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I just did a clean install of 20.04 and I noticed that no key shortcuts for files manipulation work when my focus in on Desktop (not in Nautilus).

When I have copied a file to clipboard, I cannot Ctrl+V it to Desktop, when I click on a file on Desktop, I cannot Ctrl+C it, or I cannot Delete it with keys. Only ways to do it is either navigate to the Desktop folder in Nautilus, or right-click the file on the Desktop and copy/move to trash/paste...

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, all the key shortcuts worked normally for me in 18.04.

martin hanicinec
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3 Answers3

19

Unfortunately desktop icons are completely broken, which is quite unexpected in a LTS release of Ubuntu.

You just cannot use keyboard on desktop icons (I'm not kidding).

This has been reported here.

The workaround is described here.

  1. Remove gnome-desktop-icons
  2. Install nemo
  3. Make nemo handle desktop icons
Pablo Bianchi
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Mee
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  • 2
    Wonderful ! From that comment, keyboard navigation has not been implemented at all, so this will not be fixed soon -_- This is quite disappointing from a major Linux distribution, I had got many bugs with Ubuntu recently, it seems that relyability is no longer the standard... https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/ShellExtensions/desktop-icons/-/issues/31#note_797279 – Kiruahxh May 18 '20 at 09:01
  • If minor bugs are a major problem it is best to always wait 6 months before installing a new version of Ubuntu, in my opinion, and from what I have learned since Jaunty Jackalope, might not be as true nowadays as it was. – Rabbit May 24 '20 at 16:58
  • Can you elaborate? What does it mean "make nemo handle desktop icons"? – Dawid Laszuk Oct 17 '21 at 01:49
1

Can confirm that issue has been fixed in gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons/focal-updates,focal-updates,now 20.04.0-2~ubuntu20.04.1

This is available via the proposed apt channel. Here's how to enable it.

After enabling it, you install the package by doing the regular apt update && apt upgrade

dimisjim
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1

As suggested by @Mee, the best solution is to replace the Gnome Shell "desktop-icons" extension, and use the Nemo desktop instead:

# install Nemo
sudo apt install nemo

Edit settings


gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false
gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons true


Disable the "desktop-icons" extension


gnome-extensions disable desktop-icons@csoriano


Set nemo-desktop to autostart on login


cp /usr/share/applications/nemo-autostart.desktop $HOME/.config/autostart/
sed -i -r 's/^(OnlyShowIn)/#\1/i' $HOME/.config/autostart/nemo-autostart.desktop

You may need to reboot after the change for it to take effect (see comment below)

(My other answer here also adds some details)

mivk
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  • This hid everything from desktop view and made it unusable. At least ~/Desktop exists with all files. – Dawid Laszuk Oct 17 '21 at 01:46
  • @DawidLaszuk : maybe you didn't run the last "sed ..." line, which is essential. See the other answer I linked to for more details. – mivk Oct 17 '21 at 07:54
  • I have run everything and it didn't work but that's because I haven't restarted OS. Thought that log out and restart DM would be enough - it wasn't. If you add necessity for restarting OS after changes, then I can change my vote to +1. Thanks :) – Dawid Laszuk Oct 17 '21 at 19:01
  • @DawidLaszuk: Updated. I don't understand what would make it need a full reboot, but apparently it is sometimes. Thanks for the tip, – mivk Oct 18 '21 at 09:17