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While on 20.04, I had some *.desktop files in ~/Desktop. Those worked and properly displayed an icon on my desktop.

After the upgrade to 22.04, the icons are gone. Google told me the files should be in ~/.local/share/applications, so I moved them there, but that hasn't helped.

desktop-file-validate (from desktop-file-utils package) says the files are valid.

How do I get my desktop icons back?

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Your upgrade probably went slightly wrong. The Gnome Shell extension that provides icons on the desktop may not have been activated, or may not have been correctly installed.

  • Install gnome-shell-extension-prefs. Open that tool by searching "Extensions" in the Application Overview. In the section "Build-in", check whether the "Desktop Icons NG" extension is listed. If yes, it is probably turned off. Turning it on should make the icons appear.

  • If the extension is not there, quit "Extensions", install the extension with the command sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng, log out then back in. The extension automatically will be enabled. Else, turn it on in "Extensions".

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  • Exactly right! BTW, I also had to move the files back to ~/Desktop, so that location was correct in the first place.
    – Jorn
    Jan 24, 2023 at 13:58
  • Worked for me after a restart. More specifically: 1. Installed gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng 2. Reopened Extensions, but the new extension wasn't there. 3. Restarted. 4. Desktop icons reappeared (the extension was enabled automatically).
    – igorrs
    Dec 14, 2023 at 15:19
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    @igorrs Thanks for the feedback. I updated the answer to be precise about this.
    – vanadium
    Dec 15, 2023 at 7:03

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