Move desktop/appearance settings from root to regular user

[quentinthornton]

Hey guys, I spent quite a while making the appearance and desktop how I wanted it. I thought that it would stay the same throughout all the users if I changed everything within the root user. It didn't. So now I'm trying to figure out how to copy all the appearance and desktop settings from the root user to another user, named quentin. Is there any way to do this? Thanks

[stevepusser]

Yes, root is a separate user with super powers, not a template that new accounts have their settings cloned from (that's cloned from /etc/skel)

Root's home folder is /root. You can try copying the settings out of there manually to clone the appearance--but use /etc/skel for new account creation.

[quentinthornton]

Thanks for the reply stevepusser
I don't understand what you mean by

but use /etc/skel for new account creation.

But I tried using the file manager, showing all the hidden files, selecting all of them (in the /root directory) and pasting them into the (/home/quentin) directory. Then I went in and changed ownership of all the files in the /home/quentin directory by doing this:
chown -R quentin:quentin /home/quentin

Then I logged out, and logged into the quentin account. All it showed was the desktop image with nothing else. I couldn't right click or do anything. So, that didn't work. I also tried copying the files from /etc/skel into /home/quentin (along with changing the ownership) and that didn't work either. Any other ideas what to do? Thanks

[golinux]

Start by never logging into the desktop as root. Not EVER! You didn't even tell us what DE you're using. That could make a difference where files are stored.

[alan stone]

I thought that it would stay the same throughout all the users if I changed everything within the root user.

FYI.

[quentinthornton]

You didn't even tell us what DE you're using. That could make a difference where files are stored.

Sorry about that

I'm running Debian Stretch rc3 amd64. It's fully up to date and I'm using the xfce desktop.

[furquan]

Thanks for the reply stevepusser
I don't understand what you mean by

but use /etc/skel for new account creation.

From LINFO (http://www.linfo.org/etc_skel.html):

The /etc/skel directory contains files and directories that are automatically copied over to a new user's home directory when such user is created by the useradd program.

If you look into the directory by using ls -a /etc/skel you will see something like this:

Code: Select all

$ ls --all /etc/skel
.  ..  .bash_logout  .bashrc  .profile

If you want settings to stay consistent between users then add the relevant files to this directory. For example, if I want to have consistent behavior of the compton compositor between users I'll just copy the relevant config file there.

Code: Select all

# mkdir /etc/skel/.config && cp ~/.config/compton.conf /etc/skel/.config/compton.conf

But I tried using the file manager, showing all the hidden files, selecting all of them (in the /root directory) and pasting them into the (/home/quentin) directory. Then I went in and changed ownership of all the files in the /home/quentin directory by doing this:
chown -R quentin:quentin /home/quentin

Then I logged out, and logged into the quentin account. All it showed was the desktop image with nothing else. I couldn't right click or do anything. So, that didn't work. I also tried copying the files from /etc/skel into /home/quentin (along with changing the ownership) and that didn't work either. Any other ideas what to do? Thanks

You should never run X as root. NEVER. Copying all the hidden files of one user's home into another's is not a good idea. First you should have determined what settings you want to keep between users and then found out where these settings are, and only then you should have copied the relevant files.

You didn't even tell us what DE you're using. That could make a difference where files are stored.

Sorry about that

I'm running Debian Stretch rc3 amd64. It's fully up to date and I'm using the xfce desktop.

Since you're on Xfce the relevant place for most of the desktop settings should be ~/.config/xfce4 . But it all depends on what settings you changed and if you're using third-party applications or not (like compton). If you have installed themes per user them you might also have to copy ~/.themes directory but as I said before, it all depends on what settings you have changed.

[n_hologram]

In addition to what everyone else said, if you do need to copy any configuration files from /root, make sure you update permissions/ownership.

[quentinthornton]

Thanks for your help guys. I ended up copying the .icons and .themes files from the root user, chown of them, then redid everything that I did before.

[furquan]

Thanks for your help guys. I ended up copying the .icons and .themes files from the root user, chown of them, then redid everything that I did before.

Good to know that you got your problem fixed. In the future, read up on /etc/skel and use it. It will save you these problems and you won't waste your time trying to copy stuff from one user to another.