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Install Variety, choose local or online image sources in its Preferences, and set a regular change interval—such as 24 hours if your installed version offers it. Variety rotates wallpapers automatically, but the available documentation does not establish that every version supports a change at midnight or uses the same schedule controls.
What Variety does
Variety is a Linux wallpaper changer that can rotate images from folders you select or images it downloads. Ubuntu AppStream describes it as changing the desktop wallpaper “on a regular basis” using user-specified or automatically downloaded images. Its source options and settings may vary by installed version.
Install Variety on Ubuntu
Ubuntu’s package catalog lists the variety package for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 25.10, and 26.04 LTS. Package versions differ by release: 0.8.5-2, 0.8.12-1, 0.8.13-1, and 0.9.0~b1-2 respectively. Use your release’s software center or package manager, search for variety, and install it.
Set up automatic wallpaper changes
- Open Variety from your applications list.
- Open its Preferences dialog. If Variety is already running, use
variety --show-preferencesin a terminal to open it. - Choose image sources. A local folder gives you control over the images and does not depend on a network connection. Online sources let Variety fetch images, so they require network access; choose from the sources and selection criteria available in your installed version.
- Find the wallpaper-change interval setting and choose a regular interval. Select 24 hours if that interval is offered and you want approximately one change per day.
- Leave Variety running in your desktop session so it can perform the scheduled changes. Check the Preferences dialog for the exact controls provided by your version.
The Ubuntu documentation confirms regular interval-based changes but does not specify the current GUI labels or establish that every version offers a once-per-day wall-clock schedule. A 24-hour interval should not be taken to mean the wallpaper will change at midnight.
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Control Variety from a terminal
The Ubuntu Noble variety(1) manual documents these commands for Variety 0.8.12-1:
variety --next— show the next queued wallpaper.variety --previous— return to the previous wallpaper.variety --pause— pause automatic rotation.variety --resume— resume rotation.variety --show-preferences— open Preferences.
To set a particular image directly, use variety --set /absolute/path/to/image.jpg. The image path must be absolute. A local file passed to Variety is added to its queue; a remote URL can be fetched into its Fetched folder and queued.
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Sources
- Ubuntu Noble variety(1) manual
- Ubuntu AppStream metadata for Variety
- Ubuntu package catalog: Variety
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