Unity displays question mark when specified desktop file icon is in a custom directory

[Jesper de Jong]

I created a launcher on the desktop by right-clicking and selecting "Add Launcher...". After creating it, I right-clicked the launcher and set a custom icon.

When I drag this launcher to the dash, an item appears but with a gray "?" question mark instead of the icon. See attached screenshot. The dash should use the icon from the launcher instead of displaying a question mark.

I don't see any way to change the question mark in the dash to something else (does this feature exist?).
---
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,gnomecompat,place,imgpng,resize,grid,compiztoolbox,unitymtgrabhandles,mousepoll,regex,vpswitch,snap,session,move,wall,animation,workarounds,expo,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,ring,unityshell]
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: unity 3.8.12-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Tags: natty running-unity
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Joshua Lückers (joshualuckers)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:
apport-collect 786570
When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Jesper de Jong (jespdj)]

apport information

[Jesper de Jong (jespdj)]

apport information

[Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar)]

Seems like Unity only picks up icons from /usr/share/pixmaps, /usr/share/icons and .local/share/icons . If the specified icon is outside these directories, a question mark comes.

[Phuah Yee Keat (ykphuah)]

I experienced this, I created two launchers for two versions of eclipse, one of them turn up the icon but another one is a question mark. Both of these showed up with the correct icons in Nautilus. Upon closer comparison, it seems that it might be related to the locale? I have created the 3.5 launcher when I was on US locale, then I switched to AU and created the 3.6 desktop file, attaching both of them.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report, could you give details on the launcher you created?

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

Are you still experiencing this bug in any current supported Ubuntu release? (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Unity because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for unity (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]