If you’re at all like me, your desktop can become rather cluttered with files over time. One way to at least have files stored in your /home folder rather than your /home/Desktop folder is to set your /home folder as your actual Desktop. This is particularly helpful if you use a separate larger drive as your /home folder.
It’s probably worth mentioning that this isn’t actually specific to Ubuntu. You can do this with any *nix distribution that uses Gnome as the desktop manager.
- Open the gconf-editor by typing Alt+F2 on your keyboard. Enter gconf-editor in the space provided and click the Run button.
- From the left navigation pane, select apps -> nautilus -> preferences. In the window on the right side, place a check in the box labeled desktop_is_home_dir. Close the gconf-editor.
- Save any open work and log out (press ctrl+alt+del on your keyboard). Sign in again, and your “Desktop” will actually be your /home folder.
