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I'm using debian 13 minimal and trying my best to change the icon of thunar.
I installed a custom icon theme that I apply with settings.ini file within /etc/gtk-3.0 (and 4.0) and I can change any app's icon by modifying the .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/, even for xterm catch the .svg icons I have in my icon theme. The issue is with thunar's icon. No matter what icon I try to set for it with thunar.desktop it doesn't catch it. It uses the default-folder.svg icon from my icon theme, so it's not like my icon theme is not applying.
I also disabled the "Use current folder icon as window icon" back and forth to see if it gives me the custom icon, it doesn't.
What am I missing?
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Is this a complete theme? With an index.theme file? If so then it can be placed in /home/usr/.icons and use the settings dialog to choose it. I'm not sure what your trying to achieve with a settings.ini file. Most user configs go in the users directory.
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Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc
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If I want to change a specific icon, I simply replace the original with the icon of my choice in /usr/share/icons/my_theme_actual. In Fedora, the default icon for Thunar is "org.xfce.thunar.png(svg)" from the ‘hicolor’ theme. I don't know how it works in Debian.
The main defect of the linuxers is lack of memory - they don't remember how their knowledge was when they started with the linux
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@eriefisher
I don't use full version of the OS nor the desktop but even if I had I don't set things via GUIs. I don't use user's dir either and try to use global settings for all users hence the /etc/gtk-*.0/
settings.ini is used to set the global icon theme. simple as that. and it's working just fine with everything, except that nasty thunar icon.
@peter.48
Yeah, I know that and I tested it and it works but its kinda ugly, you know? I don't want to replace icons, I want to make thunar pick the right one. It's crazy that I can do that even with xterm and not with thunar. I don't understand why its picking the default-folder icon
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You can just change the icon line in /usr/share/applications/thunar.
icon = /path/to/icon
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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc
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What do you mean? In the .desktop file? If yes, I tried that and that's exactly the point - it didn't work.
If you're saying something different please do tell, because replacing default-folder icon from an icon theme is not an option for me
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1.Try copying .desktop of Thunar from usr/share/aplications to /home/dreameer/.local/share/applications, and there change the icon path.
2.Have you checked that there is a Thunar icon in your theme? And that it has the same name as in .desktop?
3.What are you talking about? The Thunar icon or the folder icon? because they are not the same thing.
4.
Yeah, I know that and I tested it and it works but its kinda ugly, you know?
No, I don't know, I can see it's unpleasant for you, but this is only your personal opinion and not absolute truth. What I don't understand is why you tried it if you don't like it...
If you have so many objections to tampering with your system, it would be better to state your requirements from the outset when asking for help.
5.Another question is where do you see this default-folder icon, in a panel launcher? In the main menu? If it's a launcher, simply change the icon in the launcher properties.
Added later 43 min 39 s:
I also recommend taking a look at https://wiki.xfce.org/howto/install_new_themes, because I find the description of your custom theme installation a bit strange.
Last edited by peter.48 (2026-01-23 22:36:32)
The main defect of the linuxers is lack of memory - they don't remember how their knowledge was when they started with the linux
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1.Try copying .desktop of Thunar from usr/share/aplications to /home/dreameer/.local/share/applications, and there change the icon path.
Doesnt work
2.Have you checked that there is a Thunar icon in your theme? And that it has the same name as in .desktop?
Yes. I had xterm running with thunar icon with no issues
3.What are you talking about? The Thunar icon or the folder icon? because they are not the same thing.
I am talking about both. I tried to solve the issue myself, hence I discovered that it applies the folder icon to the app.
No, I don't know, I can see it's unpleasant for you, but this is only your personal opinion and not absolute truth.
It's not a personal opinion. Changing default-folder icon to whatever else causing issues with folder's icons that use default-folder icon. that's why default-folder icon present in the first place.
What I don't understand is why you tried it if you don't like it...
Are you for real now?! Like really, wtf is this bs?
I tried it to check if it's applying while investigating why it's not working. and this is how I got it for sure that it's the default-folder icon that thunar grabs as its app's icon.
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Its strange that its not working for you. A couple of suggestions:
Because you are using a custom icon theme, try with both png and svg versions of the icon file you want to use.
Specify the full path to the icon file in your thunar.desktop file, like:
Icon=/usr/share/pimaps/xfce4_xicon.pngIf it still doesn't work, is there anything in your ~/.xsession-errors file (if you have one) or the journal (if you are using systemd)?
If still nothing, try to get an strace. To do so, install the strace package and run the following commands:
thunar -q
strace -o trace.txt thunar...quickly close the thunar window when it opens (to keep the file size small), and post back the contents of the "trace.txt" file along with the name of the icon file that you are try to use.
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@ToZ
png doesnt apply either. And besides, even xterm able to grab custom svg icon for me, instead of the xpm.
I tried several icon themes right now, and I found that thunar app grabs the folder.svg icon all the time. But when I click the Edit -> preferences it shows a thunar's app icon for that preferences window.
I do have some errors in the xsession-errors, but I don't think it's related.
thanks for that trace thing, I didn't know I could do this.
here's the output of the trace:
https://uploadnow.io/f/GMsTp7B
it didn't let me to post it here with spoiler due to "Posts cannot be longer than 65,535 characters."
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here's the output of the trace:
https://uploadnow.io/f/GMsTp7B
it didn't let me to post it here with spoiler due to "Posts cannot be longer than 65,535 characters."
Yeah, it gets huge very quickly. To save me some time, what is the name of the icon you are trying to use?
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I tried many things over that period overall, but at the moment of that trace it was Icon=konsole, but there's no indication of any "konsole" whatsoever in there. I did notice there are thunar.svg and folder.svg icons
thunar.svg:
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/icons/Mkos-Big-Sur-master/128x128/apps/Thunar.svg", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 13folder.svg:
Added later 02 min 09 s:
HMMM... now this is super weird. Now I have the icon all of a sudden(it shows thunar's icon of my theme that I didn't change)
But I really don't know what I did.
And my .destop still has the Icon=konsole in it
I don't get it
Last edited by dreamerr (2026-01-24 14:35:24)
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From what I can see:
read(13, "[Icon Theme]\nName=Mkos-Big-Sur\nC"..., 4096) = 3431
This is your icon theme.
write(2, "\n(thunar:2564): Gtk-\33[1;33mWARNI"..., 128) = 128
write(2, "o size field\n\n", 14) = 14
Some sort of Gtk Warning is happening. Assuming that this is your icon theme, installing on my system and enabling it results in:
(thunar:463142): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:43:43.407: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme....to resolve this error message:
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/Mkos-Big-Sur-masterThe icon file, Thunar.svg, is being read:
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/icons/Mkos-Big-Sur-master/128x128/apps/Thunar.svg", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 13
statx(13, "", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT|AT_EMPTY_PATH, STATX_TYPE, {stx_mask=STATX_TYPE|STATX_MODE|STATX_NLINK|STATX_UID|STATX_GID|STATX_ATIME|STATX_INO|STATX_SIZE|STATX_BLOCKS|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0664, stx_size=37239, ...}) = 0
read(13, "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UT"..., 65536) = 37239
read(13, "", 65536) = 0
close(13)
What happens if you choose another icon theme? Does it work then?
Can you also post back the contents of your thunar .desktop file?
Added later 02 min 41 s:
I tried many things over that period overall, but at the moment of that trace it was Icon=konsole, but there's no indication of any "konsole" whatsoever in there. I did notice there are thunar.svg and folder.svg icons
thunar.svg:openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/icons/Mkos-Big-Sur-master/128x128/apps/Thunar.svg", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 13folder.svg:
▼Hidden textAdded later 02 min 09 s:
HMMM... now this is super weird. Now I have the icon all of a sudden(it shows thunar's icon of my theme that I didn't change)
But I really don't know what I did.
And my .destop still has the Icon=konsole in it
I don't get it
Kill all thunar processes via:
thunar -q...and try again.
Do you have multiple thunar .desktop files in your system? Look in /usr/share/applications, /usr/local/share/applications, ~/.local/share/applications, ~/.share/applications.
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png doesnt apply either.
I tried several icon themes right now, and I found that thunar app grabs the folder.svg icon all the time. But when I click the Edit -> preferences it shows a thunar's app icon for that preferences window.
I tried the png icon, works fine in Whisher menu an Vicinae launcher.
Icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/org.xfce.thunar.pngthunar-settings and thunar --bulk-rename have their own Icons, as you can see, only thunar icon is changed.

It feels like you have a symlink for org.xfce.thunar.svg to folder.svg somewhere.
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Xfce+gtk3-classic (no CSD)+Picom
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...to resolve this error message:
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/Mkos-Big-Sur-master
Yes, tried that without any affect.
What happens if you choose another icon theme? Does it work then?
Not really. Except that some icon themes have the same icon for folder and thunar app which results in showing "thunar app" icon, but it's really not.
Can you also post back the contents of your thunar .desktop file?
This is the current file I have, because since I posted my last message I tested tons of other things I could think of without noticeable affect regarding the icon, sadly.
Kill all thunar processes via:
I always do that before testing it. It's not it
Do you have multiple thunar .desktop files in your system? Look in /usr/share/applications, /usr/local/share/applications, ~/.local/share/applications, ~/.share/applications.
I tried these, but I wanna stick with global user configs as much as possible, so I have only one at /usr/share/applications/
It feels like thunar failing at getting some icon and then falling back to folder.svg, but I don't know how to check that deeply.
I can go(for the gazillion time) from scratch with your instructions and try it again if you like.
I could understand that I'm doing something wrong etc, but the thing is that everything else is working, every other app is catching their icons and I can change them with their .desktop file but not thunar's one.
It feels like you have a symlink for org.xfce.thunar.svg to folder.svg somewhere.
I don't
Last edited by dreamerr (2026-01-25 10:17:13)
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Icon=org.xfce.thunarThat's the default entry in the .desktop file?
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Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc
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Okay this is weird - now I'm seeing this too, but only in X11 - not when I run it under wayland (wayfire).
Are you running Xfce under X11 or wayland?
Where are you seeing the icon? Is it on the tasklist (Window Buttons plugin) or on a dock (like xfce4-docklike-plugin)?
Do you have grouping of icons enabled? If so, thunar's icon does change if more than one thunar window is open and you have grouping enabled in the tasklist.
What version of xfce4-panel and libxfce4windowing are you running?
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That's the default entry in the .desktop file?
For me it is, but as I said before I tired many variants
Okay this is weird - now I'm seeing this too, but only in X11 - not when I run it under wayland (wayfire).
Are you running Xfce under X11 or wayland?
Yeah, I use x11. So it's a bug? I bet it's not known then, because I can't tell you how many things I went through... with posts dated to 2007 I think
and there were no report on an issue like that.
Where are you seeing the icon? Is it on the tasklist (Window Buttons plugin) or on a dock (like xfce4-docklike-plugin)?
Do you have grouping of icons enabled? If so, thunar's icon does change if more than one thunar window is open and you have grouping enabled in the tasklist.What version of xfce4-panel and libxfce4windowing are you running?
I'm running in inside VM, but isn't this irrelevant? If you have the same thing under x11 I mean.
I don't think it's the VM related issue for me, I checked the WS_CLASS etc and all of that were good.
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Which tasklist are you using for the icons? The built-in Windows Buttons plugin or docklike-plugin, or something else?
As far as I can remember, thunar would change the icon if Window Buttons grouping was enabled and more than 1 window was open. However, I was able to change the icon - now it looks like I can't. However, changing the app icon was a challenge until a couple of releases ago when that was fixed. Older info won't be relevant anymore.
Also, can you post back the versions of xfce4-panel and libxfce4windowing that you are using?
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Which tasklist are you using for the icons? The built-in Windows Buttons plugin or docklike-plugin, or something else?
It's not like that. It propagates the icon down the chain to the outside of the VM. I don't think there's an issue with this, otherwise I will have issues with other icons too. It's not that.
As far as I can remember, thunar would change the icon if Window Buttons grouping was enabled and more than 1 window was open.
I never use grouping, but I tried on and off and it was the same for me, but I use KDE and as I said it's outside the VM
However, I was able to change the icon - now it looks like I can't.
But isn't it because you switched to X11? Or is it you can't change it even under wayland now?
Also, can you post back the versions of xfce4-panel and libxfce4windowing that you are using?
Sure:
xfce4-panel --version
xfce4-panel 4.20.4 (Xfce 4.20)ii libxfce4windowing-0-0:amd64 4.20.2-1 amd64 Wayland utility functions library for Xfce4
ii libxfce4windowing-common 4.20.2-1 all common files for libxfce4windowingLast edited by dreamerr (2026-01-25 14:31:13)
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It's not like that. It propagates the icon down the chain to the outside of the VM.
I don't understand this comment. Within the VM, you have Xfce running. Within Xfce you have xfce4-panel running, correct? And on the panel, you must have a plugin enabled that displays these icons, do you not? If so, which plugin are you using? If not, can you explain better what is happening?
I don't think there's an issue with this, otherwise I will have issues with other icons too. It's not that.
Agreed, it appears to be related to Thunar itself. It would be interesting to understand what is happening as asked above.
But isn't it because you switched to X11? Or is it you can't change it even under wayland now?
I run the latest version of Xfce directly from the master branch. In my case, it works fine when I run Xfce under wayland (Wayfire) but not under X11. Probably a bug there, but I'm only noticing it now.
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I don't understand this comment. Within the VM, you have Xfce running. Within Xfce you have xfce4-panel running, correct? And on the panel, you must have a plugin enabled that displays these icons, do you not? If so, which plugin are you using? If not, can you explain better what is happening?
The VM is running under Xen hypervisor. It's a Qubes OS system. It doesn't have it's own panel like you are describing but rather works in some kinda headless mode in this regard. But the point is it's not part of the issue AFAIK, because every other single thing(apps, icons) are working as expected
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