Need to remove folder icons

TheresaWilliams · 2017-01-27 06:10:37

Just one of my users has icons on the desktop for all the top-level directories. Not just the usual File System, Home etc, but things like
boot, run, proc, dev, pts and so on.

These are not found in his Desktop folder, and reappear for him even if I copy the .config/xfce directory from another user.

They cannot be deleted, and if moved in the desktop revert to their original position next login. The context tmenu has no delete option, although it does have 'unmount volume'. Whether I want this user to unmount /run or /dev is left to your imagination.

How can I get rid of these icons?

Thanks
Theresa

ozjd · 2017-01-27 06:29:33

It sounds like someone has changed the XDG_DESKTOP_DIR= setting in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs It should be XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"

TheresaWilliams · 2017-01-28 04:13:16

Thanks, but apparently not this.

The user-dirs.dirs file was missing (heavens knows why) but creating it with this entry didn't solve the problem.

Theresa

ToZ · 2017-01-28 14:39:28

Following up on ozjd's suggestion, does running the following commands help:

xdg-user-dirs-update --set DESKTOP $HOME/Desktop

pkill -HUP xfdesktop

TheresaWilliams · 2017-01-28 19:31:34

That redraws the desktop but with the same contents. The user-dirs.dirs file is replaced with the only non-comment line

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" - which was in the original.

Jerry3904 · 2017-01-28 19:54:29

I can replicate something like that when I go into All Settings > Desktop, Icons tab, and check the boxes under Default Icons. The settings then show up at the bottom (lines 90ff) of ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml, where for me all the properties starting with "show- " are set to false.

Not sure that is of any help...

ToZ · 2017-01-28 20:56:06

Can you post back the contents of your user-dirs.dirs file as well as:

ls -l ~/Desktop

...and

ls -l ~ | grep Desktop

Sideburns · 2017-01-28 22:17:20

One other thought: open a terminal on that user's machine and run this command:

echo $HOME

It's possible that for some reason it's not set properly for him.

TheresaWilliams · 2017-01-28 23:36:33

$HOME is set correctly. And now I discover that the problem affects any newly created users as well.

TheresaWilliams · 2017-01-28 23:40:41

ToZ wrote:

Can you post back the contents of your user-dirs.dirs file as well as:
ls -l ~/Desktop
...and
ls -l ~ | grep Desktop

1: users-dirs.dirs

# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.
#
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
]

2: ls -l ~/Desktop

drwxr-xr-x 2 test test 4096 Jan 23 21:27 Desktop
total 0

3: ls -l ~ | grep Desktop

drwxr-xr-x 2 test test 4096 Jan 23 21:27 Desktop

This is from a newly created test user, who has icons for File System, Home as expected but
also sys, boot, run, dev, pts, home, flash, opt, proc and run. These do open the respective
directories when clicked (provided permissions allow).

TheresaWilliams · 2017-02-01 07:45:36

Still no idea why this is happening - I rebuilt the box and all users have icons for /dev /run /proc and so on.

But it is curable: under All Settings > Desktop > Icons > Default Icons I found the expected 4 options, and an option I haven't seen before for 'Other Devices'. Unchecking it made the unwanted icons go away. [The icon for this option looks like a phone - /proc doesn't strike me as telephonic :-) ]

Quite why, out of the blue, this 5th option should appear after years of using xfce I don't know. Maybe there's something odd in my build of the underlying OS?

However, right now I have a semi-solution.

Thanks
Theresa

Jerry3904 · 2017-02-01 10:43:13

<whine>what I posted above</whine>

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#1 2017-01-27 06:10:37

Need to remove folder icons

#2 2017-01-27 06:29:33

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#3 2017-01-28 04:13:16

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#4 2017-01-28 14:39:28

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#5 2017-01-28 19:31:34

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#6 2017-01-28 19:54:29

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#7 2017-01-28 20:56:06

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#8 2017-01-28 22:17:20

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#9 2017-01-28 23:36:33

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#10 2017-01-28 23:40:41

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#11 2017-02-01 07:45:36

Re: Need to remove folder icons

#12 2017-02-01 10:43:13

Re: Need to remove folder icons

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