Numlock key turns on constantly, must push twice to turn off

[Tom White]

Since the 18.04 xubuntu upgrade, the numlock key turns on when the login screen appears (such as after locking the screen). I have this turned off in the BIOS, and I do not ever want it turned on. This "automatic" behavior is unwanted and unexpected. I see that I can disable this, but I shouldn't have to.

Also, after numlock is turned on I have to press the numlock key twice to get it to turn off. Since I lock my computer every time I stand up from my desk this is a constant annoyance.

This is not a feature, this is a bug.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: numlockx 1.2-7ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-20.21-generic 4.15.17
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Thu May 3 08:24:20 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-21 (741 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
SourcePackage: numlockx
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-05-02 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding)]

This looks like a negative side effect of bug 1746556.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

We included numlockx because this is normally a desired feature for desktop usage. Unfortunately these sorts of settings are not well handled in X11, and there's not a consistent way to turn the behavior on or off. If the automatic numlock setting is bothering you, you can uninstall the numlockx package on your system.

Meanwhile, we should document this so users can more easily find the solution in the future. Adding xubuntu-docs as affected.