# How can I show desktop icons?

**URL:** <https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [June 29, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870 "2020-06-29T21:45:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sigska](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sigska](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/sigska)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/1 "2020-06-29T21:45:17Z")

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After adding snome tweak tools and making a siwtch that turned off icons on my desktop I know want them back. How do I get them there again?

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/2 "2020-06-29T21:50:33Z")

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![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/ubuntubudgie/original/2X/5/5f2e64d6086e4f23da9e2b0ef11c070bb3d7e6b2.png)

just ensure the desktop icons option is enabled in budgie desktop settings

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/3 "2020-06-30T00:30:05Z")

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> [@sigska](#):
>
> snome tweak tools

Did you mean _some_ tweak tools or maybe _gnome_ tweak tools ?

Just in case : Budgie desktop is totally different from Gnome(-shell).

To show icons on desktop, you need Nemo as default file manager.

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**Author:** ![sigska](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sigska](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/sigska)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/4 "2020-06-30T14:48:05Z")

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Hi!  
Yes, i mean gnome-.tweak-tools and that perhaps this is taking over some configurations. How do i set nemo to default manager?  
Thanks for reply!

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/5 "2020-06-30T16:34:49Z")

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It’s the default in ubuntu budgie.

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/6 "2020-06-30T23:01:16Z")

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@sigska first follow @fossfreedom’s suggestion and check in Budgie Desktop Settings whether « Desktop icons » are enabled.

Uninstall _gnome-tweaks_ as it has no purpose in Budgie.  
`sudo apt remove --purge gnome-tweaks`  
You should also remove all unused or obsolete packages with  
`sudo apt autoremove --purge`

To check if nautilus or nemo are installed  
`dpkg -l | grep -Ei '(nemo|nautilus)'`

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**Author:** ![mezcalbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@mezcalbert](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/mezcalbert)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/how-can-i-show-desktop-icons/3870/7 "2020-07-02T15:45:26Z")

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If like me you just installed Budgie as a DE on top of an existing install (and not the distro), you might have several file managers installed. Here’s how to check which one is in use:

> xdg-mime query default inode/directory

If you want to change your default file manager to nemo (to “open in folder” a downloaded file in Firefox or Transmission for instance) :

> gedit ~/.config/mimeapps.list

Look for inode/directory and set it like this:

> inode/directory=nemo.desktop;nautilus.desktop;

(or without the nautilus bit)

You should be all set.  
Since it’s a user level config, Nautilus will still be used when opening a file from an app you started as root, I don’t believe there are many use cases though.