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How do I set the KDE desktop wallpaper (jpg file) from command line (e.g., by a script, started by the user)?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
5

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a simple way.

It appears you need to do something like this (from https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php/66762-Right-click-wallpaper-changer?p=387392&viewfull=1#post387392):

qdbus org.kde.plasmashell /PlasmaShell org.kde.PlasmaShell.evaluateScript 'var allDesktops = desktops();print (allDesktops);for (i=0;i<allDesktops.length;i++) {d = allDesktops[i];d.wallpaperPlugin = "org.kde.image";d.currentConfigGroup = Array("Wallpaper", "org.kde.image", "General");d.writeConfig("Image", "file:///media/sda2/Background/SpaceWall/Escape_Function.jpg")}'

or, another example, formatted more nicely (adapted from https://github.com/bharadwaj-raju/libdesktop/issues/1:

qdbus org.kde.plasmashell /PlasmaShell org.kde.PlasmaShell.evaluateScript '
    var allDesktops = desktops();
    print (allDesktops);
    for (i=0;i<allDesktops.length;i++) {{
        d = allDesktops[i];
        d.wallpaperPlugin = "org.kde.image";
        d.currentConfigGroup = Array("Wallpaper",
                                     "org.kde.image",
                                     "General");
        d.writeConfig("Image", "file:///path/to/imagefile")
    }}
'

I also found a pythonic solution.

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3

kwriteconfig5 --file "$HOME/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc" --group 'Containments' --group '1' --group 'Wallpaper' --group 'org.kde.image' --group 'General' --key 'Image' "/path/to/file.png"

Reddit.com. 2022. Change wallpaper from terminal. [online] Available at: http://reddit.com/comments/65pmhj/comment/icfca29/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 [Accessed 11 August 2022].

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0

Just run this in a script to solve all your problems:

Using Chris' solution:

This is an elaborate answer, however I solved my problems by building on Chris' solution, and I find it far better then KDE's built-in wallpaper functionality - which only works on a single monitor.

Works on all monitors - Just change the variables sleeptime AND location at the top - Copy/Paste into a .sh file and run it.

while true
do

# //// CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES ////////////

# pausetime between iterations
sleeptime=900
# location of wallpapers folder
location="/home/myusername/Pictures"

# ////////////////////////////////////////

array=($(ls $location*)) # populate array with directory contents
( IFS=$'\n'; echo "${array[*]}" ) # list array content for debug

size=${#array[@]}
index=$(($RANDOM % $size)) 
wallpaper=${array[$index]} # randomly select

echo 
echo " || SELLECTED WALLPAPER = "$wallpaper

dbus-send --session --dest=org.kde.plasmashell --type=method_call /PlasmaShell org.kde.PlasmaShell.evaluateScript 'string:
var Desktops = desktops();                                                                                                                       
for (i=0;i<Desktops.length;i++) {
        d = Desktops[i];
        d.wallpaperPlugin = "org.kde.image";
        d.currentConfigGroup = Array("Wallpaper",
                                    "org.kde.image",
                                    "General");
        d.writeConfig("Image", "file://'''$location'''/'${wallpaper}'");
}'
sleep $sleeptime

done

I run this as a startup script and I never have to worry about it again. The cool thing about it is that the array variable which contains all wallpaper filenames - repopulates on every loop, which means I can change my wallpaper loadout and have that reflected in the scripts operation.

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