I am trying to force numlock to be on upon initial boot at the login screen on Ubuntu 12.04. The only solutions I have found so far switch numlock on only after initial login.
I'm looking to force numlock to be on when the login screen is displayed, and before the user has logged in. Can anyone assist?
On many machines, you can set whether or not Number Lock is turned on on boot, in the BIOS settings (accessible when you first power on the machine).
Otherwise, there are a number of ways to enable (or disable) Number Lock in software, depending on your specific needs. The most useful ways are listed here.
If you want Number Lock turned on when Ubuntu starts (not before that on the GRUB menu, and not afterwards when logging in, and not just for specific virtual consoles), then install numlockx and make the initialization script /etc/init.d/rc.local use it to enable Number Lock:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install numlockx
sudo sed -i 's|^exit 0.*$|# Numlock enable\n[ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ] \&\& numlockx on\n\nexit 0|' /etc/init.d/rc.local
Source: NumLock, by Contributors to the Ubuntu documentation wiki, last line taken verbatim (as this source permits).
Here's what worked for me:
Ensure that numlockx is installed:
sudo apt-get install numlockx
Edit the file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Add the following line to the file:
greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on
Press Ctrl + X to exit Nano.
Yes, use locate command as follow:
locate 50-unity-greeter.conf
The output is:
/usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-unity-greeter.conf
So, the file you need to edit is the above file.
sudo apt-get install numlockx
gksu gedit /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-unity-greeter.conf
Add this line at the end of file:
greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on
For Enabling it on Login Screen
First, ensure that numlockx is installed, by typing these in terminal:
sudo apt-get install numlockx
Then, edit the file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
gksudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Add the following line to the file:
greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on
For Enabling Numlock by Default after Logging In..
Ubuntu 18.04
Open terminal by Ctrl+Alt+T
Run commands
sudo -i
xhost +SI:localuser:gdm
su gdm -s /bin/bash
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard numlock-state 'on'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad tap-to-click true
That's it...
In Ubuntu 20.04
To Keep it on
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard remember-numlock-state true
To Keep it off
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard numlock-state false
You can configure the way you like.
I have done this, and it worked for me. First, make sure you have universe repository added.
Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the commands below.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install numlockx
Now that numlockx is installed, create a file named Default in /etc/X11/ with these contents:
if [ -x /usr/bin/X11/numlockx ]; then
/usr/bin/X11/numlockx on
fi
exit 0
Turn off your Num Lock and reboot. Voilà!
Most BIOSes allow this to be enabled. You can check your BIOS for this feature.
OR
Go to : System Settings -> Keyboard Layout -> Options -> Miscellaneous compatibility options
Check "Default numeric keypad keys"
Xubuntu specific.
Versions from 14.10 include a pkexec mousepad action.
Follow previous answers to install numlockx
Edit /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf as root
Alt+F2 then
pkexec mousepad /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf
Add
greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on
then save.
If you are using lightdm you can add a file /etc/lightdm/slick-greeter.conf with
[Greeter]
activate-numlock=true
That will enable numlock at the login screen. I have encountered a small bug in the panel LED applet that shows indicators for numlock, scroll lock and caps lock. If you use this method then the indicator will show off, despite numlock being on. If you toggle numlock it will show the correct status.
To fix this add a startup application with the startup application app and add this command.
bash -c 'numlockx off && numlockx on'
Of course you need to install numlockx. If you do not use the indicator applet then you can probably ignore this last part.
Here is a little bash script which takes care of everything in an automated way:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
FILE='/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf'
KEYVALUE='greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on'
sudo apt --yes install numlockx
grep --quiet "$KEYVALUE" "$FILE" || echo "$KEYVALUE" | sudo tee --append "$FILE"
Do not forget to first make your bash script executable with chmod +x scriptname, then execute it with ./scriptname.
From the K Menu, launch System Settings and click on Keyboard (Edgy users: K Menu -> System Settings -> Keyboard and Mouse -> Keyboard). You can see in the middle section the options for "NumLock on KDE Startup", where you can choose to Turn On, Turn Off, or Leave Unchanged.09.07.2021
a copy from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NumLock
For Ubuntu Mate 22.04 (Jammy Jelly) with lightdm and arctica-greeter you can edit the configuration with dconf-editor in /org/ArcticaProject/arctica-greeter/. This is the official way and requires to run dconf-editor as the lightdm user, which is a problem. Settings done here take no effect if done as root or user.
A workaround for this bug is to create a gschema.override in /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/ with for example sudo vim /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/99_arctica_greeter.gschema.override and then recompile the schemas with sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
The schema could look something like this:
[org.ArcticaProject.arctica-greeter]
background='/home/user/Pictures/fuchs/snowfox.jpg'
activate-numlock=true
play-ready-sound=false
Add any other keys that you see in dconf-editor and adjust as required and then recompile the schemas.
I tested this solution in Xubuntu 24.04 but it also appeared here in 2015 in a now deleted answer, so it seems to be quite stable.
Install the numlockx package:
sudo apt-get install numlockx
Open its configuration file with your favorite editor:
sudo editor /etc/default/numlockx
Make sure the line starting with NUMLOCK reads:
NUMLOCK=on
Save the file.
