Want to add icons in Ubuntu context menus, window menus and buttons? Well, it’s very easy because Ubuntu by default provides an option to enable / disable them.

All you need to do is follow the steps below. Works on Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 14.04 Unity Desktop.

First take a look at result:

Ubuntu menu and button have icons

Method 1: If you’re familiar with Linux commands, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run commands below:

To enable menu have icons, run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface menus-have-icons true

To enable button have icons, run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface buttons-have-icons true

Replace the value true with false in previous commands to disable them again if you want.

Method 2: Need a graphical interface? Well, search for and install dconf editor or dconf-tools in Ubuntu Software Center.

Then open it from Unity Dash, navigate to org/gnome/desktop/interface. Check on the boxes after button-have-icons and menu-have-icons in right and that’s it.

enable menu have icons via dconf editor