How To Install Icon Themes In Linux Mint Cinnamon [Beginner Tip]

A quick tutorial for beginners to show how to install and change icon themes in Linux Mint.
Warp Terminal

If you think the default Mint themes and icons are not good enough for you, why not change it?

In this quick tip for beginners, we shall see how to install icon themes in Linux Mint and more than that, how to change the icons in Linux Mint.

For this tutorial, we install the gorgeous Flat-Remix icon theme.

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There is a difference between ‘themes’ and ‘icon themes’. An icon theme just changes the look of icons while a theme changes many other appearances on the desktop.

Install icon themes in Linux Mint

There are two ways to install icon themes in Linux Mint (and many other Linux distributions, if not all).

  • If you download the icon theme in a zipped folder from Gnome-look or other portals, you can extract it to the ~/.icons directory. Usually, this hidden directory does not exist. You will have to create it. This is the universal and easy way. You can also refer to our guide on installing themes on Ubuntu, it's the same process here.
  • The second way to install an icon theme is using a PPA. Many popular icon themes have their own PPA.
  • Some other sets of icon themes have installation scripts, which you can run for additional tweaking. For example, the WhiteSur Icon theme. It provides an installation script, install.sh. You can clone such repositories and then run ./install.sh --provided-options.

Install Flat Remix icon set in Linux Mint using PPA

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Before installing an icon theme, first make sure it is not already installed. For example, both Papirus and Numix Icon themes are already installed on Linux Mint.

To install the icon theme, open a terminal (CTRL + T) and enter the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:daniruiz/flat-remix
sudo apt update
sudo apt install flat-remix

That’s it. You have installed Flat Remix Icon theme on your system.

Change icons in Linux Mint

Changing an icon theme in Ubuntu was straightforward. It is slightly hidden in Linux Mint, though. Once you have installed the icon themes, click on the menu icon on the panel and search for “Themes”. Open the Themes app.

Search and Open Themes applications from the Linux Mint Application Menu in Panel.
Open Themes Settings

Next, navigate your way to the “Advanced Settings”.

Inside the Themes Application, click on the Advanced Settings, if not already there.
Click on Advanced Settings

Now, you might have realized why I said that changing the icon is slightly hidden in Linux Mint. It resides inside the Advanced Settings window.

Here, to change only the icon, go to the “Themes” tab and click on Icons. And from the resulting list, select the installed icon theme you want to use.

Click on Icons inside the themes tab in Advanced Theme settings.
Select an Icon Theme from the List

The changes will be reflected immediately. No need for a restart.

Themes settings show the current icon theme as Flat Remix
Current Icon Theme is Flat Remix

Here is how my Linux Mint desktop looks after applying Flat Remix icon themes:

Flat Remix Icon theme is applied for the system.
Cinnamon Desktop with Flat-Remix Icon Theme

Bonus Tip: Install and Change Cursor Theme in Linux Mint

Similar to Icon themes are cursor theme. To install a cursor theme, you can download, extract, and paste the cursor theme folder inside the ~/.icons directory. Once pasted, open the Themes settings window.

On the “Themes” tab inside Advanced Settings, click on the Cursors and then choose the required cursor from the list.

Select the required cursor theme from the list.
Select a New Cursor Theme

That’s it. Your cursor theme should have changed by now.

Wrapping Up

I hope you find this quick to install and change icon themes in Linux Mint helpful.

Don’t forget to check the best icon themes in Ubuntu, you’ll find some beautiful icons there to make your desktop prettier.

Any questions, suggestions, thoughts? Feel free to drop a comment.

You might also like the detailed tutorial on installing themes in Linux Mint:

How to Change Themes in Linux Mint
Using Linux Mint is, from the start, a unique experience for its main Desktop Environment: Cinnamon. This is one of the main features why I love Linux Mint. Since Mint’s dev team started to take design more serious, “Themes” applet became an important way not only to choose new
About the author
Abhishek Prakash

Abhishek Prakash

Created It's FOSS 11 years ago to share my Linux adventures. Have a Master's degree in Engineering and years of IT industry experience. Huge fan of Agatha Christie detective mysteries 🕵️‍♂️

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