Why Does Ubuntu Remember the Last Opened Settings Panel?
By default, when you open the “Settings” (GNOME Control Center) application in Ubuntu, it does not open to the main overview screen. Instead, it aggressively remembers the exact sub-panel you were looking at the last time you closed the app (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Displays) and immediately jumps back to it.
While intended to save time if you are tweaking the same setting repeatedly, it can be disorienting if you open Settings expecting to see the main menu, only to find yourself deep inside the “Printers” configuration. If you prefer the Settings app to open to the default main screen every single time, you can disable this memory feature using a hidden configuration key.
How to Force Ubuntu Settings to Open to the Main Menu
You will need to use the gsettings command in the terminal to change this behavior.
- Open your Ubuntu Terminal (shortcut:
Ctrl + Alt + T). - Copy and paste the following command exactly as written:
gsettings set org.gnome.ControlCenter last-panel ''- Press Enter.
By setting the last-panel value to an empty string, you effectively erase the application’s memory.
Note: Depending on your exact version of GNOME, the system might eventually rewrite this key the next time you use the Settings app. To make this change permanent and prevent GNOME from ever remembering the last panel, you can create an alias or edit the application’s desktop launcher to always execute with a cleared parameter, though simply running the gsettings command usually resets the behavior for the current session.