Change Power Button Behavior in Ubuntu Linux

You change your Ubuntu Linux power button’s behavior through its Settings application.

This tutorial shows you how to configure what happens when you press the power button, like shutting down, sleeping, hibernating, or doing nothing.

For instance, you can prevent accidental shutdowns by setting the power button to have no action by default, a useful setting for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

How to change power button behavior in Ubuntu Linux

You can change what your Ubuntu power button does when you press it right from the main Settings app. This lets you pick exactly what happens, like shutting down or just putting your computer to sleep. It’s a simple way to adjust your Ubuntu power button settings to work best for you.

Open the Activities overview and type Settings to begin %📂%LNK0%copy%.

Alternatively, click the System menu at the top-right corner of your screen and select Settings %📂%LNK1%copy%.

Once the Settings app is open, follow this path: Power > Power Button Behavior.

Power Button Behavior options

When you go to change your Ubuntu power button settings, you’ll see a few different choices for what happens. You can pick ‘Suspend’ to put your computer to sleep, ‘Power Off’ to shut it down completely, ‘Nothing’ so the button does nothing, or ‘Interactive’ to get a pop-up menu first.

• Suspend: Puts your computer into sleep mode.
• Power Off: Shuts down the computer. This is the default setting.
• Nothing: The button will not trigger any action.
• Interactive: This option triggers a pop-up menu asking you what you would like to do.
• Hibernate: This may appear as an option if you have swap space correctly configured on your system.

Conclusion

Customizing your power button is a simple way to make your PC work the way you want. Whether you want to prevent accidental shutdowns or add a shortcut to sleep mode, these settings give you total control.