How do I disable default Alt+Key menu bindings for all applications?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 as a VirtualBox guest with a PC keyboard, and whenever I press Alt, the menus for the currently focused application appear. While holding Alt, if I press other keys, sometimes the menus open. I never want this. There are no cases when I ever activate menu items from the keyboard. Is there a way to permanently and completely turn this off, so that no menu can ever appear or open in response to any key press?

It seems like this question must have been asked a million times, but I have searched and searched and can't seem to find any answer. I have already turned off the dashboard, but now I need to unplug any and all menus from my Alt key, so that I may use it.

possible duplicate of How do I modify or disable the HUD's use of the Alt key? — Web-E, Aug 25 '12 at 06:22
Not a duplicate--this isn't about the HUD, but disabling per-application Alt+Key menu bindings. For example, Alt+F should do a custom action instead of opening the File menu, etc. — ish, Aug 25 '12 at 06:54

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 31 '12 at 05:48

It turns out the easiest way is to remap the left-alt key using xmodmap. This is sufficient because I only use the left-alt for my keyboard shortcuts. Most apps don't have any features linked to the alt key anyway, but in case one comes along, I still have the right-alt key for it.

I would still prefer to simply disable the default "alt activates the application menu" feature. Let me know if anyone has a way to disable it. Thanks!

How do I disable default Alt+Key menu bindings for all applications?

1 Answers1