Change the menu bar and main menu logos in ubuntu

UPDATE: I updated this post for gutsy. Thanks to gnuman for the information.

This would be useful for someone wanting to make their desktop look like OS X or something of that sort.

First make a .svg icon that you want to use. Name it start-here.svg. I have provided mine for you to download here. On the page that opens up, click “Free” at the bottom of the page, enter the code shown in the box, and then click download.

Now that you have your logo, put it into the /scalable/places folder inside your icon set’s directory. If you are using an icon set included with edgy, all the icon set directories are in /usr/share/icons/. Custom icon sets are located in ~/.icons/. If you don’t know which icon set you are using, you can check by going to System, Preferences, Theme, and then clicking the “Icons” tab.

These examples may help you locate the proper directory for your icon. If you are using the default (human) icon set that comes with gutsy, the directory where you would place start-here.svg is /usr/share/icons/Human/scalable/places/. One of my old custom icon sets is called “Glass Icons” so I went to my ~/.icons/ folder and found that my icons were stored in the folder ~/.icons/glass-icons. So my directory for start-here.svg is ~/.icons/glass-icons/scalable/places. I had to create the /places folder. Note that the folder name’s syntax is different from the icon set’s name. (Glass Icons vs. glass-icons)

Be aware that many custom themes also use the “GNOME” icon set by default.
Once you have placed start-here.svg in the correct directory, run:

killall gnome-panel

You should now see your logo in your menu bar, like in this screenshot:

start-here.svg screenshot

If you have any problems with this guide or can’t figure it out, feel free to ask me.

41 Responses to “Change the menu bar and main menu logos in ubuntu”

  1. Gaurav Says:

    Hi!

    I am using the edgy bult of ubuntu releases 26/10/06. Unfortunately i am not able to convert the image to *.svg format… can u pls upload the apple icon in svg format to rapidshare.com or any other upload serivce?

    Thnx in adv.

    Gaurav(gnarula @ ubuntuforums)

  2. Antickon Says:

    This helped me out. I’m using the new Ubuntu Dapper though — not sure if that is the problem. anyway, I had to put the icon in /scalable/apps/

    so apps instead of places

  3. Vikas Vishnu Says:

    Thanks a lot dude… Helped me fine with my Ubuntu Edgy… Kudos to you.. :-)

  4. Victor Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial…

    It may help some ppl with Edgy to know that the default theme icon used by some of the other icon themes can also be “GNOME” instead of Tango

    Vic.

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  12. JRAltd Says:

    I dont have permission to change or add the .svg file that I want to use can you please help me.

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  18. marko Says:

    Tnks!!! It work all great!!!

  19. Lian Says:

    Great tutorial!
    just one question, what is the difference between scalable and all the other dimensions like 8×8, 16×16, etc.?

  20. strabes Says:

    Lian: I actually don’t know what the difference is between scalable and the dimensions. No clue.

  21. Puck Says:

    I’ve successfully replaced the distributor-logo.svg file in my icons folder (/usr/share/icons/gnome/scalable/places) and it is not replacing the icon on my panel. When I view the file from that folder, it opens the correct svg file. My /home/user/.icons is empty and I cannot locate another distributor-logo.svg file in the gnome icons folder. Any clues?

  22. gnuman Says:

    With GNOME 2.20.1 in Gutsy Gibbon (7.10), the file is start-here.svg.

  23. Jan Celis Says:

    I do have the same problem as Puck. But I’ve been messing around too much with my desktop I guess.
    lian: scalable means: It draws lines and circles (which form your picture) in any format (24×24,48×48,…) on the fly. You can use inkscape (sudo apt-get install inkscape) to make those (if you have a lot of time).
    Other graphics (like the 24×24 png images which you can edit with gimp) are fixed pixels with colors.

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  27. Nikolai Says:

    Hi! I tried this in Hardy but it doesn’t change it at all. I use UbuntuStudio icon theme, converted the file with Inscape (plain svg). killall gnome-panel doesn’t help…

  28. Nie Says:

    I’m using Hardy as well, I did have the default icons in /usr/share/icons/defaulticons and my ~/.icons folder was empty. I’ve put my customicons/ in the ~/.icons folder.
    In my gconfig editor, >apps>panel>objects I do have custom_icons checked (object_type=menu-bar).
    I also didn’t have a places folder in my ~/.icons/customicons>scaleable so I created one (I figured it couldn’t hurt) but my strathere.svg is in apps as mentioned by Antickon.

    When I go in my System->Preferences->Appearances and then in themes->personalized->icons, my custom theme is there but the icons don’t change when I select it…
    Any idea?

  29. Ashlyn Says:

    When i try to move the picture file i want into the scalable places folder i get

    “Error moving file: Permission denied”

    I’m new to linux & ubuntu (hardy), anyone know how i can change the permissions so that i can get it done?

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  31. Ben Dibell Says:

    as for converting types, use gimp.
    to change an icon go to /usr/share/icons/gnome/24×24/places
    and replace start-here.png with your icon renamed to the same thing. make sure to move the old one to trash. I wouldn’t just delete it.
    if it is not a png use gimp to save it as. make sure it is at largest 24×24.
    I recommend 22×22.
    Enjoy!

  32. Rune Says:

    Hey
    I’ve been trying to replace the logo for days now, and it I just cant get it to work … I use 8.10, and a theme i made myself, so it doesnt show up in the usr/share …

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