The layout cannot be switched

[dca00]

We have the same version of MATE 1.28.2 on some physical desktops, but now we have to build a VM for one of the users. Whereas on the physical machines the keyboard layout switching is working fine, on that brand new VM the layout is not switching. Here's all of the observations we made:

• On the MATE desktop, no key combinations work. We tried the same as on the physical, i.e. Ctrl-Shift, and when it failed to work we tried all permutations of Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Win, and Space. None worked.
• When the taskbar icon is clicked, it switches to the different layout's letter code, but the keyboard input remains the default one that the OS was installed with.
• When the pop-up menu is used, the same thing occurs.

However, the lock screen inherits the last state of the icon (if the setting allows that), and it is impossible to log back in after the desktop locked itself, if it was different from the default that was used when setting the user's password up. Unlike on the desktop, the layout indicator on the lock screen switches with the pressing of the key combination, but the actual input remains in the inherited layout.
The totality of the above makes the VM totally unusable.
Please let us know how to fix this situation.

The OS is Fedora 41 MATE spin.
The VM is under Windows Server Hyper V.

[dca00]

Now, MATE permanently switched to the alternative layout and sticks to it, even after I removed it from the keyboard layouts menu and rebooted the box.
This is not good. This is sounding malicious.

[lukefromdc]

Can you identify a commit where that was changed? No way would we want to intentionally lock anyone out. That said, someone else on the team will have to work on this because I've got some kind of issue probably with PAM that blocks the login screen from showing up at all. Also I have zero VM experience, know one language only, and use one keyboard layout only.