How to configure GNOME 3 to show icons on desktop

Question

In Ubuntu 11.04, files in /home/user/Desktop appear as icons on the desktop. It seems that they do not under GNOME 3 using GNOME Shell (for example on Fedora 15). How do I configure that?

Update: They do appear by default in 11.10, under both Unity shell and GNOME shell.

Solution 1

The easiest way to enable desktop icons is to use Gnome Tweak Tool. Run sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool, then launch Gnome Tweak Tool from the Gnome Shell menu. It will be called Advanced Settings.

Then, click on the Desktop button. Enable the option that says "Have file manager handle the desktop. Now, any files placed in the Desktop folder inside your home folder should appear on ther desktop.

Solution 2

It can be reversed in gnome3 so if this is implemented the same should be true.

Where are my icons on the desktop?

They are gone, it’s by design. But you can reenable them with:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true

and starting nautilus (if it’s not already running). (Thanks to bronte for the information)

Source

Solution 3

Run this command in your terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal):

# show files on desktop
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true

# show shares on desktop
gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop volumes-visible true

# restart nautilus
nautilus -q
nautilus

Solution 4

Unfortunately, Gnome 3.28 has removed the option to put "desktop icons" :(

I will quote the solution

For an immediate, short-term solution, users can install the nemo-desktop file manager and set it up to autostart on login. (Read directions for that here.) Desktop icons are an active part of the Cinnamon user experience. As a result, nemo-desktop actually provides a more feature-rich desktop than Files does today.

View more solutions

Comments

[pevik]

Thanks for note about (re)starting Nautilus, I needed it :-).

[Franklin Yu]

Also works in Fedora.

[Accountant م]

the desktop icons is removed completely from gnome 3.28 (source) . :((

[Elder Geek]

You might wish to edit your answer to include information regarding the extension prototype

[Accountant م]

@ElderGeek Thanks for the suggest. To be honest I didn't try the solution myself, I just quoted it from fedoramagazie.org because the point is not covered in the question, however I will make the post wiki to allow anyone to edit it

[0xC0000022L]

Uhm, I am running GNOME 3.28 right here and now and that option does evidently exist, although "hidden" inside the Tweaks application. This is on Ubuntu 18.04 with vanilla-gnome-desktop package installed, by the way.

[nmr]

I can't find this option in my gnome-tweak-tool, 3.34.0-4, is it gone or am I just missing it?

[nmr]

@0xC0000022L I can't find the option inside the tweaks app, any idea where it is so I can look again?

[0xC0000022L]

@nmr what version of Ubuntu then? I am pretty much sticking to LTS versions, so at the time of my comment I was likely using 18.04.