Super key not working in Ubuntu 20.04

Question

I just updated to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and my super key has lost its main functionality. Previously in Ubuntu 18.04LTS, I was able to click the super key and the applications drawer would show. Now it doesn't do that. I can still open it by clicking super+a but it's annoying that it doesn't do that.

I restarted my machine and still nothing.

To me, the super key stops working kind of randomly. Similarly, super+tab starts to ignore the shift key. And it seems connected with my keyboard stopping working completely in PhpStorm after pressing ctrl+shift. All started with Ubuntu 20.04. In most cases, trying to press around or restart an app (PhpStorm in this case) seems to fix the issue. — Aleš Krajník, Apr 27 '20 at 16:31
I've restarted my pc and nothing happens I can click on the super + a but I don't want to keep doing that the super key by itself should work — rodude123, Apr 27 '20 at 16:47
Looks like the authors forgot to write or run regression tests :-( — dzieciou, May 08 '20 at 18:21
For me it was an keyboard issue. I unplugged my usb and put it in a different port. It start working again. It's worth a try ;) — Nieksa, May 12 '21 at 06:00
For anyone with a Dell developer edition laptop, see this solution. — Garrett, Jul 18 '21 at 08:19

score 61 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 14 '22 at 09:51

61

Just in case anyone else is in the same situation as me and stumbles across this, check that your keyboard doesn't have a function button to lock the Windows/Super key.

Mine did on F12 and I accidentally pressed it without knowing what it was. Just pressing it one more time fixed the issue.

edited Nov 14 '22 at 09:51

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Apr 15 '21 at 01:28

max pleaner

930
1
9
18

20

you saved my day – George Jun 11 '21 at 08:14
6

Why the hell they have a button for this, I'm not sure. – max pleaner Jun 11 '21 at 19:10
2

Exactly! i can't think of a good use for it lol – George Jun 12 '21 at 09:43
4

mf ... that happend after i cleanned my keyboard, and you save my day – Samuel Aiala Ferreira Jun 21 '21 at 12:16
3

This was the problem for me too! There's a button on my keyboard to disable the windows / super key. I know on mine because it's a gaming keyboard it's supposed to be used to stop you accidentally opening a menu in the middle of a game :) – BT643 Aug 17 '21 at 09:10
Mine had this too. – nyxee Sep 23 '21 at 08:12
Same here. It was Fn+F2 in my case that disables / enables the Super (Windows) key. – FedKad Nov 15 '21 at 18:32
2

Mine is Super_R + Fn (which are adjacent keys, extremely easy to activate the lock by mistake.) – imkzh Apr 08 '22 at 08:09
Thank you! This was driving me nuts and I couldn't figure out what happened. My kids were playing with the light configurations on the keyboard and accidentally locked it. – brightball Apr 12 '22 at 13:52
You sir are a gentleman an a scholar – Fractal Mind Apr 20 '22 at 17:17
The home lock button on the Corsair k95 is on the top left. There are 3 bush buttons above the f keys. User, light brightness, then the third, windows lock (padlock). – Damien Cooke May 01 '22 at 21:25
@maxpleaner The reason for this button is for gaming. The Super button gets disabled so that if the user accidentally hits it, they would not been taken out of the game. – BeastOfCaerbannog Nov 14 '22 at 09:59
1

This saved me and now I know what the little joystick button on my keyboard is for haha – d3vkit Jan 16 '23 at 06:49
Thanks, I thought my keyboard was broken, FN + F8 on Logitech G512 to toggle the super key – deFreitas Feb 02 '23 at 23:26
Fn + F12 enables and disables game mod, and in that mode windows key is inactive. Not sure that this happens in every keyboard... – martín canullán Feb 06 '23 at 22:56
This feature (suppress windows key) is used in games to avoid accidentally pressing the key and sending the game to background. – Rafael Diego Nicoletti Sep 05 '23 at 12:11
Thanks. This saved me :D – Leandro Castro Nov 23 '23 at 19:15
I didn't know the FN key existed on my i-JMB PC keyboard, but it does! It's located right after the right Alt key, and FN+Super does the trick. Now I can access apps and toggle layouts by using Super+Space again. – kay27 Dec 20 '23 at 19:57
This - my keyboard has a second Win key on the right with a lock symbol, apparently that locks it. – toonarmycaptain Dec 22 '23 at 16:31
You saved my life, i just bought an epomaker and the key wasn't working on linux. Thanks very much. – Marco Caggiano Feb 21 '24 at 16:28

score 37 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 26 '21 at 20:32

37

Pressing Fn+Super unblocked the Super key for me and solved the issue.

ROG Zephyrus G14, Ubuntu 21.04

edited Jun 26 '21 at 20:32

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Jun 23 '21 at 08:34

Roman Strakhov

539

1

Had the same problem and solution with an Asus TUF DASH F15 – Brian Sternari Jun 27 '21 at 06:34
This was the solution on Ubuntu 18.04. – Arya Nov 23 '21 at 17:11
1

this solution solved my problem, ubuntu 20.04 – M Gholami Nov 23 '21 at 21:54
wtf is Fn? d ds – pabrams Jan 17 '22 at 03:58
Does Fn modify the super key into something else? – Sati Mar 27 '22 at 04:06
Works on an HP Keyboard... – Sun Bear Jul 16 '22 at 20:50
This saved my day. I don't know why this issue had started, but you solved for me. Thank you so much. – Leandro Castro Mar 07 '23 at 14:36
worked for me on keyboard: cosmic_byte, gnome: 44.1, os: fedora workstation 38 – Mahesh Ghamaand Jun 16 '23 at 06:05
Thank you for this! My cat ran on my keyboard and apparently locked the key... – monkut Jun 17 '23 at 00:06

score 16 · Answer 3 · edited May 03 '20 at 03:46

16

I have the same issue but only when I select languages: Spanish, Italian, Russian. On English and French it works perfectly (which are in 1st and 4th position). As a workaround I put the two languages I use the most in 1st and 4th position, and for the rest I use ALT + F1 , that works in the same way... Hope the information helps.

edited May 03 '20 at 03:46

M.A.K. Ripon

3,139

answered May 02 '20 at 15:29

Despertador

161
4

2

This is exactly what my issue is, I use a keyboard with an American layout on it. I live in the UK and use the £ key a lot in online messages and so I have to keep switching keyboard layouts just for that. Only if there was an American keyboard layout with the £ symbol buitl in. That would be great. – rodude123 May 02 '20 at 17:44
The bug affects also the Keyboard Layout "English (US, intl., with dead keys)" but not "English (US)". Just as a reminder you can switch between keyboard layouts with + combination. Nice dude, you saved my day! – pliski May 06 '20 at 11:00
Upgrading gnome-shell to version 3.36.2 fix the issue. Check the Diego Blanco answer – Alexandr Tovmach Jun 07 '20 at 11:57
I can confirm. I use English keyboard (super key works), but with Italian, Swedish and German keyboard it doesn't work.
I will try to upgrade to see if this fixes the issue.
– Erik Norman Jun 27 '20 at 10:27
I run update yesterday, but gnome-shell is still version 3.36.1. – Erik Norman Jun 29 '20 at 06:49

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 07 '20 at 19:46

11

It seems to be a gnome bug affecting multiple distros. Here's the thread in gitlab

super no longer opens overview (with dvorak keyboard layout)

This all happens under X11. Temporary solution is to change to Wayland if possible or change the most used keyboard layout to first position.

The developers are aware of the issue and it may be patched soon.

EDIT: As of today, Ubuntu 20.04 is upgraded from Gnome 3.36.1 to 3.36.2 and a updated system should no longer have this issue.

Just run
```
sudo apt update
```
Then run
```
sudo apt upgrade
```
Now gnome-shell --version should show:
```
GNOME Shell 3.36.2
```
Reboot system to apply changes: run sudo reboot or reboot manually.

edited Jun 07 '20 at 19:46

pomsky

68,507

answered Apr 28 '20 at 03:26

Diego C. P. Blanco

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I don't think there will be a propper solution until they fix the bug. For now this is the best we can do – rodude123 Apr 28 '20 at 14:32
2

7 Jun 2020: this fix works for ru layout – Alexandr Tovmach Jun 07 '20 at 11:55
Something other people might try: I just found out that by unplugging my keyboard I fixed this issue. :) – Nieksa Apr 12 '21 at 09:54
I did this, but then I discovered that the issue was due to the key being disabled by FN+Super as in the top-rated answer :) OK, thanks for making our OS up to date anyway. By the way, gnome-shell is already 3.36.9. – kay27 Dec 20 '23 at 19:56

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 21 '22 at 07:05

5

If you have a Corsair K95 (or similar keyboard) there is a lock button to disable the Windows/super key.

answered Apr 21 '22 at 07:05

Erik Norman

71

1

Fml... Thank you – Fractal Mind Jan 31 '23 at 04:54
1

thank you! my cat accidentally pushed it and i spent a day going crazy trying to work out why my super key wasn't working XD – DavidG Jun 14 '23 at 09:27

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered May 06 '20 at 15:33

3

So I managed to find a temporary fix for my problem. See I updated from Ubuntu 18.04, so not sure if this will help anyone updating from like 16.04, 17.04, 19.04 etc. Anyways the reason why I was having trouble with this is the fact that I have 2 keyboard layouts. I use an American and British layout. I am from the UK and always use the £ in everyday use. See, I have to switch layouts to use £ but then I forget to switch back to the original default layout, in this case, the American layout. At which point the super key stops working. I then try to get it to work for like 30 minutes to then only realise that oh wait I'm on not on the US layout. So I now use the English (intl., with AltGr dead keys)

answered May 06 '20 at 15:33

rodude123

911

2

Also this bug is relevant with Polish keyboard layout. Switching to En US is only option for now. – Max Małecki May 08 '20 at 10:34
@MaxMałecki How do you switching with a key shortcut between keyboard layouts? – dzieciou May 09 '20 at 13:25
3

@MaxMałecki The default is Super+Space but you can change it under Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts > Typing . – Atzmon May 11 '20 at 09:41
1

Edit: @Atzmon was first ;) on the top bar you got switch ;) Or you press [Super] + [Spacebar] – Max Małecki May 11 '20 at 09:44

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 14 '22 at 10:02

3

By pressing Fn+Alt+F6 solved my problem. I'm using Jammy Jellyfish.

edited Nov 14 '22 at 10:02

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Nov 08 '22 at 21:04

Syed Daniyal Ali

161

2

ohhhh god thank you !!! – Kar19 Jul 06 '23 at 16:19

score -3 · Answer 8 · answered May 21 '20 at 11:18

-3

gnome guys fix this, just do

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

to get the fix for the super key to work on sec layout

still didn't fix the launcher shortcut super+/

answered May 21 '20 at 11:18

Eyal Ron

9

3

This doesn't do anything for me, and may not do anything for a lot of users – rodude123 May 21 '20 at 11:21
@rodude123 Did you upgrade your GNOME Shell to version 3.36.2? – pomsky May 22 '20 at 08:50
I did upgrade it – rodude123 May 22 '20 at 09:23
This has nothing to do. – Rajesh Chaudhary May 26 '20 at 02:15

Super key not working in Ubuntu 20.04

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