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A while ago I created a desktop slideshow in Shotwell I think. I wanted to change the slideshow. The pictures in the slideshow are not featured in the appearances menu under system settings. the demo screen in the appearances menu shows an image from a new slideshow I created in Shotwell, but I'm not able to see that image on my desktop.

The appearance folders available do not contain the images from the slideshow. The only program I have found that allows you to create a custom desktop slideshow is Shotwell. I figured, that must be how I can replace the old slideshow.

I used Shotwell to create a new desktop slideshow. I cannot see the new slideshow, the old slideshow is still there. I can't figure out how to replace the old slideshow with the new one. Any ideas? It overrides everything. Using Ubuntu 14.04.

Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
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TMundo
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  • I have a similar problem: I created the slideshow in Ubuntu 19.04 and now in 20.04 it still works, butt the option "Files"->"Set as Desktop Slideshow" is gone in shotwell – rubo77 Jun 04 '20 at 10:48
  • I found it: you have to select a bunch of fotos and then you get the option Files -> "select as background-slideshow" or so (I have german desktop: "Datei"->"als Hintergundvorführung setzen") – rubo77 Dec 06 '20 at 20:00

2 Answers2

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The slideshows are .xml files. By default, the slideshow is stored in ~/.local/share/shotwell/wallpaper/wallpaper.xml

This is evident if you run gsettings get on the appropriate schema responsible for setting wallpaper in GNOME and Unity desktops after creating the slideshow.

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri
'file:///home/xieerqi/.local/share/shotwell/wallpaper/wallpaper.xml'

As for why you haven't been able to alter the wallpaper, it seems to me that creating new slideshow failed, so the original xml slideshow stayed.

You could attempt removing the old file ~/.local/share/shotwell/wallpaper/wallpaper.xml and re-create the slide-show.

Also, Shotwell isn't the only program for creating slideshows. It's a common knowledge in Ubuntu world that slideshows are .xml files. For instance, I personally used this for creating command-line utility for creating a slideshow: https://askubuntu.com/a/840381/295286 You could potentially use that as alternative to Shotwell

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Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
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  • I'm going to try going into the folder and deleting the old one. It may help to add, that I can see an image from the newly created slideshow, right after I restart the computer. When the computer first arrives at my desktop screen, I can briely see an image from the newly created desktop slideshow. It is immediately replaced by the older slideshow. The small demo screen in the appearances settings menu also displays a pic from the newly created slideshow. If I change the background to one of the sample images that comes with the computer, the demo screen changes, but the background doesn't – TMundo Jan 30 '17 at 01:29
  • @TMundo let me ask this: do you have desktop icons disabled by any chance ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Jan 30 '17 at 01:31
  • I can't place icons on my desktop if that's what you mean. can't seem to find the .local folder, im sure i'm being stupid but i'm not proficient in linux. – TMundo Feb 01 '17 at 01:30
  • @TMundo no, what I mean is whether or not your desktop shows icons. There's a way to hide icons, showing just bare desktop. That, however, affects setting wallpaper as well - you can't alter the desktop background in that mode, even though the "preview" would show it as changing. Check output of this command: gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Feb 01 '17 at 01:44
  • I figured it out. Wallpaper was selected in the CCSM. Now it works and the desktop icons are visible. – TMundo Feb 01 '17 at 01:51
  • It would seem that I had originally created the slideshow in CCSM wallpaper settings. – TMundo Feb 02 '17 at 19:22
  • That's peculiar. Clearly something that's done manually. Shotwell , or other apps, wouldn't normally touch compiz settings. – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Feb 02 '17 at 19:27
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Shotwell does offer a function to create a wallpaper slideshow, but there seems to be a bug in that feature: the created wallpaper.xml file is not valid. The <starttime> tag is missing from its start. To resolve this:

  1. Open ~/.local/share/shotwell/wallpaper/wallpaper.xml in any text editor;
  2. Add <starttime> tag as the first one level below <background> tag;
  3. Make sure that the date and time specified inside <starttime> tag are in the past.

After you're done, the start of wallpaper.xml should look something like this:

<background>
  <starttime>
    <year>2009</year>
    <month>08</month>
    <day>04</day>
    <hour>00</hour>
    <minute>00</minute>
    <second>00</second>
  </starttime>
  <static>
    <duration>300.0</duration>
    <file>/home/user/.local/share/shotwell/wallpaper/background.jpg</file>
  </static>
...
Томица Кораћ
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