[SOLVED] LXDE desktop wallpaper

[growbag]

I want to change my wallpaper, but I also don't want the folders in my home to show up on the desktop either.

I can only seem to change the wallpaper if I leave "manage your desktop" enabled.

I also can't seem to find a config file to change it manually.

Thanks

[melodie]

Hi,

Yes you can do it.

PCManFM > Menu preferences > Desktop > then manage desktop and icons: have it unticked - General : do as you wish (do you want openbox menus in right click or lxde right-click menus ?) - Background : tick background, and choose whatever background you want.

The config file is located at ~/.config/pcmanfm/main.

Regards,
Mélodie

[Neal ManBear]

2 methods:
1 - Default wallpapers for LXDE are in /usr/share/lxde/wallpapers. You can add your wallpapers there through lxdecc > file manager superuser mode.

2 - Create a hidden folder in your /home/<your-name> and put your wallpapers there. -- Open PCManFM, rightclick in it and choose create > new folder > name it .wallpapers (or the name of your choice). The dot at the beginning is needed to make the folder hidden. To add your wallpapers to it, in PCManFM click view > show hidden files and open it. Add them.

[uncleV]

Neal, what if this directory is not hidden? Just curious...

[melodie]

Neal, what if this directory is not hidden? Just curious...

You can have it visible. Then you will just be visibly encoumbered by a directory that you do not use : but which is used by the system of your desktop manager. This is why we generally have hidden files : all thoses used by the system and the applications don't disturb the visibility during the daily use of your personal files.

[Neal ManBear]

Neal, what if this directory is not hidden? Just curious...

Hidden or not hidden is a personal choice, I think. I do not have my wallpaper directory hidden; this is because I may want quick access to a wallpaper for editing it. For the "average" person, hidden might be better. (See Melodie's post.)

[uncleV]

Who are you calling average person?

[uncleV]

Gotcha!
 

[Neal ManBear]

Who are you calling average person?

Definitely not you!

Gotcha!
 

Not this time.
 

[melodie]

Who are you calling average person?

Definitely not you!

Why, how tall is he ?

Gotcha!
 

Not this time.
 

I think he did !

[uncleV]

You're right, melodie!
Women have better intuition.

[Neal ManBear]

Who are you calling average person?

Definitely not you!

Why, how tall is he ?

What does height have to do with it?

Gotcha!
 

Not this time.
 

I think he did !

Depends on viewpoint. It's all relative. (note the --> <--) It is 'just a teaser.'

[growbag]

Maybe I wasn't clear in my description of the problem, sorry about that.

I know how to change the wallpaper, but the problem is that when I deselect "Manage the desktop and show icon files", the icons vanish (exactly what I want) but on reboot I get a grey background - no wallpaper

I have to re-enable "Manage the desktop and show icon files", then re-disable it to get a desktop without icons, but WITH wallpaper.

This series of screenshots shows what I mean.....

   

It's not an xcompmgr problem, it does it without anything loaded .

[parnote]

Maybe I wasn't clear in my description of the problem, sorry about that.

I know how to change the wallpaper, but the problem is that when I deselect "Manage the desktop and show icon files", the icons vanish (exactly what I want) but on reboot I get a grey background - no wallpaper

I have to re-enable "Manage the desktop and show icon files", then re-disable it to get a desktop without icons, but WITH wallpaper.

This series of screenshots shows what I mean.....

   

It's not an xcompmgr problem, it does it without anything loaded .

growbag,

The first question that comes to my mind is this ... if you don't want any icons on your desktop in the first place, why do you have them in your Desktop folder?

PCManFM manages the desktop, which means it is responsible for displaying the icons on your desktop, along with managing your wallpaper.

The easiest way to get rid of the icons on your desktop, without upsetting the other desktop settings, is to simply delete the icons from your Desktop folder in your /home directory. Also, if you have applications showing up on your desktop, delete their .desktop files from the Desktop folder, if you don't want them showing up. If you don't want to totally eliminate them from your desktop, then create a folder in the /home/Desktop directory, and place them in there. That way, they are still accessible, but don't take up a lot of screen real estate.

The folders in your /home directory won't show up on the LXDE desktop, unless you place them in the /home/Desktop folder.

There is, however, one icon you cannot eliminate from your desktop ... and that's the "My Documents" folder. This is a known bug in PCManFM.

I hope this helps!

parnote

[growbag]

I don't have a Desktop folder, all those icons you see there are folders or links in ~/.  Maybe there's a setting somewhere to set your "Desktop Folder", but I haven't seen one .

Oh, and thanks for your article on LXDE in this month's mag Parnote, I followed your help to get stuff autostarting - works a treat .

EDIT:

I tried to delete the folder icon shown on the desktop, and it deleted the entire folder!  Don't worry, I made a backup first .

EDIT2:

I even tried creating a ~/Desktop folder and rebooting to see if it would use that, but it didn't work.