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Please see the picture below. Where are the Unity desktop wallpapers located?

enter image description here

Willi Mentzel
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Hejar Mukriyani
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2 Answers2

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/usr/share/backgrounds

The default wallpapers are part of ubuntu-wallpapers-<codename> package (e.g. ubuntu-wallpapers-precise, ubuntu-wallpapers-trusty, etc.). Run dpkg -L ubuntu-wallpapers-$(lsb_release -cs) to get the list of wallpaper files.

Eric Carvalho
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    If you are sure from this answer, may I ask you: 1- I deleted all wallpapers over there but still was able to see those images at the "Appearance" window. How come? 2-I added a bunch of more wallpapers there but could not able to see them at the "Appearance" window why? 3-When I enter the dpkg -L ubuntu-wallpapers-precise command it gives me 14 images but infact I have 28 images saved there. Please have a look link P.S.: I have unity, gnome, xubuntu and KDE Plasma shells installed on my PC. Thank you very much. – Hejar Mukriyani Mar 25 '13 at 00:33
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    At the Appearence window there's a dropdown. When you select Wallpapers the images shown are get from the XML files in /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/. If you just drop files in /usr/share/backgrounds they will not be available for selection in that area. When you deleted all wallpapers, maybe they're still shown because their thumbnails are cached somewhere. Can a deleted wallpaper be placed on your desktop, after a reboot? Other packages, maybe the ones which holds KDE or XFCE wallpapers, can install files in background directories. – Eric Carvalho Mar 25 '13 at 01:25
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    Wallpapers for ubuntu 13.04 are located at /usr/share/backgrounds too – metasequoia Jul 25 '13 at 22:15
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    This works also for 13.10 and so on – Ward Segers Dec 19 '13 at 09:58
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    14.04 - Still there. – grantmcconnaughey May 20 '14 at 00:44
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    @EricCarvalho, how to make the droped files available? – Sigur Oct 01 '15 at 16:01
  • I am also looking for what @Sigur is asking for.. how to make those new files available @ Apperance window once we copy our own photos @ /usr/share/backgrounds – Paresh May 24 '17 at 15:24
  • Thank you from March 2018, for Ubuntu 16.04 (A Google search brought me here in under 30 seconds) – SDsolar Mar 04 '18 at 03:55
  • For Ubuntu 20.04, added backgrounds are located at ~/.local/share/backgrounds/ – Mauricio Aug 15 '22 at 02:52
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In the "Appearance" window go to the drop menu above the thumbnails and pick pictures. You will then be able to pick a wallpaper that is not in the "backgrounds" but in the "pictures" folder which is in your home folder. Using the same start, you can also navigate out of the home folder and fish out a wallpaper stored in /usr/share/backgrounds. While the added wallpapers will not show in the "Appearance" window, they are there if you have copied them there (as the owner from terminal)

Michael Mior
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abby
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