home folder linked to desktop

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at [WWW] https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see [WWW] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs .

Start by launching the gconf-editor. To do this, hit 'Alt+F2' and type "gconf-editor" in the box. Now, navigate to Apps->nautilus->Preferences using the left pane. In the box on the right, make sure the checkbox next to desktop_is_home_dir is unchecked. After unchecking that box, you migh need to restart nautilus for the changes to take effect. The easiest way to do that is to log out and log back in. Hopefully, this will solve your problem.

I followed the instructions but the box was already unchecked.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #40942]: home folder linked to desktop
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 14:36:16 +0000
>
> Your question #40942 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Nathan Handler proposed the following answer:
> Start by launching the gconf-editor. To do this, hit 'Alt+F2' and type
> "gconf-editor" in the box. Now, navigate to Apps->nautilus->Preferences
> using the left pane. In the box on the right, make sure the checkbox
> next to desktop_is_home_dir is unchecked. After unchecking that box, you
> migh need to restart nautilus for the changes to take effect. The
> easiest way to do that is to log out and log back in. Hopefully, this
> will solve your problem.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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yes this worked... in reverse... it was XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" and I changed it to XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" and now the desktop is clear and all my home folders are as they should be without repeating them on the desktop. thanks again, much appreciated

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #40942]: home folder linked to desktop
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 15:37:46 +0000
>
> Your question #40942 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Nathan Handler proposed the following answer:
> Try editing ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs in your favorite text editor. There
> should be a line that says:
>
> XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
>
> You want to change that to be:
>
> XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
>
> Now, save and exit the file. You can either logout, reboot, hit
> Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, or type "killall nautilus" in a terminal. After you
> do one of those things, your desktop should show all of the
> files/folders in ~/Desktop.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942/+confirm?answer_id=4
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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yes this worked... in reverse... it was XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" and I changed it back to XDG_DESKTOP_DIR=SOMEPATHTOFOLDER and now the desktop is clear and all my home folders are as they should be without repeating them on the desktop. thanks again, much appreciated

I have the same problem, foolishly having deleted my Desktop directory

As others have noted above, the nautilus preferences selection is already unchecked, and editing of the .config/user-dirs.dirs file does not retain XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" after relogging or rebooting. Rather, it reverts to XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME" and the problem remains

any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance

Same happened to me...... then I remembered to save it after I changed it.

yes this worked... in reverse... it was XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" and I changed it back to XDG_DESKTOP_DIR=SOMEPATHTOFOLDER and now the desktop is clear and all my home folders are as they should be without repeating them on the desktop. thanks again, much appreciated
> To: <email address hidden>> From: <email address hidden>> Subject: RE: [Question #40942]: home folder linked to desktop> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:40:25 +0000> > Your question #40942 on Ubuntu changed:> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942> > Herb Pounder posted a new comment:> I have the same problem, foolishly having deleted my Desktop directory> > As others have noted above, the nautilus preferences selection is> already unchecked, and editing of the .config/user-dirs.dirs file does> not retain XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop" after relogging or rebooting.> Rather, it reverts to XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME" and the problem remains> > any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance> > -- > You received this question notification because you are a direct> subscriber of the question.
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well, yes, Peter, of course I saved it. I always save file edits whether using vim, gedit, nano, whatever

but, as the .config/user-dirs.dirs file states in the commented section,
# 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.

so, I changed the relevant line to "$HOME/Desktop"

Unfortunately, my change was not retained and /usr/bin/xdg-user-dirs-update appears to in fact have overriden my edit

I'm having the same problem. I can make changes to user-dirs.dirs, but those changes are erased at reboot, leaving me with all directories pointing to "$HOME/"

Anyone have a solution? Why is xdg-user-dirs-update overwriting this?

Also, I'm experiencing the problem on Ubuntu 11.10.

I found my problem. xdg-user-dirs-update was running before my OSX partition was mounted, and my user-directories are currently symlinks pointing to folders on my OSX partition. Consequently, all paths to symlinks were redirected to $HOME.

The solution to the problem is simply place the ubuntu disk in the drive and include it in an update
and all returns to normal operation when the update is complete. It seems during one of the online
updates part of the system to do with update manager was omitted.

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #40942]: home folder linked to desktop
> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:41:07 +0000
>
> Your question #40942 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/40942
>
> Craig Weber posted a new comment:
> Also, I'm experiencing the problem on Ubuntu 11.10.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.