How to use Thunar by default in Ubuntu

The Ubuntu operating system includes the Nautilus file manager by default. Though some people prefer other programs when managing their environmentIt would be difficult to include several of them to accommodate all tastes, especially since many are dependent on certain types of desks.

Therefore, in this guide we are going to explain how to set Thunar browser as default app on your Ubuntu system. You will have several methods for you to choose the one that best suits your tastes.

Although the way recommended by the people of Canonical is the manual method, we leave you two more for you to decide on the one that is most comfortable for you.

Activating Thunar manually

The default configuration of the Ubuntu system is overwritten with the particular one of each user, which is located in the directory home each. We will access the route ~ / .local / share / applications (and remember that it refers to the directory home and not to the directory usr) Y we will create a file called thunar.desktop with the following information:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Open Folder
TryExec=thunar
Exec=thunar %U
NoDisplay=true
Terminal=false
Icon=folder-open
StartupNotify=true
Type=Application
MimeType=x-directory/gnome-default-handler;x-directory/normal;inode/directory;application/x-gnome-saved-search;

Then edit the defaults.list file Located in ~ / .local / share / applications and enter the following lines:

inode/directory=thunar.desktop
x-directory/normal=thunar.desktop

With this, the MIME types will be associated with thunar and you will be able to see the effects immediately, without having to restart the computer.

Activating Thunar via script

To run the following script, copy the code that we leave below in a file that you create in your directory home. In our guide we will name it as defaultthunar.

#!/bin/bash

## Originally written by aysiu from the Ubuntu Forums
## This is GPL'ed code
## So improve it and re-release it

## Define portion to make Thunar the default if that appears to be the appropriate action
makethunardefault()
{
## I went with --no-install-recommends because
## I didn't want to bring in a whole lot of junk,
## and Jaunty installs recommended packages by default.
echo -e "\nMaking sure Thunar is installed\n"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install thunar --no-install-recommends

## Does it make sense to change to the directory?
## Or should all the individual commands just reference the full path?
echo -e "\nChanging to application launcher directory\n"
cd /usr/share/applications
echo -e "\nMaking backup directory\n"

## Does it make sense to create an entire backup directory?
## Should each file just be backed up in place?
sudo mkdir nonautilusplease
echo -e "\nModifying folder handler launcher\n"
sudo cp nautilus-folder-handler.desktop nonautilusplease/

## Here I'm using two separate sed commands
## Is there a way to string them together to have one
## sed command make two replacements in a single file?
sudo sed -i -n 's/nautilus --no-desktop/thunar/g' nautilus-folder-handler.desktop
sudo sed -i -n 's/TryExec=nautilus/TryExec=thunar/g' nautilus-folder-handler.desktop
echo -e "\nModifying browser launcher\n"
sudo cp nautilus-browser.desktop nonautilusplease/
sudo sed -i -n 's/nautilus --no-desktop --browser/thunar/g' nautilus-browser.desktop
sudo sed -i -n 's/TryExec=nautilus/TryExec=thunar/g' nautilus-browser.desktop
echo -e "\nModifying computer icon launcher\n"
sudo cp nautilus-computer.desktop nonautilusplease/
sudo sed -i -n 's/nautilus --no-desktop/thunar/g' nautilus-computer.desktop
sudo sed -i -n 's/TryExec=nautilus/TryExec=thunar/g' nautilus-computer.desktop
echo -e "\nModifying home icon launcher\n"
sudo cp nautilus-home.desktop nonautilusplease/
sudo sed -i -n 's/nautilus --no-desktop/thunar/g' nautilus-home.desktop
sudo sed -i -n 's/TryExec=nautilus/TryExec=thunar/g' nautilus-home.desktop
echo -e "\nModifying general Nautilus launcher\n"
sudo cp nautilus.desktop nonautilusplease/
sudo sed -i -n 's/Exec=nautilus/Exec=thunar/g' nautilus.desktop

## This last bit I'm not sure should be included
## See, the only thing that doesn't change to the
## new Thunar default is clicking the files on the desktop,
## because Nautilus is managing the desktop (so technically
## it's not launching a new process when you double-click
## an icon there).
## So this kills the desktop management of icons completely
## Making the desktop pretty useless... would it be better
## to keep Nautilus there instead of nothing? Or go so far
## as to have Xfce manage the desktop in Gnome?
echo -e "\nChanging base Nautilus launcher\n"
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/nautilus.old --rename /usr/bin/nautilus && sudo ln -s /usr/bin/thunar /usr/bin/nautilus
echo -e "\nRemoving Nautilus as desktop manager\n"
killall nautilus
echo -e "\nThunar is now the default file manager. To return Nautilus to the default, run this script again.\n"
}

restorenautilusdefault()
{
echo -e "\nChanging to application launcher directory\n"
cd /usr/share/applications
echo -e "\nRestoring backup files\n"
sudo cp nonautilusplease/nautilus-folder-handler.desktop .
sudo cp nonautilusplease/nautilus-browser.desktop .
sudo cp nonautilusplease/nautilus-computer.desktop .
sudo cp nonautilusplease/nautilus-home.desktop .
sudo cp nonautilusplease/nautilus.desktop .
echo -e "\nRemoving backup folder\n"
sudo rm -r nonautilusplease
echo -e "\nRestoring Nautilus launcher\n"
sudo rm /usr/bin/nautilus && sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/nautilus
echo -e "\nMaking Nautilus manage the desktop again\n"
nautilus --no-default-window &

## The only change that isn't undone is the installation of Thunar
## Should Thunar be removed? Or just kept in?
## Don't want to load the script with too many questions?
}



## Make sure that we exit if any commands do not complete successfully.
## Thanks to nanotube for this little snippet of code from the early
## versions of UbuntuZilla
set -o errexit
trap 'echo "Previous command did not complete successfully. Exiting."' ERR


## This is the main code
## Is it necessary to put an elseif in here? Or is
## redundant, since the directory pretty much
## either exists or it doesn't?
## Is there a better way to keep track of whether
## the script has been run before?
if [[ -e /usr/share/applications/nonautilusplease ]]; then

restorenautilusdefault

else

makethunardefault

fi;

Then, paste the following commands in your terminal and you will have finished:

chmod +x defaultthunar
./defaultthunar

Activating Thunar for GUI Lovers

Finally, for those of you who are not looking for a lot of complications and you like configure the system from a windowing environment, try running the following command from the terminal console:

exo-preferred-applications

Next, a window like the one below will appear from which you can choose your manager: