I just had again a similar problem with current Ubuntu and Gnome 3: mouse left clicks and terminal focus did not work. Alt-F2 including command input and Alt-tab worked but super-tab did not (maybe I use some non-standard setting here).
I also had the "Workspace Indicator" (but not "Workspaces-to-dock") extension installed (which I meanwhile disabled just to be on the safe side). Yet I suspect that in my case the symptom was raised by an occasional and for the most time hidden psensor popup window "Authentication is required to update SMART data from /dev/sda" asking (for some weird reason) for root password input - see also https://forums.mauilinux.org/showthread.php?tid=24357 how to disable that) Not being able to use the system due to some bug is one of the worst user experiences. Such a thing drives people nuts and can easily destroy the reputation of Ubuntu/Gnome etc. A stable user interface should have high priority. I suggest re-designing gnome-shell such that it cannot be blocked by any (misbehaving) application or extension. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to mutter in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1181666 Title: gnome-shell randomly blocks mouse clicks from working in app windows Status in GNOME Shell: Confirmed Status in Ubuntu GNOME: Confirmed Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in mutter package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Under GNOME 3, the use of the mouse-click stops occasionally, though I can still move the mouse around and can still click on items in the Activities screen and the top-bar. I can use alt-tab to cycle windows and can still type into already- active textboxes in windows, but I cannot click within the windows, and the mouse is not picked up at all by the windows. I can open the alt-f2 "run command" dialogue, but cannot type into it. The workaround I'm using is to open terminal (ctrl-alt-T) and run "gnome-shell -r", and restarting that command every time I have the problem again. Please ask if there's anything I forgot to mention. ADDITIONAL: The error tends to happen randomly, but it seems to happen upon opening a new window, changing windows, closing windows, or opening the activities pane (whether a change of window is thus instigated or not) ADDITIONAL 2: (sorry, it's early) The other workaround is to log out and to log in again, but that is also less than ideal ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04 Package: gnome-shell 3.6.3.1-0ubuntu6 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-22.33-generic 3.8.11 Uname: Linux 3.8.0-22-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8 Architecture: amd64 Date: Sun May 19 07:02:18 2013 DisplayManager: gdm GsettingsChanges: b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'clock-show-date' b'true' b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'clock-show-seconds' b'true' b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'document-font-name' b"'Sans 10'" b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'font-name' b"'Cantarell 10'" b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'monospace-font-name' b"'Ubuntu Mono 12'" InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-04 (14 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424) MarkForUpload: True ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: gnome-shell UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/1181666/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp