fails to switch my workspace, but this is only true if

NumLock is on
I press Ctrl followed by the Alt key
I'm using the left Alt key
I'm logged in as me (as opposed to a guest)

Any help debugging this weird behavior would be greatly appreciated. It's a pretty frustrating little bug that gets in my way at least 20 times a day, and it's so strange that I would really just like to understand how it could be happening, although I wouldn't mind just fixing it with some kind of keybindings/unity/compiz reset. I just need some pointers on how to achieve this reset. Thanks!

I have almost the same problem in 13.04. It's working only in guest mode with Ctrl + Left Alt + Arrow keys (nothing to do with NumLock). — Radu Rădeanu, Jun 09 '13 at 09:29
Did you try turning it off and on again? Workspaces, that is. http://i.imgur.com/3MNKZ3F.png — duxk.gh, Jun 09 '13 at 21:23
I didn't try toggling it through that menu. I was thinking it's a keybinding problem, since workspaces works fine, it doesn't get triggered by a very specific key sequence. — Noah, Jun 10 '13 at 18:55

Radu Rădeanu · Answer 1 · 2013-06-09T10:05:35.090

24

I've solved it by enabling Desktop Wall in CompizConfig Settings Manager:

Desktop Wall - CCSM

edited Jun 09 '13 at 10:05

answered Jun 09 '13 at 09:40

Radu Rădeanu

169,590

I had Desktop Wall enabled. I tried toggling it to no effect. – Noah Jun 10 '13 at 18:54
@Noah For me this worked. – Radu Rădeanu Jun 10 '13 at 19:06
This worked for me as well. – Stefan Radovanovici Sep 20 '13 at 13:20
I had to disable the shortcuts in Window Management after installing CompizConfig Settings Manager. – geneorama Mar 19 '15 at 06:34
It also works in 15.10 – Cysioland Jan 21 '16 at 20:39
Worked for me in 16.04... somehow an update caused this to get disabled :S – MalcolmOcean Jun 05 '17 at 21:30
Same here. CCSM fixed it on 16.04. But how to fix this from the command line without CCSM? I'd like to know what setting got changed without my doing anything. – ARX Sep 12 '18 at 16:43

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 29 '18 at 19:13

In my case, the problem had to do with a conflict between the Desktop Wall plugin and the Grid plugin. After I invoked Compiz Config Settings Manager (CCSM), and I unchecked and checked Desktop Wall, CCSM gave me the option of disabling the key bindings of the Grid plugin that conflicted with Desktop wall. To be safe, I disabled the Grid plugin. My Ctrl+Alt+Arrow keys are working fine now.

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 29 '18 at 19:14

3

I had a similar problem running on a virtual machine and it turned out that VMWare Workstation was capturing Ctrl +Alt +Left/Right to switch between active virtual machines.

In WMWare Workstation > Virtual Machine > Preferences > Hot Keys, I changed the hot key combination to Ctrl+Alt+Windows Key.

edited Jun 29 '18 at 19:14

answered Sep 26 '14 at 14:50

Tom Ferguson

131

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 29 '18 at 18:34

3

I've you've come here (like me) for the title alone (Ctrl+Alt+Arrow key doesn't switch workspaces) then additionally to other answers here, try increasing the SIZE of your desktop:

Compiz > General settings > "Desktop size" tab > if it's 1x1, increase it

Credit to Uchiha Madara's comment in another question.

edited Jun 29 '18 at 18:34

answered Mar 21 '15 at 11:44

LAFK says Reinstate Monica

1,517

Janghou · Answer 5 · 2013-08-16T11:34:22.167

1

Have the same problem since today. This bug? https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1212987

It seems that only (compiz Config Settings manager) CCSM is able to change workspaces from now on. - general options - Unity plugin

The Unity Tweak tool doesn't do anything since today. It shows the wrong amount and changing it doesn't do anything.

edited Aug 16 '13 at 11:34

answered Aug 16 '13 at 09:54

Janghou

5,709

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 10 '13 at 18:58

0

I ended up deleting anything in my home that sounded like a gnome or unity thing (.gconf, .gnome2, .kde). It obliterated all my unity settings, but it fixed the problem. I'm still curious to know how I could have done a more targeted fix.

answered Jun 10 '13 at 18:58

Noah

220
2
8

Ctrl + Alt + Arrow key doesn't switch workspaces

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