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Please see the picture below. Where are the Unity desktop wallpapers located?

enter image description here

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    They are in /usr/share/backgrounds/. Mar 24, 2013 at 23:57

2 Answers 2

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/usr/share/backgrounds

The default wallpapers are part of ubuntu-wallpapers-<codename> package (e.g. ubuntu-wallpapers-precise, ubuntu-wallpapers-trusty, etc.). Run dpkg -L ubuntu-wallpapers-$(lsb_release -cs) to get the list of wallpaper files.

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    If you are sure from this answer, may I ask you: 1- I deleted all wallpapers over there but still was able to see those images at the "Appearance" window. How come? 2-I added a bunch of more wallpapers there but could not able to see them at the "Appearance" window why? 3-When I enter the dpkg -L ubuntu-wallpapers-precise command it gives me 14 images but infact I have 28 images saved there. Please have a look link P.S.: I have unity, gnome, xubuntu and KDE Plasma shells installed on my PC. Thank you very much. Mar 25, 2013 at 0:33
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    At the Appearence window there's a dropdown. When you select Wallpapers the images shown are get from the XML files in /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/. If you just drop files in /usr/share/backgrounds they will not be available for selection in that area. When you deleted all wallpapers, maybe they're still shown because their thumbnails are cached somewhere. Can a deleted wallpaper be placed on your desktop, after a reboot? Other packages, maybe the ones which holds KDE or XFCE wallpapers, can install files in background directories. Mar 25, 2013 at 1:25
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    Wallpapers for ubuntu 13.04 are located at /usr/share/backgrounds too Jul 25, 2013 at 22:15
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    This works also for 13.10 and so on Dec 19, 2013 at 9:58
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    @EricCarvalho, how to make the droped files available?
    – Sigur
    Oct 1, 2015 at 16:01
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In the "Appearance" window go to the drop menu above the thumbnails and pick pictures. You will then be able to pick a wallpaper that is not in the "backgrounds" but in the "pictures" folder which is in your home folder. Using the same start, you can also navigate out of the home folder and fish out a wallpaper stored in /usr/share/backgrounds. While the added wallpapers will not show in the "Appearance" window, they are there if you have copied them there (as the owner from terminal)

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