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green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

A similar question has already been asked in 2020 (forum/viewtopic.php?id=4341) and I'm looking for further advice.

I am using a USB keyboard with my laptop. The USB keyboard is US layout and my laptop is GB layout. I use the USB keyboard 90% of the time, so in Control Center, I set the Keyboard Layout to be US. I also modify the /etc/default/keyboard file (like in the above linked post) to:

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE
# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT=""
BACKSPACE="guess"

However, every 12 hours or whenever I reboot/shutdown, the layout reverts to GB. The login screen also doesn't let me choose a keyboard layout. Is there a way to prevent this behavior?

Output of "uname -a"

Linux mycomputer 6.12.96+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.96-1 (2026-07-20) x86_64 GNU/Linux

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Welcome to the forum

What desktop environment are you using, Plasma/Trinity/other ?

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Hello, I am using Trinity.

inxi output gives me:

System:
  Host: mycomputer Kernel: 6.12.96+deb13-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: TDE (Trinity) v: R14.1.5 Distro: Q4OS 6.8-deb13u1

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Open "Control Panel" > "Regional and Accessibility" > "Keyboard Layout".

Add "English (US)" so that both "English (GB)" and "English (US)" appear in "Active layouts". Then move "English (US)" to the top of the list to make it the default. Click "Apply", then "Close".

Log out and log back in. You should now see the keyboard layout indicator in the system tray with "US" selected as the active layout. Is that what you see?

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Yes that works, but the problem is the layout keeps reverting every ~12hours and every time I reboot.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

So try to reboot and check the layout. Does it revert again ?

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

yes it reverts to GB again

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Do you see the GB keyboard indicator in the systray immediately after login, without touching any key ? What is the sorting in control panel module, did it change too ?

Last edited by q4osteam (2026-08-05 10:40)

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

The keyboard indicator is not in the systray. The control panel module settings have not changed.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

The keyboard indicator is not in the systray.

That's weird. It should show keyboard indicator, and when you click on the indicator you should be able to manually switch the layout.

What Q4OS version do you use, and what .iso did you download ?

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

I updated the system and rebooted several times - my system now looks like your screenshot, except the keyboard keeps reverting to GB.  I used the iso from the official Q4OS site.

System:
  Host: mycomputer Kernel: 6.12.100+deb13-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: TDE (Trinity) v: R14.1.5 Distro: Q4OS 6.8-deb13u1

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Well, first reboot and log in.

- Do you see the "GB" keyboard layout indicator in the system tray?

Run `tdecmshell keyboard_layout` in a terminal. The keyboard layout settings window should open.
- Which language is in the first position, and which is in the second? A screenshot would be helpful.
If "GB" is in the first position, move "US" to the first position, then click Apply > OK

Don't reboot, open `tdecmshell keyboard_layout` again, and confirm whether the setting persists.

Then reboot, log in, repeat the same checks in complete as above, and post your findings.

Please follow the steps above as exact as possible. We will assess the results and suggest what to do next.

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

My keyboard layout settings look like your screenshot. The "us" option is above the "gb." When I re-open `tdecmshell keyboard_layout`, the setting persists. But the taskbar icon in the system tray is still "gb" and my US keyboard behaves like it is in GB layout.

When I reboot, log in, and repeat the same checks, the keyboard is still in GB layout. It only switches to US layout when I click the system tray icon (and then goes back to GB layout when I reboot again).

---

Attachments:
layout.png, Size: 72.96 KiB, Downloads: 15

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Please run in terminal and post the output:
$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf

green-moomin

Member

Registered: 2026-08-05

Posts: 8

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

# Read and parsed by systemd-localed. It's probably wise not to edit this file
# manually too freely.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
        Option "XkbVariant" ""
EndSection

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 6,291

Website

Re: Default keyboard layout keeps reverting to GB

Well, now try to disable this file:
$ cd /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
$ sudo mv 00-keyboard.conf .00-keyboard.conf.disabled
Reboot and post back