Ubuntu

Cant remove desktop icons ubuntu 20.04

Asked by matthew cooper

I've just upgraded to 20.04 from 18.04 and am having this issue using Gnome Flashback(metacity) desktop.
The 'Home' and 'Trash' icons on my desktop continue to be there even after i have changed the settings using gsettings set....
the text below shows the output of gsettings list-recursively | grep icons -- i tried to add a screenshot but failed!
edited to add screenshot link:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6561/LHeSfQ.png

(base) matt@zakk-jr:~$ gsettings list-recursively | grep icons
org.gnome.evolution.calendar show-icons-month-view false
org.nemo.icon-view labels-beside-icons false
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop show-icons false
org.cinnamon.desktop.interface menus-have-icons true
org.cinnamon.desktop.interface buttons-have-icons false
org.cinnamon.desktop.interface toolbar-icons-size 'large'
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons icon-size '48px'
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons column-spacing uint32 10
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons show-home false
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons sort-by 'name'
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons show-trash false
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons placement 'free'
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons row-spacing uint32 2
org.gnome.gnome-flashback.desktop.icons extra-text-width uint32 48
org.gnome.shell.extensions.openweather use-symbolic-icons true
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-size 24
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-saturation 0.40000000000000002
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons tray-pos 'center'
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-contrast 0.0
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-spacing 12
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons tray-order 1
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-brightness 0.0
org.gnome.shell.extensions.topicons icon-opacity 220
org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false
org.gnome.desktop.interface menus-have-icons false
org.gnome.desktop.interface buttons-have-icons false
org.gnome.desktop.interface toolbar-icons-size 'large'
org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons show-trash false
org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons icon-size 'standard'
org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons show-home false
org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons false
org.nemo.desktop show-orphaned-desktop-icons false
org.gnome.gnome-panel.general prefer-symbolic-icons false

I cant find any other settings that relate to this.
If i create another user and use the metacity desktop the command gsettings set ortg.gnome,gnome.flashback.desktop show-icons false removes the icons, but not with my main user account

further edit to show dconf-editor settings screenshot:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6079/l1CVh1.png

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matthew cooper
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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

If you want to add a screeshot you will need a service like imageshack or similar to hold the image and make a URL we can click

Revision history for this message
matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#2

@actionparsnip
I've added a screenshot

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#3

Does https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0SBUV2fKbM work?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

Replying to the automated email and attaching a file doesn't work. If you want to add a screenshot then use imageshack or similar to make a URL of the picture and post that so we can click it

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#5

@Manfred Hampelm -- no, that doesnt work, gnome tweaks doesnt have the extensions option if youre using the gnome flashback desktop.
@actionparsnip, i dont understand your comment, i edited the original question to include a link you can click for the screenshot

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

You made a link of the image which is what is required :-)

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#7

According to https://github.com/regolith-linux/regolith-desktop/issues/276#issuecomment-610466594 you might need

gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback desktop false

If this doesn't help, what is the output of
gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.gnome-flashback

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#8

@Manfred Hampl I've seen the question you linked to, doesnt help.
output of gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback :
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4239/Bnj3Tz.png

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#9

I suggest that you compare a gsettings dump from your user with the one from the other user where removal of the icons works as desired.
Remark: why do you create screen images instead of simply using copy/paste of the text?

Revision history for this message
matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#10

I have compared the two different dumps of gsettings list-recursively | grep icons as shown here:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/4395/rUcJH5.png

in this screenshot the terminal window (left hand side) is the logged in account (matt@zakk-jr) and the text editor (right hand side) is the other user account (matthew@zakk-jr). as you can see all the 'show icons' entries are 'false', but the icons are still visible.
in the text editor window you can see that i have only changed the setting in lines 6, 31, 33 and 34 to false, I can assure you that the icons are not visible in matthew@zakk-jr 's desktop session.

the reason i am posting screenshots is so that you can see that even if the settings are set to false, the icons are still there!!

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#11

What I meant wasn't comparing only the "icons" entries in gsettings, but all of them (e.g. including "org.gnome.gnome-flashback desktop").

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#12

ok, heres a comparison of those:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/7646/aSU9C8.png

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#13

Can't you just create text files and diff them? Comparing images is tedious.

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#14

I apologise, i don't know how to do that.
But i think that is deviating away from the fundamental problem here, which is that although all the settings i can find which relate to showing icons on the desktop are set to false, the icons are still there!!

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#15

does anyone else have any ides?

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matthew cooper (mczakk) said : 		#16

the problem was solved by deacivating conda, the icons could then be removed