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# Change the Desktop directory on Linux
- URL: https://mfitzp.ghost.io/change-the-desktop-directory-on-linux/
- Published: 2012-01-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-06-26T08:51:25.000Z
- Author: Martin Fitzpatrick
- Tags: Tutorials, Linux, #Import 2024-03-14 08:20, #Import 2026-08-24 14:26

On desktop setups where icons are shown on the desktop these are normally taken from the specific folder \~/Desktop. If you find you want to show icons from either your Home or another directory for a particular install/user you can do so by editing the user-dirs config file as described here.

Open your text editor and browse to `~/.config`

💡

**`~` here refers to your home directory and `.config` is a hidden file (starts with a `.`). If you use the open dialog of most text editors you should be able to paste the path in directly to get to the correct folder.*

Look for file named `user-dirs.dirs` and open it for editing.

The file should contain a line that looks like the following (or perhaps another folder depending on your setup.

```Bash
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop/"
```

Simply change that line to point to the folder you wish to use for your desktop. For example:

```Bash
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="/var/log/"
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/../shared/Desktop"

```

💡

You can also change other folders in this file including your `Documents` folder for example.