Thanks for the solutions above. For some reason it wasn't letting me to only have Meta alone when changing the shortcut from the UI.
Not sure if an intentional design, but either way didn't like the prospect of not being able to just tap Meta or Windows key button alone to open the app launcher.

To me the solution was:

Don't change the shortcut in settings! Right click the Application Launcher icon, click Application Launcher Settings and from there go to Keyboard Shortcuts and change the shortcut to Meta+F1. Works with Meta/Windows key alone!

I too had the same problem as the OP!
Moving around displays, docking and undocking my laptop caused my taskbar to disappear. So I had to create a new one, which created redundant entries in ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc

bobbywibowo wrote:Thanks for the solutions above. For some reason it wasn't letting me to only have Meta alone when changing the shortcut from the UI.
Not sure if an intentional design, but either way didn't like the prospect of not being able to just tap Meta or Windows key button alone to open the app launcher.

Actually according to https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/plasma-desktop/kcontrol/keys/index.html the default shortcut for application launcher is Meta. I believe it was intentional because single key shortcuts are typically not desired by users except for meta keys i.e. Super/Meta, Function keys, behavior keys (by hitting FN on a laptop).
Thanks to @Mamarok for showing me where to look to solve the issue.

Here is my fix:

• Open ~/.config/kglobalshortcuts
• Remove redundant "Application Launcher Widget" lines
• Enter edit mode on taskbar
• Right click on application launcher widget and click "configure"
• Using GUI set shortcut to something unique
• Find unique entry in ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc to find widget number
• Replace ## with your widget number in ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc
  

  Code: Select all

  [plasmashell]
...
activate widget ##=Meta,none,Activate Application Launcher Widget


Boom my new widget now has the default shortcut again.

krakjn wrote:I too had the same problem as the OP!

Got bit by this issue after recreating the default panel. What was really crazy is that I had an orphaned launcher that would pop up in a random spot whenever I hit the Meta key!

I used a similar solution to you but just a little simpler. Basically right clicked on the application menu widget -> Configure -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> set to ALT+F1.

That was enough to make it work and I could see the new widget ID in the shortcut config though I didn't have to make any edits to that.

I don’t even want to mention how much effort and nerves it cost me to solve such a problem. When I had to change the motherboard during my PC repair, it became necessary to search the Internet on sites like this for the opportunity to purchase a windows 11 key. After reinstalling the OS, the FN key was pressed for a long time. The meta key has stopped working. Naturally, I thought I did something wrong when installing Windows. This is where the puzzle began until a friend suggested the FN + Super option to me. What a relief it was beyond words.

borrowingfive wrote:To me the solution was:

Don't change the shortcut in settings! Right click the Application Launcher icon, click Application Launcher Settings and from there go to Keyboard Shortcuts and change the shortcut to Meta+F1. Works with Meta/Windows key alone!

I have got to create an account to say "thanks" to you.