Keyboard layout switches to English each time I reboot

Question

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?

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 03 '13 at 23:52
Bug report is at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-keyboard/+bug/1240198 — Steve Byrnes, Apr 02 '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: http://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

score 31 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 22 '13 at 12:20

31

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.

edited Oct 22 '13 at 12:20

Eric Carvalho

54,385

answered Oct 22 '13 at 07:34

Francesco Marmo

311

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
4

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

Steve Byrnes · Answer 2 · 2015-06-26T13:51:02.810

16

(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

edited Jun 26 '15 at 13:51

answered Apr 02 '14 at 14:25

Steve Byrnes

2,021

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 06 '15 at 18:12

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 01 '14 at 09:10

11

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

answered Aug 01 '14 at 09:10

Alessandro Cuttin

690

2

This fixed the problem on many of the computer that had it. – Natim Feb 10 '15 at 16:45
2

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

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 07 '13 at 20:24

6

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.

answered Dec 07 '13 at 20:24

user215507

61

If the @Francesco Marmo solution doesn't work, I will setup that one. Thanks. – Natim Jan 05 '14 at 09:39
Thanks! This works for me in Skype Web beta under Ubuntu 17.10
setxkbmap es && skypeforlinux
– shakaran Sep 07 '17 at 13:01

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 01 '13 at 14:32

4

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!

edited Dec 01 '13 at 14:32

Braiam

67,791
32
179
269

answered Nov 07 '13 at 04:04

DanielJM

364

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 09:50

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 30 '23 at 01:11

Workaround

This is an X.Org bug that is at least a decade old.

Symptoms are:

In a Ctrl+Alt+F1 console, the layout is correctly set after booting, and
The correct layout gets also suddenly set in all windows after physically disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard.

Some more xev test results are described elsewhere.

The workaround consists in automatically running the setxkbmap command without any arguments at startup (login), as shown below for Xubuntu:

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 21 '13 at 10:14

0

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

Open Text Entry

Text Entry

answered Oct 21 '13 at 10:14

Radu Rădeanu

169,590

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

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 22 '13 at 01:31

0

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.

answered Oct 22 '13 at 01:31

Leonardo Coutinho

19

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 07:38

Keyboard layout switches to English each time I reboot

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