Ubuntu – Can’t change gedit preferences and terminal preferences don’t save

I'm new to Ubuntu and Linux in general. I've just started using it for one of my college courses and instead of having all of us install Linux on our machines they had us install a virtual machine (not sure if that is what could be the issue or not). Anyways, as the title says I can not go about changing my preferences in gedit. Everytime I wish to edit a file with gedit or try to change the preferences I am met with this code:

(gedit:760): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dfile_2derror_2dquark.Code4: Failed to create file '/home/dev/.config/dconf/user.DAFJCY': No such file or directory

(gedit:760): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dfile_2derror_2dquark.Code4: Failed to create file '/home/dev/.config/dconf/user.YCYLCY': No such file or directory

(gedit:760): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dfile_2derror_2dquark.Code4: Failed to create file '/home/dev/.config/dconf/user.KGR6BY': No such file or directory

(gedit:760): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dfile_2derror_2dquark.Code4: Failed to create file '/home/dev/.config/dconf/user.PYA9BY': No such file or directory

(gedit:760): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dfile_2derror_2dquark.Code4: Failed to create file '/home/dev/.config/dconf/user.MV98BY': No such file or directory

I am still able to properly edit code and everything, but I get these warnings every time I run gedit. When I try to change preferences I am met with the same code, but only one of the warnings. I've also noticed that when I wish to change my terminal preferences they don't save the next time I open the terminal.

After looking into my .config file I noticed there is no dconf directory/file in there; there is only something labeled xfce4. Any help is appreciated and I can provide other information as necessary. Thank you.