Have your Ubuntu PC connected with multiple monitors? Here’s how to enable the top bar in all the displays.

In Ubuntu 22.04, you may easily enable the left Dock in all displays via System Settings ->Appearance -> Dock -> show on ‘All Displays’.

However, due to GNOME’s design issue, the top panel only appears in the primary display. So I’m writing this tutorial that could help.

Method 1: Multi Monitors Add-On

There was an extension called “Multi Monitors Add-On” to do the job, which however discontinued. Contributors keep forking the project with new Gnome versions support, and here’s the one for GNOME 42.

NOTE: The extension has an issue in my case that indicators and top-right system menu do not display in external display.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to grab the source tarball.

git clone https://github.com/realh/multi-monitors-add-on.git

Install git if you don’t have it via sudo apt install git command.

2. After cloned the source, navigate to the source folder, and install it by copy and pasting to local extension directory.

cd multi-monitors-add-on

cp -r multi-monitors-add-on@spin83 ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/

3. To avoid error in extension manager, disable the version validation check by running command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell disable-extension-version-validation true

4. Before being able to enable the extension, you have to restart GNOME Shell. For default session, you need to log out and back in. If you’re running the classic Xorg session, press Alt + F2, type r in pop-up ‘Run a command’ box and hit Enter.

5. Finally, use either Gnome Extensions app or Extension Manager (both available to install in Ubuntu Software) to enable and configure this extension to display top panel on multi-monitors.

Method 2: use dash to panel

If you’re OK to merge the left dock and top-bar into a single panel. The popular “Dash-to-panel” extension can do the job with a simple on/off switch.

Dash to Panel

To install the extension, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard and run command in pop-up terminal to install ‘Extension Manager’:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

Then search for and launch extension manager in ‘Activities’ overview screen:

Finally, search for and install ‘Dash to panel’ extension from the app window under ‘Browse’ tab.

Once successfully installed the extension, your panels change automatically. And, you can right-click on panel and select the last menu option to open the configuration dialog.

Some applications display notifications in the lock screen, which could be quite annoying!

If you want, you can disable all of them or certain app notifications easily via Gnome Control Center.

1.) Firstly, go to the top-right corner system menu. Then click on “Settings” to open system settings utility, which is also known as gnome control center.

2.) When it opens, navigate to “Notifications” from the left pane. Then, just turn off “Lock Screen Notifications” will disable all the notifications:

3.) For choice, you may scroll down to find out a certain application. Click on it, and toggle the option in the next pop-up dialog.

As you see, there are also options to turn on/off sound alerts, notification bubble, message content in per app basis.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Want to display your computer’s temperature, voltage, fan speed, memory usage, and other system resources usage in top panel? Vitals is a good choice for Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, and other Linux with GNOME desktop.

It’s a Gnome Shell extension that can display following information on your system tray area:

• CPU core temerature.
• Voltage.
• Fan speed.
• Memory and Swap usage.
• Processor load, frequency.
• System load, uptime.
• Network speed.
• Storage usage.

A drop-down menu is available to take a glimpse of all available data. And, user may click on menu option to select which to display on panel.

There are as well bottom buttons to quickly launch system monitor utility and open the extension “Preferences” dialog. In which, you may configure the refresh interval, indicator position, as well as toggle display sensors.

How to Install Vitals Extension:

The extension supports GNOME from version 3.18 to the current 42. Which means, you may install and run it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 34/35/36, and other Linux (e.g., Debian, Arch, Manjaro) with GNOME.

Method 1: Install the extension via browser

Ubuntu user needs to firstly press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command to install the agent to install Gnome Extension from web browser.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Then, go the link below and turn on the slider icon to install the extension:

Click the link in the page to install browser extension if you don’t see the slider icon, and refresh the page.

Method 2: Install the extension in Ubuntu 22.04 via Extension Manager

Ubuntu 22.04 defaults to Firefox as Snap which does not support installing Gnome Extensions. Besides using another browser or install back the classic .Deb package, “Extension Manager” is a good alternative.

1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install the application:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

2. Next, search for and open the tool from either Activities overview or app grid:

3. Finally, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab in Extension Manager app, search for and install ‘Vitals’ extension:

The indicator should appear immediately on your system panel after installation.

Want to hide the lock screen option from the upper-right corner system menu? Here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

For Ubuntu, Fedora and other Linux with GNOME desktop, the screen lock can be disabled either totally or only from the system menu.

Method 1: Single command to disable lock screen

GNOME has a hidden option to disable the lock screen. Simply press “Ctrl+Alt+T” on keyboard to open terminal, then run the command below will do the trick:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.lockdown disable-lock-screen true

This command works on all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and even other Linux with recent GNOME, e.g., Debian 11/12, Fedora, etc.

NOTE: This command not only hide the menu option, but also completely disable the lock screen function. The Super+L shortcut and automatic screen lock when system idle will no longer work!

For those prefer a graphical configuration tool, this can also be done via “Dconf Editor” tool which is available to install in Ubuntu Software.

To re-enable this feature, open terminal and run command:

gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.lockdown disable-lock-screen

Method 2: Only hide menu option via Gnome Extension

To just hide the option from system menu, but keep all other ways (e.g, Super+L and idle action) to trigger lock screen, there’s an extension for Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 36, and other Linux with GNOME 42.

1.) Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to install extension manager:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

2.) Next, press Super (Windows) key on keyboard to open “Activities” overview screen, then search for and open the tool:

3.) Finally, search for and install “Hide Lock item in System Menu” extension from Browse tab and done.

For Fedora 36, you may visit the extension web page and turn on the slider icon to install it.

Got an invisible app window called “gjs” in Ubuntu 22.04 desktop? Here’s how to kill it without log out the current session.

GJS, stands for Gnome JavaScript, it’s part of Gnome-shell use as JavaScript programming environment. In Ubuntu, the default Desktop Icons NG (DING) extension use gjs, which could cause the issue sometimes.

When the issue happens, you’ll see an app icon called “gjs” in the dock, but no app window visible. You can not close it by the context menu option. And, it’s annoying that other applications are not reachable via mouse clicks until switch focus via Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut.

Invisible gjs in overview

Until GNOME or maybe the extension developers fixed the issue, user may manually kill the process to get rid of it.

Kill the process via system monitor

Firstly, press Super / Windows key on keyboard to open ‘Activities’ overview, search for and open “System Monitor” app:

When it opens, scroll down and find out the process. There are usually multiple gjs processes. Move mouse pointer over one of them will display a tooltip about it.

It’s safe to kill the process by clicking to highlight and then hitting “End Process” button. The invisible “gjs” window should disappear immediately if you killed the correct one. And, the process will start again automatically.

Kill the process via Linux command:

For those familiar with Linux command, simply open terminal and run command to find out the process:

ps ax |grep gjs

Then, kill process by using the pid:

sudo kill -9 PID_HERE

Trying out different Gnome Extensions frequently? The new “Extension Manager” app is really a good choice to make life easier!

We usually install extensions by browsing through the Gnome Extension website and using the on page on/off switch. Then, manage the settings via a separate ‘Extensions’ app. However, Ubuntu’s pre-installed Firefox does not support the process since it’s a Snap package.

Without installing anther browser package and opening the site time by time, a new project “Extension Manager” has been created as an “App Center” for Gnome Extensions.

Manage installed extensions

The app integrates an “Installed” tab to enable, disable, remove extensions and manage their settings, just like “Extensions” app does.

In the “Browse” tab, it allows to search extensions with “Popularity”, “Downloads”, “Recent” and “Name” filters. And, it provides button to install extensions directly from search results that are compatible with your Gnome edition.

Search and install extensions

Like Ubuntu Software (or Gnome Software), user may view the details about an extension in a separate page with screenshot, description, supported Gnome versions, and reviews.

Extension Detail page

Install the Extension Manager in Ubuntu & Other Linux

For Ubuntu 22.04, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run to install the package:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

Run sudo apt update to refresh package cache on a brand new system in case the command does not work.

After that, you may click the top-left “Activities”, then search for and open the application:

For old Ubuntu releases and other Linux, the application is available to install as universal Flatpak package. Do the setup first, and then install the package from Flathub page (Run the bottom command).

How to Remove Extension manager

For any reason, you may remove the extension manager by opening terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gnome-shell-extension-manager

If you installed it via the Flatpak package, use this command instead to remove it:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.mattjakeman.ExtensionManager

And remove useless libraries via flatpak uninstall --unused.

Want to set a certain size of your desktop icons and/or change the spacing between them? Here’s how to do the job in Ubuntu 22.04.

Ubuntu 22.04 defaults to GNOME desktop 42 and uses an extension called “Desktop Icons NG” (DING in short) to handle shortcut icons on desktop.

It provides 4 icon sizes (“Tiny”, “Small”, “Normal”, and “Large”) in ‘Appearance‘ settings for choose from.

Change icon size via Appearance settings page

If somehow the default icon sizes do not meet you need, then you may edit the source file and customize the 4 sizes manually.

1. Edit the config file

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to edit the file which is located in ‘/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ding@rastersoft.com/’ directory:

sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ding@rastersoft.com/enums.js

sudo is required as it’s a system wide extension and you need to type user password to authenticate when running the command.

When file opens, you’ll see the first line (except the comments) defines the icon sizes in pixels:

var ICON_SIZE = { ‘tiny’: 36, ‘small’: 48, ‘standard’: 64, ‘large’: 96 };

Just change the number 36, 48, 64 and 96 will replace the corresponding ‘tiny’, ‘small’, ‘normal’, and ‘large’ icon sizes.

And, change the numbers in lines of “ICON_WIDTH” and “ICON_HEIGHT” will adjust how large the square area that each icon takes. It’s the orange area when you drag and drop an icon, which can be useful if you want to change the icon spacing.

NOTE: The change will take place for all system users. For single user only, you may copy the extension folder to local directory ‘.local/share/gnome-extensions’. However, the option in “Appearance” won’t work for the local copy.

2. Apply change

After editing and saving the config file, search for and open “Gnome Extensions” app.

App to Manage your extensions

Install the tool via sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs command if you don’t have it.

When the app opens, turn off “Desktop Icons NG” extension and turn it on again will apply the changes you made in previous step.

Want to change the background wallpaper or just set another color for Ubuntu Gnome login screen? Here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04!

As you may know, the GDM background is not easy to modify since GNOME hard-coded the CSS into a .gresource file. Thankfully, there’s now a graphical configuration tool can do the job for Ubuntu 22.04 and higher.

It’s GDM Settings, a free open-source tool not only for changing the background for GNOME login screen, but also supports for configuring login screen for following things:

• Change the Fonts.
• Tweak top-bar color, background.
• Configure sound, mouse and touchpad.
• Disable User list.

Continue Reading…

Ubuntu 22.04 has a new in-shell screenshot UI for taking screenshots and recording desktop. The old default screenshot app (GNOME Screenshot) is no longer available out-of-the-box.

For those somehow sticking to the old screenshot tool, here’s how to install it back and configure keyboard shortcuts in Ubuntu 22.04.

old default Gnome Screenshot app

Install Gnome Screenshot:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below will install the app back from Ubuntu universe repository:

sudo apt install gnome-screenshot

Type user password (no visual feedback) for sudo authentication and hit Enter

Install Gnome Screenshot

After installation, you may search for and open the app from ‘Activities’ overview screen.

Or use the steps below to set up keyboard shortcuts for this tool.

Set shortcut keys for GNOME Screenshot:

By default, you may press Shift+Print to immediately capture the full-screen, and use Alt+Print to capture focused app window. And, Print key is used to bring up the in-shell screenshot UI. For choice, you may replace the shortcuts keys via Gnome Control Center.

1. Firstly, open system settings (aka, gnome-control-center) from system tray menu:

2. When it opens, navigate to ‘Keyboard‘ in the left. Then click ‘View and Customize Shortcuts‘ in bottom right.

3. If you want to re-bind Print, Alt+Print, Shift+Print shortcut keys via other screenshot actions, disable them (press Backspace in set shortcut dialog) in under ‘Screenshots’ shortcuts page.

4. Next, go back ‘Keyboard Shortcuts’ page, scroll down and select “Custom Shortcuts“. Then you may click ‘Add Shortcut’ (or ‘+’ icon) button to add new custom shortcuts.

• Name: type name of the shortcut as you prefer.
• Command:
  • gnome-screenshot --window – grab the current active window immediately.
  • gnome-screenshot --area – start area selection.
  • gnome-screenshot – capture the full-screen immediately.
• Shortcut: click ‘Set Shortcut…’ and press the key combination to bind the keyboard shortcut.

For more command line options of Gnome Screenshot, run man gnome-screenshot in terminal.

That’s all. Enjoy!

GNOME 42 is out! The upcoming Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will take use it as the default desktop environment.

If you’ve tried out the latest update of Ubuntu 22.04 development build, you should already see the brand new appearance of the GNOME desktop.

It introduced the new ‘Appearance‘ settings page, with options to switch between Dark and Light mode. As well, each wallpaper has both dark and light editions that changes automatically.

GNOME 42 Appearance Settings

Ubuntu has ‘Appearance’ settings page for a few years. In Ubuntu 22.04, the page has been modified. While wallpaper selection is available in ‘Background’ tab, it provides light/dark switch along with new accent color, desktop icons, and dock settings.

Ubuntu 22.04 Appearance Settings Page

The Gnome Screenshot app has been replaced with the desktop’s built-in screenshot UI. Just press ‘Print Screen‘ on keyboard to bring up the UI. Then, you may take a screenshot of selection area, app window, or full-screen. It as well has ability to record your desktop or selection area.

The UI supports keyboard shortcuts. However, it won’t work once you changed the trigger from ‘Print Screen’ to another.

• V – switch between screen capture and recorder mode.
• s – selection area.
• c – full-screen.
• w – app window.
• Enter / Space / Ctrl+C – capture

Gnome New Screenshot UI

Many apps has been ported to GTK4 + libadwaita, but Ubuntu 22.04 is said to avoid GTK4 due to theme issue. You’ll see some apps has 4 corners rounded (e.g., Files and Image Viewer) which are GTK4. While, others are GTK3 apps that have sharp bottom corners.

GNOME 42 introduced 2 new defaults apps: Gnome Text Editor and Gnome Console. The latter is really my favorite. However, Ubuntu 22.04 still uses Gedit and Gnome Terminal at the moment!

2 New Default Apps in GNOME 42

And, GNOME finally uses Microsoft’s RDP protocal to provide remote desktop service, which is more secure that the VNC connection. User may get the settings in ‘Sharing’ tab in Gnome Control Center.

Other changes in GNOME 42 include:

• Videos player (Totem) and Gnome web have hardware accelerated support.
• Improved file indexing and full-screen app handling to reduce energy consumption.
• significantly enhanced input handling.

Get GNOME 42:

If you’re an Ubuntu user, I would recommend to try out Ubuntu 22.04 daily build ISO or just wait for the final release. Or, you may try the GNOME OS Nightly.