19.04desktop-iconsgnome-shelltrash
Yesterday I upgraded my Ubuntu 18.10 to Ubuntu 19.04, and after the restart, the trash icon and my Desktop files have disappeared from the UI. If I go to the Desktop folder from my personal folder, I can see the files, but my Desktop is empty.
How can I show my files in the Desktop again?
You may use (GNOME) Tweaks (aka GNOME Tweak Tool) to do that. First install it (if it is not installed) by running the following command in Terminal
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
or
sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool
Launch Tweaks and go to Desktop section. Then toggle off (or uncheck) the Trash (or Rubbish bin or Wastebasket) option under "Icons on Desktop".
Alternatively you may run the following command in Terminal:
gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop trash-icon-visible false
You can install nemo (Linux Mint's default file manager, which still supports desktop icons) with
sudo apt install nemo
Then, open the Startup Applications program in your Applications menu. Click Add, and enter nemo-desktop into the Command: field. Click Save, then Close. Restart. You should have desktop icons!
Best Answer
Install Gnome Tweaks ("Tweaks") from the software center. In Tweaks, click the extensions tab. Find the extension "Desktop icons" and enable it.
If you do not find the extension in Tweaks, it might not have been installed during your upgrade. In that case, install it from software, or with the command
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons.Background: In general, upgrading is not the very best way to update an Ubuntu version. An upgrade is not always without issues, in many cases small ones (like this probably), but sometimes major issues. That is why it is not possible to know whether your issue is due to the extension not being enabled, or the extension not being installed.
In 19.04, desktop icons are handled by a rather new Gnome Shell extension instead of by the file manager.