I usually just drop them in a background folder under pictures and add them
from there.

That is just what I did, when I bring up desktop settings
they are visable, I have tried to add them and it doesn't
work either. I can't figure it out.

To add images for the desktop background, Right Click on the desktop
and select 'Desktop Settings' then click on the [+] icon to add a new
image and navigate to where your new images are. Select them and then
click on 'Add'. They will then be available in the list of backgrounds
to choose from with the last one selected automatically becoming the
new background.

Just what I did, the backgrounds are ones I have saved
from many versions of back distros backgrounds and I
have put them in the folder for the backgrounds. In
Xubuntu they are in a folder called backdrops but still
the one the system uses. When doing as you say below they
don't even show up to select, just he ones delivered with
the system.

Still trying. Looking as permissions doesn't make sense.
I even tried to redirect to another folder of my pictures.

Just tried it myself and used Desktop Settings then clicked on the [+]
button and navigated to usr/share/backgrounds then highlighted all of
the ones in there and clicked on 'Add'. Only one of them appears in
the list after selecting, despite them all apparently being there to
select initially and on re-boot the background is not longer there
with only the default set available once more. Is that what you've
been doing ?

If the backgrounds are placed in a folder in 'Pictures' then you can
add one and it will stay as the default on a reboot but only one image
at a time can be stored there that way, if you change the background
then it replaces the previous one in the list.

Looking for where Xubuntu stores these default images - found them in
usr/share/xfce4/backdrops but it's a system folder so you cannot just
copy files into it, need to be root so from terminal, navigate to the
folder where your pictures are saved...

sudo cp *.* /usr/share/xfce4/backdrops

This works and keeps the list of backgrounds in 'Desktop Settings' :-)

I think there must be something wrong with this install.
I had a previous install and I just copied all the background
files I have in the /usr/share/xfce4/backdrops with an sudo
command in a terminal and they were there and visible when
selecting the backdrop I wanted without any trouble.

I don't know how to fix it so I may just over write this
partition with Xbuntu 12.04 again only use a different source
disk to see it works then.

I had a hard time convincing myself it was a bad install.

Thanks for confirming that I was doing what I thought I had
done before. I have just re-convinced myself I do really like
Xubuntu, I loaded Lubuntu 12.04 and Kubuntu 12.04 on a couple
of spare partitions here and tried them again. I may continue
to see if I can learn to like Kubuntu over time.

Does sound like the install of Xubuntu isn't quite 100% if you are
doing what should work but it doesn't. Not such a huge job doing a
fresh install of Ubuntu so might as well go for it :-)

I like the clean lines of Xubuntu and the lighter strain on an older
system. Have a friend in Bhopal was having lot of trouble with Ubuntu
even after boosting memory and got him to install the Xubuntu desktop
which has been performing well ever since :-)

Prefer Kubuntu for the power user and have really grown to like 12.04
over the months of using it. Sure it has some quirks but all OS's do
so nothing new there <lol>

Having followed this thread , I have 4 distros on 1 HD : Lubuntu 12.04
,Ubuntu 12.04 . Mint 13 and Mint 14 ,all with their own /home folder. I
like them all .Perhaps I am not a power user (whatever that means) but it
seems that I am ´magically drawn´ to the Ubuntu Unity desktop to which I
have added the Cairo-Dock.
I can move any files from any distro /home folder to any other distro /home
folder.
I am now in the process learning to use the Tonido Plug, a home server
with embedded Ubuntu Linux which has just a 240/120V-AC power entry , an
ethernet socket and a USB2 socket, the latter connected to a USB hub with 2
fitted 64GB memory sticks for storage instead of a HD with moving parts .
I probably will use a normally off-line HD for occasional back-up .
My advice to Windoze users wanting to migrate to Linux is to start with
Lubuntu ,which can be happily installed on desktop/laptop machines up to 10
years old. (P4 or equivalent CPU with 512MB RAM)

My best wishes to you and all frequenting this Group for a HNY 2013

4 distro's on one HD and playing with a stand-alone server puts you in
the 'power user' category I'd say

Well quirky is going on here. Last night I reload using
a different disk, that install wouldn't recognize any
mouse, that disk is going in the trash, well maybe after
trying on a different load. Reloaded the other copy now
having the same quirky behavior of not being able to see
anything in the backgrounds folder. So will live with it
for now. Other things are working just fine. Still it is
a puzzle, but then I like puzzles. I may have some issues
with my memory, I think I need to run a memory test.
I need to order some memory for the server I use for print
services and my ham shack so I may order new and more for
this laptop too.