The Dolphin Backup Drama: Why is it so hard to sync settings in 2026?

General system Newbie
1

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a really frustrating situation with Dolphin’s configuration. I’ve been trying to sync my settings between my two machines (a Beelink Mini S12 Pro and a Lenovo Yoga 530), both running EndeavourOS Titan, but I’ve hit a brick wall.

Despite it being 2026, there is still no native “Export/Import Settings” button, and manual methods are failing miserably. Here is what I’ve tried so far:

  • Manual File Replacement: I’ve copied ~/.config/dolphinrc, ~/.config/kiorc, and the entire ~/.local/share/dolphin/ folder (including user-places.xbel). Even after replacing them while the session was closed, Dolphin ignores them completely on the target machine and reverts to defaults.

  • Konsave: I tried using Konsave to create a profile and export it. Even then, the import didn’t “take.” The UI, toolbars, and custom places just won’t sync.

  • The “Cache” Issue: I suspect KDE is caching settings in RAM and overwriting my manual changes upon login/app launch, but even “surgical” replacements (outside of the GUI session) didn’t help.

It seems like Dolphin’s settings are either tied to specific hardware/paths or the caching system is too aggressive to allow manual intervention.

My hardware setup:

  1. PC: Beelink Mini S12 Pro (N100/16GB/EndeavourOS)

  2. Laptop: Yoga 530 (Ryzen/4GB/EndeavourOS)

Has anyone actually managed to successfully “clone” a Dolphin setup recently? Am I missing some hidden cache directory or a specific D-Bus command to force a reload?

Any help would be appreciated. This feels like archeology just to move a few bookmarks and toolbars!

2

I’m still testing…

3

Try also copying ~/.local/state/dolphinstaterc

4

Thanks Richard! I missed the ~/.local/state/ directory. I’m checking it right now to see if combining this with the rest of the files finally makes the settings ‘stick’ on the Yoga. I’ll report back in a few.

5

Hey guys,

Quick update: I finally managed to make it work! It was a bit of a rabbit hole, but the Yoga is now a “mini-clone” of my Beelink setup.

What worked for syncing Dolphin: Copying the following files was the key (make sure Dolphin is closed before pasting):

  • ~/.config/dolphinrc (Interface/Toolbars)

  • ~/.local/share/user-places.xbel (Bookmarks/Places)

  • ~/.config/dolphinstaterc (View modes/Window state)

The “Open as Root” solution for Plasma 6: The old scripts I found online were causing Dolphin to glitch (showing the .desktop file as a folder). I created a clean service menu in ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus/open-as-root.desktop with this content: [Desktop Entry]
Type=Service
ServiceTypes=KonqPopupMenu/Plugin
MimeType=inode/directory;
Actions=OpenAsRoot;
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel

[Desktop Action OpenAsRoot]
Name=Open as Root
Icon=system-file-manager
Exec=pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY dolphin %U

After saving, I ran kbuildsycoca6 --noincremental and everything snapped into place.

Final thought: Honestly, while I’m happy it works, the process is way too complicated for 2026. Having to manually track down config files, fix mime-type glitches, and rebuild system caches just to sync basic UI settings is exhausting. There really should be a simpler “Export/Import” feature for these things. To be fair, I’m not sure if I’d go through all this trouble again!

Thanks to everyone for the help!

6

Awesome @NEC! And thank you for sharing how you did it too :smiley::+1:

7

I’m using chezmoi and one external tool for KDE dotfiles

It needs some initial work but then it works perfectly