Recently I deleted the folder Desktop
from my $HOME
directory. When I logged in again all files and directories in $HOME
were shown on the desktop. So I wanted to get the folder back. What is the recommended way to achieve this? I edited ~/.config/xdg-user-dirs.dir
and added the correct variable. But I guess there must be some other (more easy?) way.
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1install ubuntu tweak 0.5, there is a Section under "Desktop" category called "Desktop icon settings",simply uncheck the "Show content of home folder on desktop..." and logout– Prasad RDMar 27, 2012 at 0:57
4 Answers
Create a new folder that you want to use as your folder.
For example, type
mkdir ~/Desktop
in a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T to open one) to create a folder named Desktop in your home directory.Edit your configuration.
Edit the file
~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
. You can do this by opening a terminal, then enter:gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
Change the entry for
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR
to your new desktop folder, or add it, if the entry does not exist. After your edit, the file should look like this:XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Download" XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates" XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public" XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents" XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music" XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures" XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
Log out and then log in again and your desktop should show the specified folder.
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If you don't want to logout the following appears to work in gnome-shell/nautilus (tested in Centos 7) after modifying the file.
nautilus -q && nautilus &
Here's another [question][1] for reference. [1]:askubuntu.com/questions/19979/… Dec 6, 2016 at 16:43
You can use xdg-user-dirs-update
command to set Desktop
.
xdg-user-dirs-update --set DESKTOP $HOME/NewDesktop
But at first check out your locale names
cat ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
For English locale they are:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
You can set any of the above
xdg-user-dirs-update --set DOWNLOAD ~/Internet
in order for the changes to take effect nautilus -q
.
For more info check out https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XDG_user_directories
In my case after updating gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
was not worked. Because there was as symbolic link '../Desktop' in system and that had been broken (i think after update). I simply deleted that symbolic link and created new directory and edited gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
Just create an new folder with the name Desktop.
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I forgot to mention this. This was my first try and it didn't work. Logged out of my GNOME session and after logging in again I had all icons on the screen as before (plus the new Desktop folder).– qbiMar 27, 2012 at 7:34
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1@qbi: And what if you add a folder named 'Desktop', but in your native language? GNOME likes to play around with translated folder names. Mar 27, 2012 at 20:40
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