KDE-Forum.org

I did that once - it is really no problem. But it seems like any help you get on this topic relies on links that don't work or indirect answers that assume too much, so here is what you do, step by step!

Right click on the trash icon on your desktop and select [Open with...]
Choose Kwrite or Kedit (any text editor) and when it opens, look for the EmptyIcon= and the Icon= lines.

The correct entries should read:

EmptyIcon=trashcan_empty
Icon=trashcan_full

You don't have to be in root to do this:
Edit the line that does not look like the above equation so that it DOES look like the above equation and then click [File > Save] and exit.

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After you finish, get the trashcan empty/full function working by going to the Control Center > Appearance and Themes > Icons section and click to highlight any theme OTHER THAN the one you are using - then click to highlight the original theme back again (this turns on the APPLY button). Click APPLY; wait for the theme to reload and that should get your trashcan icon back to normal working mode.

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In future, if you want to change the look of your trash icons:

Have your new icons ready (sized at 32x32 pixels and named trash_empty.png and trash_full.png)
For the crystalsvg theme, migrate to /usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/32x32/filesystems
For the nuvola theme, migrate to /usr/share/icons/nuvola/32x32/filesystems
For any other installed themes, migrate to /usr/share/icons/?themename?/32x32/filesystems

Note: You only have to replace the icons in the theme you will be using.

Open the chosen filesystems file (under root) by right clicking in the empty space of the file, then selecting Actions > Open (As Root) and wait for the new filesystems root window to appear. Perform your changes inside it: rename the 2 current trash icons to something like trash_full-orig.png and trash_empty-orig.png and then insert (paste or move) your new icons into the file. Make sure the new icons are named correctly - see above.

You don't have to Save, just exit the window.

Then, as before - go to Control Center > Appearance and Themes > Icons and click to highlight any theme OTHER THAN the one you will be using - then click to highlight the original theme again (this turns on the APPLY button) and click APPLY; wait for the theme to reload and your new icon(s) will appear on your desktop.

-mikie