If your folder ".barbalonga" is located inside the folder "images", you should write: gconftool -s /apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/5/bg-image -t string /home/user/MyDocs/.images/barbalonga/your_picture.jpg If your folder ".barbalonga" is located outside the folder "images", you should write: gconftool -s /apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/5/bg-image -t string /home/user/MyDocs/barbalonga/your_picture.jpg