How To Create Desktop Launchers in Ubuntu 11.10(Oneiric)

November 9, 2011 · General · Email This Post

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{lang: 'en-GB'}

In previous version of Ubuntu, you can create shortcuts to your favorite applications and system locations right on the desktop. These shortcuts are the desktop launchers to quickly launch your favorite applications and system locations such as firefox,Home folder. But, Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot does not allow you to create desktop launchers by right clicking on the desktop like in the previous Ubuntu versions.This tutorial will explain how to Create Desktop Launchers in Ubuntu 11.10

First you need to install gnome-panel package using the following command from your terminal

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel

Create new launcher

Open the terminal and run the following command

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

This will open create laucher dialog box here you can give a suitable name for the launcher.In the Command field , type in the command to launch the application Then, click OK to create the desktop launcher.

Example

We will create nautilus launcher open the terminal and run the following command

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

This will open create laucher dialog box here you can give a suitable name for the launcher and in the command field enter nautilus and click ok

You can see it will create shortcut on desktop

If you want to add to launcher just Drag it on to launcher

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45 Comments to “How To Create Desktop Launchers in Ubuntu 11.10(Oneiric)”

1. brianoh says:

   January 16, 2012 at 7:03 pm

   Well, I wont jump on the bandwaggon and complain, but how can I add to launcher and not have on desktop as well? If I add to launcher and remove from desktop, it also deletes from launcher.

   [Reply]

   htunca Reply:
   January 20th, 2012 at 2:35 pm

   move the launcher file from the ~/Desktop folder to some other folder. Then use nautilus, open the folder you put the launcher file in, drag and drop it onto the launcher.

   [Reply]
2. brianoh says:

   January 16, 2012 at 7:16 pm

   Thanks for the post on creating a shortcut. I previously had a shortcut on the desktop for Eclipse. I moved Eclipse, and could not alter the location, so I used your instructions and created a new shortcut. It does not however show the Eclipse icon which the previous shortcut did show. Can this be done (show icon)?

   [Reply]

   papa Reply:
   January 22nd, 2012 at 9:10 pm

   if you click icon in the create launcher, it allows you to enter or browse to your icon file

   [Reply]
3. papa says:

   January 22, 2012 at 9:08 pm

   Cool

   Exactly what I needed.

   Just one little thing. When I launch the shell script that strats the application it creates a second icon in the launcher. When the app closes it disappears again.

   Can I avoid this?

   Cheers,

   [Reply]
4. luckyme says:

   January 23, 2012 at 8:00 pm

   Why would they delete this feature anyway?? This kind of annoying

   [Reply]
5. Brendan says:

   January 31, 2012 at 10:20 pm

   Why is Ubuntu choosing to go backwards by removing this deature?

   [Reply]
6. Stefan says:

   February 18, 2012 at 2:33 pm

   I can’t get this to work:

   gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

   I get:

   file:///home/stefan/Desktop does not have a .desktop or .directory suffix

   [Reply]
7. dj_palindrome says:

   February 20, 2012 at 12:05 am

   luckyme and Brendan:

   It’s upstream (GNOME) rather than Ubuntu (or Debian).

   Sadly, they really do believe that removing the ability to do things such as this is being faithful to the purity of their new desktop paradigm.

   Only when their corporate masters (Red Hat) think otherwise will this change.

   [Reply]