Assumptions:
- You have Ubuntu 8.04 running. (Though it should work with 7.10 as well. But I haven’t tried it.)
- You have installed CCSM. Check under System ->Preferences if Advanced Desktop Effect Setting is there.
- For better results you have Avant Window Navigator installed. (Else you won’t be able to use any shortcut on your desktop.)
If you have set up all that then it should be pretty easy for you. Just follow the following steps:
- Go under System> Preferences > Advanced Desktop Settings
- Select Desktop Cube >Appearance > Background images
- Click New under background images and add all the images you want as background.
- Alt + F2 to launch the Run Terminal.
- Enter gconf-editor and hit Run.
- Go under apps > nautilus > preference
- Deselect ‘Show Desktop’.
That’s it. You are all set. Check all the workspaces. You should have the images you selected as wallpapers on these. Cool…
Note:
You will notice that you can’t right-click on the desktop and all your existing desktop shortcuts are gone. But don’t worry they are not gone. You will have to go under Places > Desktop to see all the thing you kept on original desktop. Going forward if you save something on desktop they will also appear on that location only. This is one thing you will have to sacrifice if you want to have different wallpapers on each workspace.
But hold on…there is a good news for you if you enabled Avant Window Navigator, then all your shortcuts should be there. Enjoy different wallpapers on all your workspaces. Did you like it?
I would like to see your screenshot with all the workspaces as I have shown here. Or if any other customization you did to achieve better results, drop a comment here so that others also can learn from you.
Keep reading Technomania for more tips and tricks on Ubuntu, Linux and Open source community updates. You can subscribe to the feed or receive email as and when I update anything on this blog.
Cheers…
Anurag Bansal
![Livorno I (The Tuscany Series) [Explore]](http://static.flickr.com/7245/7327014798_46a6694fa2_t.jpg "Livorno I (The Tuscany Series) [Explore]")
Posted by Suban Thapan on May 13, 2008 at 12:50 AM
it’s cool desktop theme. I need it.
Posted by Some Guy on May 13, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Very nice, thanks.
Posted by Laken on May 23, 2008 at 12:54 AM
Heya! This was just what I was looking for! Works great! Except for the fact that even with Avant I cannot get my desktop icons back, and can’t seem to make any new ones. Though, this could all be to the fact that I’m a real Linux n00b.
Thanks for the tutorial! :>
Posted by freddie on May 24, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Thanks
Posted by jordan ketterer on July 9, 2008 at 8:17 PM
hey the reason that u dont have ur desktop icons and shortcuts is because this isent ur desktop its just a picture like when u unclick
show desktop then that means ur not showing desktop as in u just see a picture theres acctually a way to make ur desktoop another folder but i cant remmebre how
Posted by sipeanut on January 29, 2010 at 12:03 PM
Dude, did you type that from a cellphone? Grow up and use complete words and capitalization.
Posted by seafarer on July 10, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Unfortunately I don’t have “Background Images” in ccsm Desktop Cube >Appearance section. Can you advise how to install it? Thanks.
Posted by Manuel on July 21, 2008 at 6:33 AM
I also have the same problem as that of seafarer.There is no “background images” section.Please help.thanks
Posted by Manuel on July 21, 2008 at 6:38 AM
I am using Ubuntu 8.04.And my compiz version is 0.7.7
Thanks
Posted by Omi Azad on July 31, 2008 at 4:36 PM
WOW
Nice tip mate. Thanks…
Posted by Angel on August 3, 2008 at 2:54 AM
I followed your manual but i only get my first wallpaper on each side of the cube.
And i still have my icons on the desktop – even with “show desktop” disabled. Hope you can help me
Posted by Ice86 on September 7, 2008 at 9:05 PM
For anyone who does not have the Desktop Cube >Appearance section, just go to Utility > Wallpapers. I think they changed it around with the new Compiz update.
Posted by how do i get my desktop back O_O??? on September 8, 2008 at 6:09 PM
OK good now how do i get my desktop back when i want it back???????????
Posted by Anurag Bansal on September 8, 2008 at 7:16 PM
Just undo step # 10.
You should be all set.
Posted by Marcel on September 19, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Works out of the blue ! This is what I was looking for. Thank you !
Posted by Dave on October 1, 2008 at 11:08 PM
This is sweet. I’ve looked at some threads on this and quite a few seem dumbfounded. I don’t care about the desktop icons, but I am a bit sad that the panel transparency no longer shows the wallpaper behind it.
Posted by Nem on October 2, 2008 at 1:47 AM
Thank you so much for this information. You are godlike.
Posted by Anurag Bansal on October 2, 2008 at 7:21 AM
I am happy that the article helped some of you.
Thanks for dropping by.
Cheers
Anurag Bansal
http://www.knowliz.com
Posted by Fred on October 16, 2008 at 4:15 AM
HELP..please..I disabled the desktop but now when i go to enable it again the desktop doesnt reappear – ive restarted and still no love. and also, dunno if this may help but when i did put the different backgrounds on there was one which always stayed black, ie. nothing there
Posted by Fred on October 16, 2008 at 4:26 AM
scratch that – fixed it… i just clicked the box again and again and again and again and… ey, it worked, yippee
Posted by Jason on November 11, 2008 at 7:58 PM
Was wondering where one might find the “Background Images” of the desktop cube in 8.10
Posted by 20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux | Irascible Musings on November 17, 2008 at 1:08 AM
[...] Advanced CCSM: To enable eyecandy effects such as shown below and much more than that. You will forget Vista I am sure once you use it. You may even get different wallpapers on different desktops. How to get different wallpapers on each workspace. Check out this post. [...]
Posted by 20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu « Technology , Fun and Spirit on November 17, 2008 at 1:09 AM
[...] Advanced CCSM: To enable eyecandy effects such as shown below and much more than that. You will forget Vista I am sure once you use it. You may even get different wallpapers on different desktops. How to get different wallpapers on each workspace. Check out this post. [...]
Posted by 20 Cosas que hacer despues de instalar Linux Ubuntu | -=[EdadFutura]=- v.6.0 - [beta] on November 18, 2008 at 4:39 AM
[...] Advanced CCSM: Para activar los efectos de Compiz Fussion y mucho mas.. HComo instalar distintos fondo de pantalla en cada area de trabajo [...]
Posted by Raghu on November 19, 2008 at 10:22 PM
ubuntu 8.1 does not work with this..i did find background images but we cannot enable diff wallpapers on diff workspaces
Posted by LINUX - Recopilación de programas indispensables una vex instalado Ubuntu, para tener todo cubierto | Zaragoceando.com on November 23, 2008 at 9:47 AM
[...] Como instalar distintos fondo de pantalla en cada área de trabajo [...]
Posted by Ya tengo Ubuntu, ¿Y ahora qué? | Entre machacas y becarios on November 27, 2008 at 10:51 AM
[...] Advanced CCSM: Para activar los efectos de Compiz Fussion y mucho mas.. HComo instalar distintos fondo de pantalla en cada area de trabajo [...]
Posted by Vortex on November 28, 2008 at 4:50 AM
Raghu said:
> ubuntu 8.1 does not work with this
It’s 8.10. Ubuntu counts “year.month”.
Posted by jsonv on December 3, 2008 at 1:14 PM
hi,
I tried it with ubuntu 8.10, it doesn’t work.
and I tried to show my desktop icons again checking the show desktop in nautilus preferences, but my desktop doesn’t come back.
how can I bring my desktop icon back?
cheers
Posted by ChandlerW on December 22, 2008 at 1:55 AM
Ubuntu 8.10 does allow this desktop tip with Compiz Fusion. Desktop items will still appear in “desktop” folder. It would be a neat hack to do this tip and still allow items visible on the screen desktop. Make a shortcut to “desktop” folder on your panel or dock, saves a couple steps. Cheers!
Posted by Deivi_Z on January 13, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Hi, my ccsm doesn’t have option background images.
Posted by stevoo on January 16, 2009 at 6:45 AM
What about that background you have ?
can i get it ? The sea i mean ….
anyone knows where to get it ?
Posted by Laura on January 21, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Somehow it didnt work. It was because I had already had wallpaper checked on the compizconfig settings. it actually made all of my workspaces that picture. I unchecked it and followed all the steps from the beginning and it didnt work.
Any advice?
Posted by AlfmaniaK on January 24, 2009 at 1:17 AM
@Laura
Just repeat step 10 to 11, over and over again… I had the same issue, but like someone said before, repeating the open gconf-editor+select+close, about 5 or 10 times, solved the problem!
Posted by Val on November 11, 2010 at 9:51 PM
Is the point to just keep re-opening gconf-editor, or should I shut the terminal window off and restart that every time, too? I’ve selected/deselected “show desktop” ten times, no dice. Also, you have it as “gconf-editor+select+close. Does “select” mean to go through the process of checking then unchecking each time, or is it more like gconf-editor+select+close+gconf-editor+deselect+close, etc?
Posted by riz on January 24, 2009 at 5:30 PM
i’ve deselected the “show desktop” options from gconf, and set 4 picture for the cube on ccsm… but the changes don’t appear. what do you think??
Posted by riz on January 24, 2009 at 5:31 PM
what do you think?
Posted by Marko on January 27, 2009 at 1:50 PM
@riz: did you add the wallpapers to the “Utility” -> “Wallpaper” tab? The instructions really should be updated for Ubuntu 8.10 so that people would know how to do it (or they should read all the comments).
Posted by Val on November 11, 2010 at 9:57 PM
@Marko – If I don’t have “Wallpaper” under the “Utility” tab, what do I check instead? If it depends upon my Ubuntu Version, I think it’s LucidLynx 10.0.4 but I’m not sure. My options for checkable boxes seem to be…
“Dbus”,
“Glib”,
“Inotify”,
“Mouse Position Polling”,
“Regex Matching”,
“Resize Info”,
“Scale Addons”,
“Session Management”,
“Title Bar Info”,
“Userspace File System”,
“Videoplayback” and,
“Workarounds”
Sorry to put you on the spot like this, and thanks for any info you can give. =)
Posted by Lucier on January 28, 2009 at 12:59 AM
There is no background image option in the latest version of ccsm. I use Ubuntu 8.10 Any other way to make that work?
Posted by Lucier on January 28, 2009 at 1:00 AM
.
Posted by Lucier on January 28, 2009 at 1:24 AM
ya okay I got it. Its been moved to “Wallpapers” workd fine.
Posted by riz on January 28, 2009 at 6:19 AM
Oh, it works.. you didn’t say on that article to change the image bg on utility > walpaper
it seems that ccsm on ubuntu 8.10 has a lil differences
Posted by riz on January 28, 2009 at 6:23 AM
hey, May I have your article on mine? It’s good article. Don’t worry, I’ll write this link as reference..
Posted by Vendaval on February 10, 2009 at 12:44 AM
I’ve found the suggestion in by Marko, in 36, to be most helpful.
Posted by ryanseyz on February 21, 2009 at 12:49 PM
To get your desktop back, set show_desktop (under apps/nautilus/preferences) to true (checked), exit that window and run “nautilus” (without quotes) in terminal and enjoy your icons again!
Posted by pagan on February 25, 2009 at 10:28 AM
this thread has been so helpful. i have 8.10 so wasn’t able to figure out the thing mentioned in other posts.. but the thing that we can do it by going into utilities>wallpaper really helped… cheerz
Posted by David on March 18, 2009 at 10:59 AM
How can i access my desktop icons easily now?
where can i found something like a “folder bar”?
Posted by David Again on March 18, 2009 at 11:30 AM
ooh with an applet in AWN called stack or “file browser”
thanks to my self!
Posted by Linus on April 16, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Hey Guys, is there a way to get the four wallpapers and still have the transparancy (for things like taskbars and conky) work?
Posted by longtom on May 3, 2009 at 7:34 AM
Nice walkthrough – and worked first time. Thank you!
Posted by Rocking in Hakata » Netbook Partitioning on May 7, 2009 at 9:29 PM
[...] one wallpaper to avoid the super slow fade in as Compiz starts up after login (I’m doing the 4 different wallpapers / no desktop icons trick…but there’s got to be a better way…). Any other tweaks that you recommend [...]
Posted by Robert on June 12, 2009 at 1:26 PM
i am running 9.04 ubuntu and my compiz doesn’t give the option to change my background like that. it only gives me cube caps and sky dome. what do I do?
Posted by nikhil on July 10, 2009 at 4:34 AM
how do i get this to work on xubuntu 9.04
how do i allow compiz to show the desktop and not xfce
Posted by 20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux | Knowliz on October 9, 2009 at 7:33 AM
[...] Advanced CCSM: To enable eyecandy effects such as shown below and much more than that. You will forget Vista I am sure once you use it. You may even get different wallpapers on different desktops. How to get different wallpapers on each workspace. Check out this post. [...]
Posted by Dex Luther on October 16, 2009 at 2:43 PM
This doesn’t work in Jaunty. The desktop cube doesn’t even have an option for backgrounds. Only Cube caps and Skydome. Does anyone know how to do this in Jaunty?
Posted by 20 articles to read before and after installing Ubuntu | Knowliz on October 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
[...] How to get different wallpapers on each workspace in Ubuntu? [...]
Posted by p2 on November 30, 2009 at 4:42 AM
Thanks man!! Working flawlessly
(Running Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic with nVidia Graphics card on AMD Turion laptop)
Posted by nix on December 2, 2009 at 1:55 PM
k, i tried this while i had the sphere going. Once i tried this i can get the cube back but not the sphere or cylinder.
Posted by Penguin-Guru on April 3, 2010 at 1:49 AM
No problems but the first picture on the list displays as my “cube cap”, not a wallpaper, and none of the other pictures appear at all. My original wallpaper still covers all. I did follow the steps, disable my wallpaper, and my icons and right-click ability did go away. If you have any suggestions please email me at Penguin-Guru@heathgroup.net. Just getting the obligatories out of the way, I am not new to linux but I am also not a technical user of it so much of the lower level workings I do not claim to understand.
Posted by Orion on April 11, 2010 at 12:16 PM
i dont like this it doesnt work with 9.1.0 and it kinda screwd up my comp …i cant see icons on my desktop even with show desktop on…
i un-clicked it then re-clicked it and it was just like if it was still un-clicked
please help
Posted by DragonDon on June 6, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Using 10.04LTS and unable to change backgrounds on multiple desktops.
Posted by Tony on June 29, 2010 at 2:04 AM
@DragonDon
You’ve got to go under System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager. From there, just click on “Utility” on the left side of the window, then “Wallpaper”. Add the images in order that you desire, and it will work.
Posted by MOX on July 22, 2010 at 1:08 AM
i have 10.04 and the CCSM is a bit different here as well…. does any one know how do get the desktops to work here??
Posted by Edo on July 26, 2010 at 12:52 PM
@all 10.04 users, follow DragonDon advice and restart your pc. It’ll work !
Posted by anon on August 30, 2010 at 9:01 AM
I don’t have the wallpaper option under Utility, in CCSM (10.4). Is there something needed to download? or any other way to have different wallpapers?
Posted by Shasti Kumar on September 7, 2010 at 3:03 AM
Hi All,
Who are all having 10.04, Open the System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager after that search “compiz” it will show you number of items in that please select compiz-fusion-plugins-extra and select and Apply after that you will see the Wallpaper in the CompizConf Setting Manager under Utility.
Regards
Shasti.
Posted by Keith on September 12, 2010 at 12:03 PM
Hey, this is great and it worked, but now i want to change them, so i changed the images in the “desktop cube” but it didnt work, please help! thx
Posted by Shasti Kumar on September 13, 2010 at 4:10 AM
Hi,
If you want to change the Wallpaper, you should go to Utility -> Wallpaper then change the Wallpaper then and there.
Shasti.
Posted by Keith on September 14, 2010 at 9:28 PM
how do you get to Utility?
Posted by Val on November 11, 2010 at 10:22 PM
Utility is under System>Utility>CCSM>Utilities. Problem is, I can’t see “Wallpaper” as an option there. It’s probably just my version or something I left unchecked someplace else, but I’m confused. o.O
Posted by simran on September 18, 2010 at 6:13 AM
i dont find back ground images
I don’t have the wallpaper option under Utility, in CCSM (10.4). Is there something needed to download? or any other way to have different wallpapers?
please tell me how ican aplly these 4 wallpapers on my desktop
Posted by simran on September 18, 2010 at 6:17 AM
i dont find back ground images in Appearance after the desktop setting so please tell me another way for applying wallpapers….
please tell me how ican aplly these 4 wallpapers on my desktop
Posted by Rubo on October 5, 2010 at 1:50 AM
supposely avant window navigator can help with the icons but i dont know how to use it
Posted by Keith on November 6, 2010 at 12:52 PM
This isn’t working for some reason, only the top of the cube has one of the wallpapers that i want, the rest are the default wallpaper, how do i change this??
Posted by riban on November 7, 2010 at 5:32 AM
I had to Ctrl-Alt-F1 to the console and back again before this worked properly. Before that, the screen was being corrupted after desktop switches and application switches, not redrawing the screen properly. After moving away form X and back, it works well. It is a bit frustrating not having nautilus handling the desktop as the nautilus context menu is handy.
Posted by abhishek on December 12, 2010 at 10:38 AM
it doesnt works for me…..
ubuntu 10.04
Posted by Giorgio on December 15, 2010 at 5:18 AM
I use Wallpapoz on Mint 7 (Ubuntu 9.04)
Posted by Mike on February 3, 2011 at 11:04 PM
I enjoyed your post.
I have tried this on Ubuntu 9.04.
I was able to get the desktop cubes and avant to work with Compiz.
But it was all for naught. Once I enabled dual monitor, using ATI driver I was not able to have dual monitors using desktop cubes and avant.
Also, primary monitor changed and when I edited the xorg.conf directly to change, it set the primary, and then trapped the mouse in the primary monitor.
So close, but not quite there.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
Posted by Paul on February 19, 2011 at 4:03 PM
I have Ubuntu 10.10. I’ve followed the procedure to the letter but nothing happens. Things just freeze on screen.Fortunately I can still get to gconf-editor to re-check show desktop and it clears up but that just gets me back where I started with one wallpaper.
Posted by Blake on March 10, 2011 at 9:32 AM
Fail
Posted by Nad on May 22, 2011 at 9:01 PM
For those that do everything and it does not switch over, do not run the gconf-editor as sudo. I was using sudo and nothing would switch. When I ran it simply as gconf-editor it switched immediately.
Posted by UnclePockets on June 27, 2011 at 7:51 PM
gconf-editor settings will generally apply to the user that it launches under. So sudo probably made it use the root home directory.
Posted by UnclePockets on June 27, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Gave me some issues. Switching desktops through cube didn’t work. Didn’t show additional backgrounds. Rebooted… cube worked, but backgrounds gone, and only skybox showing. Menu’s not refreshing correctly…. I’m sure I’ll figure it out later though. Part of the problem may be that I’m on 10.10. Just a heads up that it may not work perfectly right off the bat.
Posted by Get different wallpapers on each workspace in Ubuntu | TurboLinux Blog on August 4, 2011 at 11:04 AM
[...] Here is a excellent tutorial show you how to Get different wallpapers on each workspace in Ubuntu: I am sure you have always used to think if it is possible to have different wallpapers on different workspaces in Ubuntu using GNOME. Isn’t it? Don’t worry I have a tip for you, and it is very simple too. Assumptions: [...]
Posted by Luís Talora on August 12, 2011 at 10:35 PM
It worked nice on LinuxMint 11, with a few adjustments: had to go to CCSM -> Utility -> Wallpaper and add the wallpapers there. It worked perfectly! It would be better if I didn’t have to give up on desktop icons, though.
Any news on transparent desktop rendering with Nautilus?
Posted by উবুন্টু ৮.০৪ (Ubuntu 8.04) ইন্সটল করলাম – Sajid's Website on August 27, 2011 at 4:29 PM
[...] প্রত্যেক পাশে আলাদা wallpaper নিতে এটা পেলাম BookmarkClose Bookmark and Share This Page Save to Browser Favorites / [...]
Posted by Saurabh on September 30, 2011 at 6:10 AM
Hi,
I have done all the setting still i am not getting different wallpaper on different workspace. Actually i installed it earlier at that time it worked but when i switched to ubuntu unity in 11.04 it hanged so i uninstalled it.
But when i again installed it it is not working
Do u have any idea.
Please help