Score:1

How do I remove icons from desktop?

bt flag

OS: Kubuntu 22.04.2 LTS x86_64
Host: 90BG003JUS Lenovo H50-55
Kernel: 5.19.0-43-generic
Uptime: 1 hour, 33 mins
Packages: 3036 (dpkg), 26 (flatpak), 23 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.1.16
Resolution: 1920x1080
WM: KWin
Theme: [Plasma], NsCDE [GTK2], Adwaita-dark [GTK3]
Icons: Sweet-Yellow [Plasma], NsCDE [GTK2], Sweet-Yellow [GTK3]
Terminal: xfce4-terminal
Terminal Font: Anonymous Pro 16
CPU: AMD A10-7800 Radeon R7 4C+8G (4) @ 3.500GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
Memory: 2785MiB / 15948MiB (17%)

I have many icons on my desktop and wish to remove them.
I didn't put them there and they are duplicates of my home directory.
Part of my desktop showing unwanted icons

Score:1
cn flag

To make sure your desktop shows files stored in the ~/Desktop folder again, you will need to correct your ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs file. Make sure XDG_DESKTOP_DIR points to your ~/Desktop folder, so open ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs in a text editor and make sure the line for the specia Desktop folder reads

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"

This file may have changed because at one time you may have deleted, then recreated the "Desktop" folder. When "Desktop" does not anymore exist, the variable is automatically reverted to point to your home directory.

While you are there, you may also check the other variable assignments:

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
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"

Alternatively, instead of manually updating the file, you may recreate a default file from scratch by

  • Deleting ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
  • Logging out then back in
Logos avatar
bt flag
While you are there, you may also check the other variable assignments: Me: I had to add variables to each one - they were all blank after $HOME/
vanadium avatar
cn flag
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Score:-1
cn flag

In xubuntu, those desktop icons are coming from ~/Desktop directory. They are basically files in the desktop directory. You can remove them by deleting the files, or moving them to another folder.

Will avatar
id flag
Can you expand a bit? How does the OP resolve their problem?
user628388 avatar
cn flag
What's displayed on the desktop is actually files in the directory ~/Desktop. I'm not sure what you mean by OP. ~ is the command line way of referencing your home directory in the UNIX world.
Will avatar
id flag
my point is, I don’t think your answer deals with their question … OP is ‘original poster’. I know what ~ means - I just don’t think your answer has given a solution to the problem - it’s just said where those icons are from. The OP was asking how to remove those icons, not what they represent.
user628388 avatar
cn flag
My two primary methods of getting rid of such icons are: 1) right click then select delete or 2) use the rm command on the item in the ~/Desktop directory.
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