Change external keyboard layout for gaming-mode on Steam Deck

You need to have a root-password for this. If your not already having one do the following:

  • Open a terminal (type terminal on desktop or use menu)
  • type passwd
  • enter your preferred password
  • that password can now be used for all commands that need admin rights (those commands begin with sudo)

Now open a terminal, open the file with nano and put in the XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT into the file and press STRG+X and press y to save the file.

sudo nano /etc/environment

## add your wanted localization in the file (see the following file)

XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT=de
ShellScript

then reboot your steam deck and german keyboard layout will work in gaming mode (Happy qwertz!)

Edit: you can also use the decky plugin “KLang” in gaming-mode!

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5 responses

  1. Conhulio Avatar
    Conhulio

    THX for the tutorial, i’m Linux noob but was handle it with your help. 🙂

  2. I havn’t tried it yet but nice!
    One question: does the steam deck recognize it when I unplug the keyboard in gaming mode and reverts back to using the decks buttons?

  3. This helped perfect, thx you very much

  4. SĂ©bastien Avatar
    SĂ©bastien

    If I have a french bluetooth keyboard (azerty) what can I do

  5. Partal Avatar
    Partal

    I’m a complete noob when it comes to Linux. Thank you so much for the tutorial <3

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