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I’ve installed Manjaro Linux (based on Arch Linux) as a dual boot with Windows 8.1 on a machine using UEFI. So far, it runs great, except that any changes to settings I make only last for that user session.

If I add a second keyboard layout, it works — until I log out or restart the computer, after which I have only my original English layout. The same thing happens when I change the number of workspaces, or the clock time (though that may be unrelated, as the Windows side clock is continuously wrong as well, though only in timezone, not minutes).

Is there anything I can do to get my settings to stick?

fixer1234
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Numeri
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  • Is there anything wrong with your home directory? What window manager or desktop environment are you using? –  Sep 13 '15 at 17:54
  • @ThomasWeinbrenner My home directory appears normal. I can save files and use the OS normally. There are a couple other issues, but I'm nearly certain they're related to drivers. I use XFCE. – Numeri Sep 14 '15 at 00:33
  • This could be a problem with the [Settings Daemon](http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-settings/xfsettingsd). Is `xfsettingsd` running? –  Sep 14 '15 at 04:20
  • Yes, I see `xfsettingsd --d` when I run `ps -ux`. – Numeri Sep 14 '15 at 17:37
  • Oops, forgot to @ThomasWeinbrenner. – Numeri Sep 14 '15 at 19:54
  • Please describe how are you adding/editing settings. – Alfabravo Sep 15 '15 at 14:32
  • @Alfabravo I open the settings ("All Settings") application, click on "Keyboard", click on the tab "Layout", then click "Add" under "Keyboard Layout" at the bottom of the application. Then, I select "German", and press "OK". At that point, I have a German keyboard I can use, as long as I switch from the English keyboard to the German one. I can then press "Close", and the settings application closes. I can then use the German keyboard until I restart the system, after which the settings are reverted to normal (all I have is an English keyboard, and no shortcut to switch between layouts). – Numeri Sep 15 '15 at 14:46

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To discard failures with the GUI tool, please change your keyboard layout following the instructions in the official documentation.

In particular, try with sudo keyboardctl -l de (or e.g. sudo keyboardctl -l de deadacute if you need a specific variant) to set your current layout. Might try kbctl -l be as well to see if it sets configuration permanently.

If you need a specific variant of a layout, you can get the available ones with cat /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst | grep de:, where de: gets the layouts for de locale (when you cat the whole file you'll see what I mean).

It is also relevant to check the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-mhwd.conf file (stated in docs too) as it might have a default layout set while you configured hardware, overriding other files.

Alfabravo
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  • I tried `sudo keyboardctl -l de`, which was reset, but `kbctl -l de` did work. I didn't understand the documentation enough though - how can I add a function to switch keyboards easily? The documentation showed how to edit **a** file to do that, but I couldn't tell which file. – Numeri Sep 15 '15 at 21:34
  • @Numeri According to docs, by running `kbctl`, you effectively edited the file `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-keyboard.conf` (or `10-evdev.conf` depending on Manjaro version, I guess). The switching between layouts goes on this file as well, as an option added to the config block you set. (***Note: I would file a bug nonetheless because you're experiencing a failing GUI.***) – Alfabravo Sep 15 '15 at 22:17
  • OK. Should I submit a bug for the GUI and for the command `keyboardctl -l`? – Numeri Sep 16 '15 at 13:18
  • Also, is this possibly related to my clock problems? The clock does the same thing. – Numeri Sep 16 '15 at 13:19
  • Now that I read back your question and your comment about the clock, it seems like it has problems getting "BIOS info" like the clock and stuff. Did you follow instructions to install dual boot in UEFI? https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=UEFI_-_Install_Guide – Alfabravo Sep 16 '15 at 17:21
  • I did follow the instructions, but I encountered many problems with setting it up, as nothing I could do (from that guide and others on the Internet) managed to actually get it booting to Linux. It always booted straight to Windows. I tried repairing Grub several times, and in different ways, but nothing worked. Eventually, I got to a grub shell (I believe), manually selected the boot file for Manjaro, and it booted. Now, it boots to both, but goes straight to Windows if I don't press escape to access a menu to select the boot device, where I can select the linux partition. – Numeri Sep 16 '15 at 20:27
  • All in all: I tried to follow that guide, but it didn't work. I troubleshooted extensively (several days), got it working, but it's still a little funky sometimes. :) – Numeri Sep 16 '15 at 20:28
  • @Numeri I think that can be fixed by setting the default one to boot. That was asked here: http://superuser.com/questions/973670/uefi-but-not-booting-directly – Alfabravo Sep 16 '15 at 21:46
  • I'll definitely try that. Would that fix just my booting straight to windows, or the clock/settings problem, too? – Numeri Sep 17 '15 at 15:26