Ubuntu 11.10 – Fix for Xterm Popping Up When Pressing Ctrl+F

11.10shortcut-keys

Yesterday I upgraded from 11.04 to 11.10. I can't use CTRL+F key combination anymore. It is remap to launch Xterm.

Does anyone know how to remove this mapping? I have never mapped to this key combination and not sure how this came about.

Thanks!

Best Answer

The culprit is xbinkeys, a software made to create custom shortcuts. The CTRL+F lauching xterm is an example in the configuration file (~.xbindkeysrc). Since Ubuntu 11.10 doesn't realise it is an example and use it by default, overriding all other uses of CTRL+F.

In order to set things back to normal do as follow :

  1. Open your home folder, and press CTRL+H to show hidden files.
  2. Open the file .xbindkeysrc (with gedit).
  3. Add a pound (#) at the beginning of each line starting with "xterm" and the following one (most probably lines 46-47 and 50-51).
  4. Save and exit.
  5. Then either logout/login again or restart xbindkeys: killall -HUP xbindkeys
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