home-directorynautilusunitywallpaper
Currently, when all windows are minimized and closed, the desktop will show files and folders located in /home/user/Desktop. I want to change this behavior and have my home folder be displayed for more useful access to my files and directories based on how I organize things.
My question is, how can I tell Unity/Nautilus/Whoever to display files and directories from a different folder on my Desktop Wallpaper?
There are many ways to do so:
a) In Appearence Settings choose an image via the "+" button:
b) Open an image you like by doubleclick, rightclick and choose "Set as Desktop Background":
c) Shotwell (photo manager) features this, too: Select an image and choose File → Set as Desktop Background or just press Ctrl+B:
d) With the extension nautilus-wallpaper you was able to set an image as background out of the file manager. But this doesn't work since Ubuntu 11.10.
As a workaround you can install nautilus-actions. Start it and add a new entry via
File → New action or by pressing Ctrl+N. Name it "Set as Wallpaper":
In the "Command" tab do following settings:
Label: Set as Wallpaper
Path: gsettings
Parameters: set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri %u
In the Mimetypes tab edit the entry and change "*/*" to "image/*" (press ↵ to apply before switching the tab):
In the Environment tab (press the arrow at the top right side to reach it) under Appears if selection contains change Count: > (strictly greater than) to = (equal to) and change the value to "1":
Safe your edits by File → Save or Ctrl+S. Then open Preferences by Edit → Preferences. Uncheck "Create a root 'Nautilus-Actions' menu":
Close Nautilus Actions and restart Nautilus (file manager) by pressing Alt+F2 and running killall nautilus or logging out and in again.
From now on you can set your preferred images as desktop background directly out of the file manager via rightclick:
Best Answer
After doing a search for the string
/Desktop, I found this setting in~/.config/user-dirs.dirsThe setting to change in that file is
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"and you can use whatever directory you like. I set it toXDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME".Then log out and back in again.