I have just installed Ubuntu 11.04, and I am surprised to see icons cluttering up my whole desktop. All the folders and files under Home are represented. But if I delete the icons, the folder or file itself is deleted - the icon is not just a link. How can I clean up the desktop? None of the screenshots advertising Unity look like this.
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1Was this an upgrade or a fresh install?– TakkatJun 22, 2011 at 7:32
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It was a fresh install, from a DVD out of Ubuntu User magazine.– Fanie van der WaltJun 22, 2011 at 8:35
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The error may come from a custom DVD setup then. Try installing using the original CD or DVD image from Ubuntu.– TakkatJun 22, 2011 at 8:49
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2 Answers
Check the following configuration key:
gconftool-2 --get /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_is_home_dir
If the output is true
, then set it to false
:
gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_is_home_dir --type bool false
then restart nautilus
:
killall nautilus
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When I set desktop_is_home_dir to false and restart nautilus, the icons disappear for a couple of seconds, but then they re-appear! Jun 22, 2011 at 8:33
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The flag come back to
true
? In your home exists the directoryDesktop
, or the equivalent as it would be in your language?– enzotibJun 22, 2011 at 8:37 -
No, the flag remains false. Yes, there is a Desktop folder; I have deleted its contents - the icons o n the desktop disappeared for a second, then came back. Jun 22, 2011 at 8:41
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1I got an e-mail from Bilal Akhtar. My reply: I found this line in user-dirs.dirs (without the leading "#"): #XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/" On adding the "#" to the start of the line, all icons from $HOME disappeared from the screen! Thank you very much. Problem solved. Fanie van der Walt. Bilal's solution: On 06/26/2011 11:22 AM, Bilal Akhtar wrote: > Could you check if XDG_DESKTOP_DIR in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs is set to > "$HOME/Desktop" ? Seems like a configuration issue from your side > Jun 26, 2011 at 18:41
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1
As mentioned in another comment you need to edit the ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs file. What I saw was something like this:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/"
And I changed it to something like this:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Share"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
Then restart nautilus:
killall nautilus
or
nautilus -q
Then, open nautilus via Unity menu (press the Super key) or using the run command (Alt+F2)