Icons on background

[Michael F. Stemper]

I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.

The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.

What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?

[pinnerite]

On Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:50:02 -0500

Post by Michael F. Stemper
I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.
The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.
What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?
--
Michael F. Stemper
Galatians 3:28

Firstly, the supplied icons are situated at /usr/share/icons.

That folder has sub-folders with all the different styles that Mint have created.
I suspect you have been plugged into one of those.

While you are looking you will see a folder named "default".

Over 20 years ago I had to wean myself and my staff off various versions of Windows.
To make it easy for my staff I searched the Internet for icons that were virtually clones of those Windows icons with which we were all familar, augmented with home-made ones created over the years. These were all placed in a folder called "icons" in my home directory.

Every time I update by making a clean install, I copy the contents of "icons" to that default directory and change the desktop icons to those of my choice.

Right-click on the desktop icon, select "properties", click on the default icon and browse to "default" and select your preference.

[Jonathan N. Little]

Post by Michael F. Stemper
I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.
The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.
What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?

If I understand you now, are you saying that your desktop now shows you
$HOME directory and not $HOME/Desktop? If so, check your file

~/.config/user-dirs.dir

It should look like this:

~$ cat .config/user-dirs.dirs
# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run.
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.
#
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"

Maybe the "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR" is set to just "$HOME" and not "$HOME/Desktop"

[Michael F. Stemper]

Post by Jonathan N. Little

Post by Michael F. Stemper
I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.
The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.
What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?

If I understand you now, are you saying that your desktop now shows you
$HOME directory and not $HOME/Desktop?

I'd rather that it not show me anything, but your suggestion was a big
help -- there are now only two icons instead of 50+.

Post by Jonathan N. Little
If so, check your file
~/.config/user-dirs.dir

Actually, it's
~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

Post by Jonathan N. Little
~$ cat .config/user-dirs.dirs
# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run.
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.
#
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
Maybe the "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR" is set to just "$HOME" and not "$HOME/Desktop"

That was indeed the case. I had to log out and log back in for it to take
effect, but everything was copacetic after that. I'm going to try setting
it to a non-existent directory now, to see if it reduces two icons to one.

Thanks again,

[Michael F. Stemper]

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Michael F. Stemper
I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.
The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.
What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?

  If so, check your file
~/.config/user-dirs.dir

Actually, it's
 ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

Maybe the "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR" is set to just "$HOME" and not "$HOME/Desktop"

That was indeed the case. I had to log out and log back in for it to take
effect, but everything was copacetic after that. I'm going to try setting
it to a non-existent directory now, to see if it reduces two icons to one.

No joy. When I logged out and back in, something *edited the file* without
my permission, deleting the non-existent directory, so that I again had
scores of icons splattered all over the background.

I probably should have tried it before impulsively posting my bright idea.

[Jonathan N. Little]

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Michael F. Stemper
I recently moved one of my boxes from 18.04 to 20.04. With this change, I
suddenly have nasty-looking icons all over my beautiful background image.
They appear to be one for each file and directory in my $HOME.
The last time this happened, I was able to solve by either creating or
deleting (I can't remember which) a directory "$HOME/Desktop". I've
tried both, and that no longer works.
What do I need to do to get rid of these icons now?

  If so, check your file
~/.config/user-dirs.dir

Actually, it's
  ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

Maybe the "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR" is set to just "$HOME" and not
"$HOME/Desktop"

That was indeed the case. I had to log out and log back in for it to take
effect, but everything was copacetic after that. I'm going to try setting
it to a non-existent directory now, to see if it reduces two icons to one.

No joy. When I logged out and back in, something *edited the file* without
my permission, deleting the non-existent directory, so that I again had
scores of icons splattered all over the background.
I probably should have tried it before impulsively posting my bright idea.

The setting has to point to an existing directory else it will revert to
profile's HOME.

What two icons were shown? Trying to remember back to 20.04, but do you
have desktop icons enabled? On 22.04 you can right-click on desktop >
customize > desktop settings and enable or disabled showing special
desktop icons: computer, home, trash, mounted drives, and network.

[Michael F. Stemper]

Post by Jonathan N. Little

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Jonathan N. Little
Maybe the "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR" is set to just "$HOME" and not
"$HOME/Desktop"

That was indeed the case. I had to log out and log back in for it to take
effect, but everything was copacetic after that. I'm going to try setting
it to a non-existent directory now, to see if it reduces two icons to one.

No joy. When I logged out and back in, something *edited the file* without
my permission, deleting the non-existent directory, so that I again had
scores of icons splattered all over the background.
I probably should have tried it before impulsively posting my bright idea.

The setting has to point to an existing directory else it will revert to
profile's HOME.

So I see.

Post by Jonathan N. Little
What two icons were shown?

$HOME and Trash.

Post by Jonathan N. Little
Trying to remember back to 20.04, but do you
have desktop icons enabled? On 22.04 you can right-click on desktop >
customize > desktop settings and enable or disabled showing special
desktop icons: computer, home, trash, mounted drives, and network.

That sounds like what I want, but I couldn't find anything like that.

[Jonathan N. Little]

<SNIP>
.

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Jonathan N. Little
What two icons were shown?

$HOME and Trash.

That is what I thought.

Post by Michael F. Stemper

Post by Jonathan N. Little
  Trying to remember back to 20.04, but do you
have desktop icons enabled? On 22.04 you can right-click on desktop >
customize > desktop settings  and enable or disabled showing special
desktop icons: computer, home, trash, mounted drives, and network.

That sounds like what I want, but I couldn't find anything like that.

I believe with 20.04 you needed to install a shell extension to provide
access to that settings. "Desktop Icons NG (DING) Settings" see
<https://ubuntushell.com/hide-home-folder-icon-on-ubuntu/>