Trash can on desktop does not function

Why is the trash can on my desk top permanently empty, even when I delete files? The Trash folder at /home/.local/share/ seems to contain the current deleted files. Is this folder in the right place? How do I connect it to the trash can on the desktop.

I’m using Gnome 3.16.2

Aren’t there any options available when you right click the trashcan on the desktop?

‘Open’ / ‘Open in New Window’ / ‘Open in New Tab’ open (VLC !!) application with (terminal) errors.

‘Empty Wastebasket’ has no further effect, it’s empty anyway

‘Properties’ shows: Trash: ‘Size: unknown’, ‘Accessed: unknown’, ‘Modified: unknown’

plus: Resize Icon…, Rename, Email… all others are ‘grayed out’.

So how can I link the desktop Trash can to the Trash folder, so that I can get the trash function back again? (If I delete the contents of the Trash folder, they just appear there again, of course!)

Having deleted the VLC application , I now get on opening the Trash can an error box (in the Document Viewer window ) with the message “Failed to load remote file. Failed to create a temporary file: is a directory”

This is a fairly common problem over the years.

For your specific Desktop, there will be a hiddend folder that contains the “Trash” metadata which can become corrupted.
Typically, deleting the trash hidden folder contents “resets” the trash so it’s functional again.

I don’t use Gnome, so I did a little search and found surprisingly this isn’t discussed much at all within the past 3 years.
The following article describes how to enable Trash in Nautilus and the Desktop which suggests that perhaps rt-clicking on the Trash directory in Nautilus might display the exact location. I’d also assume that you need to enable Trash as described in this article before another application can be configured to use Trash.

http://linuxcommando.blogspot.com/2013/11/gnome-3-get-your-trash-can-and-computer.html

TSU

I have deleted folder /.local/share/Trash/ . As the Trash can function was trying to open the VLC application which then starts looking for files at Trash:///, I also decided to delete VLC. Opening the Trash can by right-click on the Wastebasket in Nautilus returns the message “This location could not be displayed. Sorry, could not display the contents of trash:///: the specified location is not supported.”

Thanks for the link by the way. Unfortunately, my Gnome configuration is not the same as the example shown there. (I am not aware of any *Applications/System Tools/Preferences/Advanced Settings *in my Gnome Desktop configuration…am I missing something?)

Does the Trash directory exist?

ls -l ~/.local/share/Trash

For example, I have

total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 dean users 324 May 30 10:54 files
drwxr-xr-x 1 dean users 444 May 30 10:54 info

Yes. There is no problem with Trash folder itself. It is just as you have here.

I was also able to delete the folder /.local/share/Trash. All files were removed and the folder got deleted as well. As soon as I moved a file to the Wastebasket, /.local/share/Trash was created again, with both folders /files and /info containing the deleted file and its data respectively, but the desktop icon showed an empty Trash can. Clicking on the Trash can icon leads to the error message reported previously.

Okay, thanks for clarifying. Have you restarted the desktop since this was done?

Thanks for the link by the way. Unfortunately, my Gnome configuration is not the same as the example shown there. (I am not aware of any *Applications/System Tools/Preferences/Advanced Settings *in my Gnome Desktop configuration…am I missing something?)

I’m not Gnome user, but perhaps the gnome-tweak-tool is relevant here? Hopefully, other Gnome users can chime in…

Probably different in Gnome, but in KDE4/5 the URL is trash:/, one slash only.

Yes, I have. :slight_smile:

Today, the Trash can is empty and opens only with error (see previous posts), although there is at least one discarded file in the /.local/share/Trash/ folder

Is this problem perhaps bigger than just the Trash can problem?

I have 2 icons (‘Trash’ and ‘Network Servers’) on my desktop that return the error message on ‘open’:“Failed to load remote file. Failed to create a temporary file: is a directory”

In Nautilus, the ‘Wastebasket’ function returns on mouse-click:

“This location could not be displayed. Sorry, could not display the contents of trash:///: the specified location is not supported.”

In Nautilus, the ‘Browse Network’ function returns on mouse-click a similar message:
“This location could not be displayed. Sorry, could not display the contents of network:///: the specified location is not supported.”

Sometimes I can answer my own questions. With the help of a Ubuntu forum, I discovered that **gvfs-backends **has to be installed (how did it get uninstalled?).

I installed gvfs-backends, then rebooted and it works! Trash, Browse Network, the lot! PROBLEM SOLVED!!

Thanks for the update. It may well be of benefit to others who come searching! :slight_smile: