Enable Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials Tips & Tricks
#1

Enable the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

  1. Open the Terminal and run gksu pluma /etc/default/keyboard

  2. Find the line:
    XKBOPTIONS=""

  3. Replace it with:
    XKBOPTIONS="terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"

  4. Save the modified file and close it.

  5. Reboot your computer to take affect.

For those who don’t know the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Backspace use to be enabled by default in previous version of Ubuntu. When pressed, this key combination will drop you back to the login screen. This is useful if for some reason your system become unresponsive. However, any unsaved work will be lost. So you need to take this possibility into account before you enable this function.

8 Likes
My story of Linux, but the desktop tends to crash
#2

You can also access the xkb options in the GUI settings: Control Center → Keyboard → Layouts tab → Options… button → Key sequence to kill the X server

You’ll also find a lot of other interesting keyboard options, such as enabling the Compose key (which is how I typed those fancy arrows :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: )

5 Likes
#3

Thank you @elcste many options to choose from. Will check them out when time permits.