Gnome shell: pressing the super key does not work

Question

I am using 11.10 with Gnome 3.2 and completely loving it. On one computer it works like a charm, but on another computer the super does not show the activities window. Mousing over the top-left corner does bring up the window, so I am not totally blocked, but I am really missing being able to just press the key to get there.

Does anybody have a clue how I could fix this?

[update] In System Settings, Keyboard, there is an option to change the shortcut for Show the activities overview, but I can't set it to super (I guess because it is considered to be a modifier-key). Any idea how I can solve that?

Solution 1

finally found it myself.

In older Ubuntu versions, go to System Settings > Keyboard Layout > Layouts and then choose Options.

In newer Ubuntu versions, install Tweaks (sudo apt install gnome-tweaks) and open it, then Keyboard & Mouse and then choose Additional Layout Options.

There is an option for the Alt/Win key behaviour and there I had the option selected Meta is mapped to Win keys.

Deselecting that option, and choosing Alt and meta are on Alt keys fixes it for me. At least the super is working again to access the Activities. Not quite sure what the impact is of this choice.

Solution 2

Okay. You might have locked your super button.

Try unlock it on your keyboard. It usually has two icons - a window key and a lock.

In my case, I have unlocked the super button by pressing

Right Fn + F12

Then everything is working perfectly.

Update:

My another keyboard is unlocked with FN + WINDOW key.

Solution 3

Under gnome 3.4.2.1, I had to use "Meta is mapped to Win keys". Now shortcuts with Super key work now.

Solution 4

In my case, I figured it was because "Overview Shortcut" was mapped to "Left Super", but I was clicking on "Right Super". Install tweaks and go to "Keyboard & Mouse" tab as follows:

Solution 5

In case you use a laptop stand with an additional keyboard unplugging re plugging the additional keyboard might fix the issue with the super/activity key.

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Comments

[Flimm]

I'm experiencing this issue in Ubuntu 20.04.

[Viv Diwakar]

Same - experiencing this with 20.04

[leoheck]

Same here on Ubuntu 20.04 it is pretty annoying. It works with En keyboard layout but it does not work with Pt-Br layout.

[Lionel Trebuchon]

@leoheck - I confirm, this was a great input! I often switch between Swiss-German and en layout, and hadn't realized that the super key never works in German, while it does in en!

[CharlyDelta]

I had a similar problem with Debian 9.2, and this helped. In gnome-tweak-tool, under Typing > Alt/Win key behaviour I just chose some random option and afterwards set it to Disabled again (which was the default). It then worked again.

[Liam Baker]

For me it was Fn + F2. Thank you so much!

[Flimm]

It did not work for me.

[Flimm]

It did not work for me.

[nathanvda]

@Flimm not really sure why you edited my answer like you did? Would such a change not warrant a new answer? My answer is now outdated obviously --2011 and I have moved to mac osx sinc 2012

[Flimm]

@nathanvda I made the answer up-to-date. The dialog is the same, you just need to go through a different set of menus to find it. If you think the answer is so out-of-date that it can't be edited to be made useful, feel free to delete your answer. (Stack Exchange doesn't have good solutions for information that gets out-of-date.)

[Lionel Trebuchon]

The answer is not out of date, it solved this problem for me on 20.04, (I had gnome-tweaks already installed). It is an unexpected answer too, I am very glad you went all the way to find it yourself.

[Mathias Ose]

On my keyboard it was Fn + F6. The F6 key is labeled "G/PC", which wasn't very descriptive.

[Michael Mantion]

TY fn + f2 or me also. Why is that even an option lol

[James Tan]

mine was function f2 on illegear raven

[George]

For me, I needed "Alt is swapped with Win"

[morhook]

On my alienware M15 R4 it was Fn + F6. The F6 key doesn't have any label though!

[Pat]

fn + F1 did it for me. Didn't even know this was a thing. Thanks!

[cactuschibre]

For me, I disabled the default "Left Win" in the section "Switching to another layout". Do not ask me why ...