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Stop Pictures/Music/Videos from reappearing after I delete them

You delete the empty ~/Pictures, ~/Music, ~/Videos folders you never use — and they're back at the next login.

Cause

xdg-user-dirs-update runs at login and recreates any standard directory listed in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs. Deleting the folder doesn't help; the entry brings it back.

Fix

Point the ones you don't want at $HOME — the documented "no dedicated folder" setting — then delete them:

# ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME"

rmdir ~/Music ~/Pictures ~/Videos
xdg-user-dirs-update        # runs the login logic now; they should NOT reappear

Your edits are preserved — xdg-user-dirs-update keeps local changes on future runs.

Notes

  • Your file manager may still list them in its sidebar (now pointing at $HOME) until you remove those places/bookmarks or restart it.
  • To disable the updater entirely (stops managing all XDG dirs), set enabled=False in ~/.config/user-dirs.conf — usually overkill; the $HOME trick is more surgical.