Customizing GNOME power button settings

GNOME is the default desktop on RHEL Linux. When you press the power button, it suspends the system. You can modify this setting to customize the action it should take when the power button is pressed. This tutorial explains how to override the default power button behavior.

Prerequisites

• A RHEL system with GNOME desktop
• The root or superuser access

Creating the configuration file

Log in as the root or superuser account and open a terminal. The /etc/dconf/db/local.d/01-power file allows you to customize the action GNOME takes when you press the power button. By default, this file is not present. Create this file and add the following lines.

#vim  /etc/dconf/db/local.d/01-power
[org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power]
power-button-action=’[option]’

:wq
#

The following table describes the available options.

The above configuration file customizes the power button options for all users. However, it does not force them to use the defined option. To forcefully apply the selected option to all users, create the /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/01-power file and add the following line.

#vim /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/01-power
/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power/power-button-action
:wq

#

Update the configuration database.

#dconf update

Verifying the configuration

Log out as the root user and log in as a regular user account. Press the power button. The system should take the configured action. For example, if you specified the interactive option, it should display a window to select the option.

Troubleshooting

The option you define in the configuration file must be enclosed in quotes. If you specify it without quotes, you will get the following error when updating the configuration database.

/etc/dconf/db/local.d: 01-power [/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power]:
power-button-action: invalid value: interactive: 0-11 unknown keyword

To fix this issue, enclose the specified option in quotes.

Removing the custom power options

To remove the custom power option settings, delete the /etc/dconf/db/local.d/01-power and /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/01-power files.

#rm  /etc/dconf/db/local.d/01-power
#rm /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/01-power

Update the configuration database.

#dconf update

To verify the custom configuration has been removed, log out and log back in, and press the power button. The system should suspend.

Conclusion

Customizing power button options lets you manage power settings for your laptop running RHEL. In this tutorial, I explained how to configure, lock, and manage these options.