Loop function does work like I'm used to

Ubuntu 24.04.02
Audacity 3.4.2 Deb

I recall that in the previous version of Audacity, likely the 3.4.2 snap, I could simply highlight a section and press Shift + L to loop it. However, in the current version, I now need to click on an icon to activate the loop function. Even then, it only loops the track portion, not the surrounding empty space. Additionally, I was able to select and play a segment of track 1, stop the audio, then select and loop a portion of track 2, but when I pressed play, it only looped the section from track 1.

Is there any way to restore the previous settings so that I can highlight a section and press Shift + L, ensuring the loop includes both the selected portion and the empty space?