Under System Settings->Keyboard there is a checkbox that is marked to turn Keyboard Number lock on at login. I have it checked but the number lock is not on. Am I missing something?
Probably a login in a desktop. Which one?
Duh! kde of course. But not always, I also have Gnome installed and use it only infrequently.
Actually, I’m more concerned with entering my password at the login screen. Which means it doesn’t matter the desktop.
If you are talking of the KDE settings for keyboard, then I suppose those won’t work until after login.
I’m finding that numlock is on but the numlock LED is off. If I hit the numlock button twice, that turns the LED on. If I hit it only once, that turns numlock off.
Checking Yast settings, they say that numlock should be at the BIOS settings. But that stopped working some time ago (several opensuse versions back). I think the kernel stopped using BIOS defaults.
That makes sense.
I’m finding that numlock is on but the numlock LED is off. If I hit the numlock button twice, that turns the LED on. If I hit it only once, that turns numlock off.
Not on my system. I’m used to having it on, so I often just start typing my numerically prefaced password, and no dots show up. One press of the Num Lock key and I’m good. It’s not the end of the world, I’ll learn to press the key, it would just be a little more convenient to have it on at the start as it has been like forever!
Checking Yast settings, they say that numlock should be at the BIOS settings. But that stopped working some time ago (several opensuse versions back). I think the kernel stopped using BIOS defaults.
As we have a new kernel, perhaps it’ll get corrected in the future. Don’t suppose it high on the priority list though.
No, that still works fine.
And they don’t say that numlock should be at the BIOS settings. You can choose between BIOS, On/Yes, or Off/No.
I think the kernel stopped using BIOS defaults.
Yes, the kernel doesn’t use BIOS defaults (it actually disables NumLock explicitly I think), but the display-manager start script switches on NumLock according to the setting in /etc/sysconfig/keyboard (if the setting is at the default “bios”, it only turns it on if it is turned on in the BIOS).
But that “bios” setting might not work on all hardware…
On my system here, it worked with my older PS/2 keyboard, it doesn’t work with the new USB one that I use since a year.
The problem lies in the BIOS though, it doesn’t manage to turn NumLock on for some reason. The LED just flashes briefly and turns itself off again before the boot menu is even shown.
Setting NumLock to “Yes” in YaST->System->System Keyboard Layout (or /etc/sysconfig/keyboard) should work in any case though, and affect the NumLock state on the login screen (your desktop settings might override this on login of course).
If using sddm, you can also enable NumLock on the login screen in /etc/sddm.conf, see “man sddm.conf”.
kdm has a similar setting too.
I have the same problem:
openSUSE Leap 42.2, KDE desktop.
kde5 systemsettings - input devices - keyboard - NumLock at Plasma-start : On
Yast - hardware - keyboard - Advanced - NumLock on at startup : Yes
However, on startup, NumLock is always off and I have to switch it on manually.
It was on with Leap 42.1, but since the upgrade to 42.2, it is off.
Oh, and Thunderbird no longer starts on startup of KDE, which it did (kde5 systemsettings - Autostart : thunderbird, status ’ Switched On’). I have to start it manually.
This may be a bug in systemd or the Xorg startup scripts (which set NumLock according to YaST’s settings as already explained) or in YaST in 42.2.
What does the file /etc/sysconfig/keyboard contain?
grep NUMLOCK /etc/sysconfig/keyboard
You may want to explicitly set it in KDE’s settings instead, that should work in any case.
Oh, and Thunderbird no longer starts on startup of KDE, which it did (kde5 systemsettings - Autostart : thunderbird, status ’ Switched On’). I have to start it manually.
And how is this related? 
An alternative,
There is often (if not always) a BIOS numlock setting which I set to “on”
Then, after that I’ve found that my numlock key always maintains its status however I set it (on or off).
TSU
I’ve a triple boot with openSUSE 13.2 and openSUSE Leap 42.2.
For both
YaST->System->System Keyboard Layout->Advanced: BIOS settings
is chosen, while in KDE’s settings for numlock: leave unchanged.
Result:
Booting openSUSE 13.2, numlock is turned off when I’m asked to enter the password for my encrypted /home directories, but numlock is turned on when KDE is up.
Booting openSUSE Leap 42.2 on the same machine, numlock stays turned off.
2017, and this problem is still open…
Yast->Hardware->System Keyboard Layout->Expert Settings: Num lock is ON
Yast->System->/etc/sysconfig->Hardware->Keyboard->KBD_NUMLOCK is ON
BIOS settings: Num lock is ON.
But when I’m logging to my session, num lock is OFF.
I turn on num lock manually -> Num lock is active.
But if I switch to a text terminal (Ctrl+Alt+Fx), Num Lock is again disabled!
It’s annoying…
Whatever I do, no NUMLOCK is on after boot…