Home Tutorials How to reset all GNOME settings in Linux?
Tutorials

How to reset all GNOME settings in Linux?

2 min read

Resetting GNOME Settings

Gnome is so configurable that sometimes you can end up breaking your window manager. Most local settings for GNOME are stored in hidden directories in your home folder – gnome, gnome2, gconf, gconfd, metacity. You can remove these files to reset all the settings.

Method 1: Command line via login screen

  1. At the login screen:
    • Fedora: CTRL + ALT + F3
    • Ubuntu: CTRL + ALT + F1
  2. Log in with your username and password.
  3. Remove GNOME config:
rm -rf ~/.gnome ~/.gnome2 ~/.gconf ~/.gconfd ~/.metacity
  1. Reboot:
reboot

Method 2: Boot into command line via GRUB (all distros)

  1. At the GRUB menu, select your Linux system but don’t press Enter. Press e to edit.
  2. Find the line starting with linux (it looks like):
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.2-3.fc17.i686.PAE root=UUID=... ro rd.md=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.dm=0 SYSFONT=True KEYTABLE=us rd.luks=0 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rhgb quiet
  1. Move to the end of the line, add a space, and type 3 → non-graphical boot:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.2-3.fc17.i686.PAE root=UUID=... ro rd.md=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.dm=0 SYSFONT=True KEYTABLE=us rd.luks=0 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rhgb quiet 3
  1. Press CTRL + X or F10 to boot.
  2. You’ll land in command line mode, then run the same remove command:
rm -rf ~/.gnome ~/.gnome2 ~/.gconf ~/.gconfd ~/.metacity
  1. Reboot:
reboot

Note

This resets all GNOME settings including themes, panels, and window preferences.
Backup configs if you want to restore later.