[URGENT] Pop_OS Boot Failure After Keyboard Layout Config - New Linux User Needs Help!

[wizardfromoz]

@Stockholm , were you using

Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS​

or other, if so, which? Can you give me the full name of the .iso you downloaded and burned?

TIA

Wizard

 

[Stockholm]

Hardware: Tuxedo Infinity Book 14 (3 weeks old)
OS: Pop_OS (fresh install)
Experience Level: Linux newbie (first installation ever!)

What Went Wrong​

Hey everyone! I'm hoping this friendly community can help me out. I'm completely new to Linux and managed to brick my Pop_OS installation while trying to add a Workman keyboard layout. Here's what happened:

1. Fresh Pop_OS install went perfectly using Balena Etcher
2. Spent weeks customizing everything - apps, themes, dev tools, the works
3. Found some terminal commands online to add Workman keyboard layout
4. Ran a logout command from terminal as instructed
5. BOOM - system won't boot anymore, just shows "Oops something went wrong, contact administrator"

Current Situation​

• Can boot into Pop_OS Demo mode from my USB stick
• My user files are still visible in the file system (thank goodness!)
• Original installation completely inaccessible
• USB drive seems to have formatting issues and won't accept file transfers
• Stuck and frustrated after weeks of setup work

What I'm Hoping For​

Before I throw in the towel and reinstall everything from scratch, I'm really hoping someone here can help me:

1. Recover my existing installation - all my customizations and configs are there!
2. Save my files and settings - weeks of work I'd hate to lose
3. Learn what went wrong - so I don't make the same mistake again

Questions for the Community​

• Has anyone seen this "contact administrator" error before?
• Are there recovery tools or commands I should try?
• Can I somehow repair the boot process without losing everything?
• What's the proper way to add keyboard layouts in Pop_OS?

I know I probably did something wrong with those terminal commands, but I'm hoping there's a way to undo the damage. Any guidance, tips, or even just pointing me toward the right resources would be amazing.

This community seems super welcoming to newcomers, so I'm really hoping someone can throw me a lifeline here. I'm eager to learn and do this the right way!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Update: I'm actively monitoring this thread and can provide logs, screenshots, or run diagnostic commands if anyone has suggestions.

---

Posted in Getting Started - figured this was the right place for a Linux newbie disaster recovery question!
I live in Stockholm, if anyone can meet up with me, and partly help me out as well help me get started understanding Linux better I buy you a coffee! Thanks

THANKS for all input from peple here at the forum, I have not mangaged to resolve my situation, studied a lot of BIOS and GRUB until I found out how to revocer the Pop_OS... it is now up and working, and it is clear the Workman Layout keybaord file was not welcomed by the system and shut down the whole Pop_OS ... Now it is up and running again, gonna try to learn and find a different method to install the Workman Layout that does not lead to a total crash of the Pop_OS next! thanks, Chris

 

[KGIII]

install the Workman Layout

It's pretty hidden but it's an option on the Linux distros I use. It's a keyboard layout. Just search for 'keyboard' in your applications menu and poke around.

I'm at my Mint box right now, so it looks like this:

 

[Stockholm]

Ok, how great someone smart enough realized the greatness of Workman and added it preinstalled!
I am so much faster on Workamn than on Dvorak or Coleman and it feels much better, the balance of fingers and left and right hand is much better for me.. However, Pop_OS did not have it preinstalled, but I will figure it out and install it somehow without the OS crashing again! thanks for your input!

 

[KGIII]

Ok, how great someone smart enough realized the greatness of Workman and added it preinstalled!

The various desktop Linux distros all seem to come with a ton of keyboard layout options. We're geeks. That only stands to reason. You just needed to know where to look to find them, and now you do. You should have myriad choices, a plethora of choices even!

As you can see, I too use an unusual keyboard layout. That way, I can type 25¢ with ease! Well, not that I ever use that character, but you get the idea. Generally speaking, the AltGr is the 'ALT' key on the right side of your keyboard. This can be changed. You can do all sorts of customizations. I, for one, disable the Shift Lock key. I hate that key.

 

[Stockholm]

Absolutely — that’s why I only type on mechanical keyboards. I use an Ergodox EZ and started from the Workout layout, but rewired it entirely to fit the mindset of a writer.

My goal was to make punctuation follow the emotional rhythm of thought and dialogue:

• All pauses in speech (commas, ellipses, etc.) are on my left index finger.
• Anything that amplifies a pause — like colons or parentheses — sits on my left thumb.
• On the right side, I put full stops, exclamation marks, and emphasis-based symbols under the index and thumb, for that final “punch.”

I do the same for programming (esp. Python), and even created a Swedish Workman layout — adapting the letter positions to align Swedish and English logic. For instance, I remapped “när” (Swedish for “when”) to follow the English flow in Workman.

It became an experiment in whether language and keyboard layout could be restructured to mirror the structure of thought, not just hand movement.

So yes — I totally agree: the layout options in Linux are a sandbox. Once you start seeing them not just as preferences but as tools for shaping expression, it gets deep fast.

 

[KGIII]

I only type on mechanical keyboards.

I wear them out rapidly or spill wine into them. Something always happens. I buy cheaper keyboards but usually the cheap mechanical keyboards. I'm not one of those that goes out and pays a couple hundred bucks for one and I'm surely not going to get into the hobby of building them.

 

[Stockholm]

I wear them out rapidly or spill wine into them. Something always happens. I buy cheaper keyboards but usually the cheap mechanical keyboards. I'm not one of those that goes out and pays a couple hundred bucks for one and I'm surely not going to get into the hobby of building them.

 

[Stockholm]

Ha! I see we approach them differently. As a writer, I treat my keyboard like a craftsman treats their finest tool - it's an extension of thought itself. I keep everything away from it except my fingers, the same way you'd respect a precision instrument. There's something almost meditative about maintaining it, learning its feel until you forget the keys exist entirely. The goal is pure flow - thoughts appearing on screen as if they materialized directly from mind to page, no mechanical barrier in between. When you achieve that unity, the keyboard becomes invisible and only the words remain.