How can I set default terminal used in Unity?

Question

How can I set the default terminal used in Unity?

I would like to use the Ctrl+Alt+T hotkey to start a non-default terminal. The default terminal is gnome-terminal.

Where can I change the default terminal value?

score 130 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 01 '16 at 11:05

130

For 12.04 and newer

gconf is now deprecated - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GConf - and gsettings can be used in its place.

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec 'terminal'

Where terminal is the command you would use to open it from the terminal.

edited Nov 01 '16 at 11:05

Community

1

answered Feb 16 '13 at 02:30

LucaB

1,461

I have installed terminator as terminal and uninstalled gnome-terminal but the command you suggested does not work for me. – Gaurav Agarwal Apr 09 '14 at 09:59
Works fine for me on 13.10. – Martin Apr 10 '14 at 11:29
2

I use Terminator as my main terminal, but after running this command, ctrl+alt+T does not work anymore at all. – user1880405 Sep 21 '14 at 16:09
@user1880405 Do you have konsole installed? – a06e Nov 05 '14 at 21:36
@becko No, I don't think so. – user1880405 Nov 06 '14 at 13:48
You have to run the above command with konsole replaced with a terminal that you have installed on your system. – a06e Nov 06 '14 at 15:09
For the sake of completeness (and because I messed up) -- how do I restore the default value after using this? – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Feb 27 '15 at 21:37
2

@TorbenGundtofte-Bruun replace konsole with gnome-terminal – Rumesh Apr 25 '15 at 11:39
Great answer. Works well with Gnome Desktop 14.04 too! :) – Terrance May 07 '15 at 21:36
1

Still works for Ubuntu 16.04 – geekQ Jun 11 '16 at 12:02
For some reason this didn't work on 16.04. Ctrl+Alt+T then had no effect. I then tried to change it back to gnome-terminal, but same thing. @iegik's answer worked and Ctrl+Alt+T worked again. – Nateowami Jan 30 '17 at 02:11
Also, dconf or dconf-editor can be used as a GUI-based config tool (at least on Ubuntu 16.10). – nekketsuuu Apr 22 '17 at 23:17
This and the sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator appear to work with changing what ctrl-alt-t do, but it doesn't appear to change nautilus from opening gnome-terminal for me on ubuntu 16.04 – Programster Jul 20 '18 at 14:06
On Ubuntu Unity 22.04, this will affect the Ctrl-Alt-T shortcut but not the "Open in terminal" option in Nemo file manager. Thanks – KaKi87 Feb 21 '23 at 06:04

score 73 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 24 '12 at 10:31

73

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

answered Apr 24 '12 at 10:31

iegik

1,843

6

While this is a great answer to the question (and generally a preferrable way to change a default program IMHO) this may not be the 'weapon of choice' in all circumstances. To elaborate: I wanted to set guake terminal as default but it never showed when trying to do so by update-alternatives. – FuzzyQ Aug 04 '12 at 17:13
1
Also, You can edit directly to the script xdg-open :)
```
`sudo gedit \`which xdg-open\``
```
– iegik Aug 06 '12 at 09:40
1

This does not change the shortcut command result, as clearly stated in the question, I don't get why it has so many upvotes. – m3rosss Jul 30 '17 at 11:00
It works for me on Ubuntu 17.04. I installed terminology and it became the Ctrl+Alt+T terminal. Ran update-alternatives and changed it back to gnome-terminal, and it worked immediately. – rjh Dec 19 '17 at 15:21

score 40 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

40

Only in Ubuntu 11.10 or earlier! For newer versions see LucaB answer!

Open a terminal (e.g. gnome-terminal)

Run the next command:

gconftool --type string --set /desktop/gnome/applications/terminal/exec <YOUR-TERMINAL>

e.g.:

gconftool --type string --set /desktop/gnome/applications/terminal/exec terminator

Done :).

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Oct 26 '11 at 11:37

Regisz

2,180

5

This doesn't fix it for me. When I start Htop via its .desktop file (which specifies Terminal=True), it starts in Gnome Terminal no matter what. Is there yet another place to change the default terminal emulator? – Ryan C. Thompson May 04 '12 at 01:05
2

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS BELLOW! – Sep 10 '13 at 13:22
@gerep My answer is correct, because the question defined exactly the Ubuntu version: 11.10. Of course in the newer versions the gconftool is deprecated, so not this the right solution. – Regisz Sep 12 '13 at 09:28

score 28 · Answer 4 · answered May 06 '12 at 20:14

28

To change the shortcut and not default termainal,

search for keyboard
go to shortcuts and custom shortcuts
press the plus sign to add new shortcut (in this case terminator)
when told that the shortcut ctrl+alt+t is already in use press "reasign"

search for keyboard add new shortcut reasign

answered May 06 '12 at 20:14

Kempe

2,745

2

does not work for me. – Gaurav Agarwal Mar 23 '14 at 18:26
+100 for being the easiest to understand and the one that has withstood the test of time. – Brandon Bertelsen Dec 23 '16 at 18:03
Since sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator came back with "There is only one alternative in link group x-terminal-emulator (providing /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator): /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper Nothing to configure." and this even though I have Guake installed, I used this option. Changed the normal terminal to Shift+Ctrl+Alt+T and setup Guake to use Ctrl+Alt+T in its place. The only issue is that I'd like to right click and Open in Terminal too. Plus, Guake is set to F12 and what I prefer to use over Ctrl+Alt+T either way. It's a nice addition, nonetheless. – Natetronn Mar 28 '19 at 23:21

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 10 '16 at 16:56

7

Try to change option x-terminal-emulator via "ALternatives Configurator" app.

for ubuntu you can use the command below:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

It will list all the terminal options you have installed and then you can pick (by the number) the one you want.

edited Nov 10 '16 at 16:56

Anwar

76,649

answered Oct 26 '11 at 10:42

korjjj

496

2

a little bit helping: 'Alternatives Configurator' is 'galternatives' – Regisz Oct 26 '11 at 14:20

Bruno Pereira · Answer 6 · 2011-10-26T20:33:50.050

5

To configure the default terminal in gnome you need to install dconf-tools (sudo apt-get install dconf-tools).

After that you can use the gsettings to set your favorite terminal emulator.

Lets say your favourite terminal emulator is termite.

Install it with sudo apt-get install termite

After that type this command

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec termite

Since termite does not take any arguments (or it does, depends on what you do with it, you can set them this way) use this to set empty or set the exec-args for the terminal you need

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec-arg ""

After this termite will be your default terminal emulator.

edited Oct 26 '11 at 20:33

answered Oct 26 '11 at 20:26

Bruno Pereira

73,643

there is another way outlined in http://askubuntu.com/questions/70540/how-can-i-set-default-terminal-used – krumpelstiltskin Nov 16 '11 at 21:15
Its the same thing, really does not mater, this way uses the replacement tool for gconf – Bruno Pereira Nov 16 '11 at 21:22
exec-arg didn't work for me unfortunately. I was trying to start terminal in fullscreen mode. The only option that helped was specifying the option in configuration. I am using terminator – Timofey Oct 29 '12 at 20:57

score 4 · Answer 7 · edited May 16 '17 at 07:35

4

Try

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

edited May 16 '17 at 07:35

muru

197,895
55
485
740

answered Oct 26 '11 at 19:17

Kris Harper

13,477

1

Hmm, on second thought, this doesn't seem to be updating it. – Kris Harper Oct 26 '11 at 19:21

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Sep 14 '14 at 17:31

2

This worked in Ubuntu 13.10

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec terminator

edited Sep 14 '14 at 17:31

αғsнιη

35,660

answered Sep 14 '14 at 17:22

flametoast

21

This is what worked for me on Ubuntu 14.04 with terminator – trueCamelType Sep 03 '16 at 02:23

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 26 '11 at 20:17

The update-alternatives system is a Debian thing, but Gnome run on many more distributions, so it has its own way to define preferred applications.

You can set default terminal through the utility gnome-default-applications-properties, also accessible through gnome-control-center as Preferred Applications.

Alternatively you can set the gconf registry key /desktop/gnome/applications/terminal/exec.

However, it is not guaranteed that all applications provided by Gnome, like nautilus, will respect this setting, or rather use their own settings.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 26 '11 at 10:35

If you go to the Keyboard shortcuts, you will notice under the Launcher section that Ctrl+Alt+T is tied to the "Launch Terminal" action. I haven't tested it yet, but you can create a Custom Shortcut to your preferred Terminal, and bind that shortcut to it instead.

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 10 '16 at 16:58

0

OK, one weird thing is that the compiled gnome-terminal with the patch will not work if your DISPLAY var is :0 , works flawlessly if DISPLAY=localhost:0.

So you can edit /usr/bin/gnome-terminal/wrapper and add this:

ENV{"DISPLAY"}="localhost:0";

right before the exec line.

Subsequently you can use /usr/bin/gnome-terminal/wrapper as the launcher!

edited Nov 10 '16 at 16:58

Anwar

76,649

answered Oct 14 '14 at 14:13

Angelos Karageorgiou

1

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited May 16 '17 at 07:35

0

sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator <terminal-path>

For example:

sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator /usr/bin/tilix

If you want to do it with interactive mode or check paths:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

edited May 16 '17 at 07:35

muru

197,895
55
485
740

answered May 16 '17 at 07:32

Mcmil

216

How can I set default terminal used in Unity?

12 Answers12

For 12.04 and newer

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