[How-To][Gnome] removing desktop default icons

[flAmingw0rm]

Almost everyone hates having a bunch of useless icons on the desktop, especially "computer, trash" and others. So I finally found where to disable them in an easy way.

This is the GUI method, go to Applications -> System tools -> Configuration Editor (or where ever you have your conf editor, or type gconf-editor in a terminal), then do as following.

Code:

apps -> nautilus -> desktop:
computer_icon_visible unchecked
home_icon_visible unchecked
trash_icon_visible unchecked

The shell method using the normal tool

To show the information stored, type this in a Terminal (use gconftool-1 for Gnome 1.

Code:

gconftool-2 -R /apps/nautilus/desktop

And then to remove the trash can on the desktop you can type

Code:

gconftool-2 -s --type bool /apps/nautilus/desktop/trash_icon_visible false

Info on GConf:
http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/

Credits go to cats from suck-o.

Thanks for reading.

[Gone]

Thanks for this, its really usefull!

[arcofile]

Nice list! I like a clean desktop.

I also untick the "volumes_visible" entry there (same place). This means that, when I plug in a USB drive, an icon for it does NOT appear on the desktop. It still appears in Nautilus.

The reason I do this is that I keep a backup external hard drive (USB) plugged in and I don't want its icon on the desktop, but I still want to get at it with Nautilus.

[flAmingw0rm]

No problem guys, you're welcome. Glad I helped.