Hidden Files in KDE

A feature was introduced in Kubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft" where directories in the root directory, except for /home and /media are treated as hidden. This feature was added to simplify navigating the file system by only showing directories which contain the user's files.

"How can I see those hidden directories?"

Konqueror

Hidden files and directories can be displayed in KDE's Konqueror file manager by enabling the menu option "Show Hidden Files" on the "View" menu.

Hidden directories can be also directly navigated into by entering the path in the location field. Only the directories in the root directory are hidden. The contents of these hidden directories will be displayed in Konqueror as normal.

KDE File dialogs

The "wrench" icon in the top left corner of the KDE file dialog opens a small menu. Select the "Show Hidden Files" menu item there.

"How can I restore the old behaviour?"

The root directory contains a file called /.hidden. Open this in a text editor and delete the names of the directories which you want to have shown.

Do not delete the /.hidden. Otherwise it will be restored during the next update of the kubuntu-desktop-setting package.