thanks all for the answers

if you read my 1st post you can see that i know about the desktop part under nautilus on gconf. having said that, it;'s ok to say that i already tried alll the twicks and tricks that you people are posting. posts that i appreciate tons,. i already tried adding the desktop part, and other things, otherwise i wouldn't be asking here.

so, the question again, anyone knows how to delete the freaking default icons from the desktop? a simple question. needs a simple answer. no software intalll (like a new desktop manager) and no work around, a simple "do this and your icons are gone"

thanks

What versions of nautilus and gconf are you using?

nautilus 2.2.1
gconf-editor 0.4.0

standard with redhat 9 and enterprise 3

Hmm, I think it may be time to upgrade. I have:-

Nautilus 2.6.0
Gconf-editor 2.6.1 (and hence gconf 2.6.1)

I don't think what is applicable to 2.6.1 will work with 0.4.0

yeah, and...

i upgraded it, but nothing.

you know what, forget it, it seem, that it's not possbile. something as simple as deletting freeaking icon is turning into a pain in the ass thing, so whatever. aparently no one is reading what i am writing,


RED HAT 9 OR RED HAT ENTERPRISE 3, NO FEDORA

ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT THOSE SYSTEMS? OR NOT, IF NOT THEN PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING;'
]
THANKS'\

Please cool down!

We are just trying to help you. And YES, we're reading what you're writing. Please don't be rude. Good bye,

Yves.

The suggestion from the first page of this thread works.

Like so:

1. cd /home/you/.gconf/apps/nautilus
2. mkdir desktop
3. touch %gconf.xml
4. Edit %gconf.xml and paste this in:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<gconf>
<entry name="trash_icon_visible" mtime="1093328073" type="bool" value="false">
</entry>
<entry name="home_icon_visible" mtime="1093328071" type="bool" value="false">
</entry>
<entry name="computer_icon_visible" mtime="1093328070" type="bool" value="false">
</entry>
</gconf>

I had the exact same problem, running Libranet 2.8.1 w/ Gnome 2.6, and this fixed it. No icons = a much cleaner desktop.

Hope that helps.
-KFR

I followed the directions re: making the desktop directory. When I went to edit the file %gconf.xml, it looked like this;

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<gconf>
<entry name="start-state" mtime="1102550378" type="list"ltype="string">
</entry>
<entry name="sound_state" mtime="1102549962" type="int" value="0">
</entry>
<entry name="preferences_version" mtime="1102471894" type="int" value="2">
</entry>
</gconf>

Is this the right file? If so do I delete every thing and paste the new data in? It doesn't say anything about icons so I wondered.

This is in gnome 2.8 that I just installed in mepis and I don't want to mess it up, which would be easy for me to do because I haven't a clue!

I would like to get the trash and computer icons off of the desktop but leave the home icon. If this is the right file, if I put in bool value true for the home icon will that leave it there?

I know that this is a Red Hat area of the forum, but I thought that maybe gnome is gnome all over.

Thanks, zoey

If you paste this in just before the </gconf> it should do the trick:-

OK, I followed your suggestion, but the icons are still there, big as life! I did a restart and they were still there.

Thanks, zoey

I'm afraid I haven't had to troubleshoot this as it worked for me with no problems.

Just two things, make sure you have the latest GConf, and maybe
would work. Who knows, maybe it needs all three icons...

Another point is that maybe the mtime is not the same for everyone, whatever mtime is. I've no idea how you would find out though, short of scouring the web (or asking here, maybe).

Finally, maybe there is a preference somewhere to stop local gconf files from overriding the default desktop.

Sorry I'm not more help.

Why not just do away with Gnome and use IceWM, Blackbox, Fluxbox, or some other minimal window manager? You can have ZERO visible on the "desktop" with minimal window managers, system performance is faster, and NO ICONS.

I got tired of icons when I was still using Windows. I use IceWM or Blackbox and am quite happy with my "bare" desktop.

If this isn't a straightforward answer, I guess I don't understand the question yet.

I think that you understand the question just fine, Jon Rutherford!

But I am a 'gnome person' who has a lot to learn.

I found a file /home/me/.nautilus/metafiles/x-nautilus-desktop:%2%2%2f.xml, that lists the 3 desktop files. Could this be the file that I need to edit?

Thanks, zoey

This is an older post, but having the same problem, it came up when I was searching.

Turns out I've found a solution on my own, though.

While it seems impossible to simply erase the icons, a good alternative is to edit the x-nautilus-desktop:%2F%2F%2F.xml file located in /.nautilus/metafiles/.

Simply change the icon_position="$x,$y" line on all 3 of the default icons. Change them to something obscenely out of range, but not on top of each other. For example, I set mine to 1400,1500 for trash, 1500,1600 for computer, etc.

They're still technically there, but out of sight is out of mind.

Thanks. I have discovered that all I needed to do was type gconf-editor in the terminal window then go to apps>nautilus>desktop and uncheck the boxes by the icons that I wanted removed. That works in mepis/gnome. I haven't tried it in mepis/kde. I added gnome to mepis as it comes with kde.

zoey