Ubuntu – get the classic “run command” window

command lineunity-dash

I love unity but I hate it when Alt+F2 brings up the dash. Is it possible to just remap Alt+F2 so that the thing looks like exactly the old Alt+F2

enter image description here

I know what I want is like going back in time but I really loved that fast command runner in old gnome. I can bring up terminal using Ctrl+Alt+T and run anything I want but it sometimes is a overkill to bring up something like that for small things.

And I used to like the fact that older window was fast, had autofill and would disappear after launching the command. Or is there a utilty that looks somewhat like that and can be installed and mapped to some key.

Best Answer

This answer is not exactly to get the classic Alt+F2 Run command windows.

But we can achieve something simillar to good old "Run command" window using the below programs

  • Compizconfig Settings Manager
  • gmrun

If you dont have these packages installed. Here is the steps:

Open terminal and type 

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
sudo apt-get install gmrun

Now open Compizconfig-setting-manager using dash. Navigate to

  • General -> Commands (Enable commands) enter image description here
  • Open Commands tab -> In Command line 0 enter the value gmrun enter image description here
  • Open Key Bindings tab -> In Run Command 0 enter image description here
    • Click on Disabled icon and make it Enabled(tick mark)
    • Click Grab key combination and use your desired key(I choose Alt+R enter image description here
  • Done now you can use Alt + R to open the "Run Applications" box enter image description here
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