How to move Ubuntu's Window Buttons Back To The Right

With the beta release of Ubuntu 10.04 the window buttons (maximize, minimize, and close) were moved, very OS X-like, to the left hand side. I do own a Macbook, however Ubuntu is my OS of choice at home and I work mainly with various Microsoft OS's in my day job so it's fair to say I am quite used to having these buttons on the right hand side.

Luckily, as with any other aspect of a Linux operating system, you can easily put these buttons back to the right-hand side if you like. The easiest way of accomplishing this is through gconf-editor or rather the Gnome Configuration Editor.

To launch the editor:

• Press Alt-F2 (this will bring up a run-menu)
• type in: gconf-editor and press enter or click run

Now you will see the Gnome Configuration Editor load on screen. To navigate to the proper configuration entry:

• expand apps
• then expand metacity
• then click on general

In the right hand list you should see an entry called: button_layout. Double-clicking this entry will open up a screen and allow you to modify its value. Do this and enter the following string in the value text box:

menu:maximize,minimize,close

Once completed click OK.

Immediately you should see the window buttons move to the right side of every window.

You should also note that you can change the order of the button_layout values if you so choose. Customization is just one of the many benefits of a Linux OS.

Good luck!