PCmanFM misses the permission column in its detail view and the ability to set viewable columns. Because of this I switched to Thunar. Now I want to set it as my default file manger in LXDE. How to do this?
2 Answers
The simple way...
The quickest way is to create a pcmanfm shell script in /usr/local/bin
. This shell script will instead execute thunar
Thus:
nano ~/pcmanfm
copy and paste the following:
#!/bin/sh
thunar $* &
Save
chmod 755 ~/pcmanfm
sudo mv ~/pcmanfm /usr/local/bin
The disadvantage though of this method is that you will lose any desktop shortcuts because on login, pcmanfm is no longer being run on login.
LXDE/XFCE Hybrid
A more interesting method would be to have the LXDE shell but with the XFCE desktop rather than the pcmanfm desktop
The reason for running with the xfdesktop is that it integrates with thunar whereas the pcmanfm desktop cannot be configured to launch folders stored on the desktop with thunar - only pcmanfm.
The recipe is as follows:
- Change the default file-manager shortcut: edit the file
/usr/share/applications/pcmanfm.desktop
and change the lineExec=pcmanfm %U
toExec=thunar %U
- Change shortcut keys: using
leafpad
change all references ofpcmanfm
tothunar
in the file~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml
- Stop pcmanfm desktop being run on login: edit the file
/etc/xdg/lxsession/Lubuntu/autostart
and change the line@pcmanfm --desktop --profile lubuntu
to!@pcmanfm --desktop --profile lubuntu
- Create a startup-on-login folder: create a folder called
~/.config/autostart
- Start
xfdesktop
on login: create a file calledxfdesktop.desktop
in this autostart folder with...
the contents
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Exec=xfdesktop
Icon=help-contents
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;X-XFCE;X-Xfce-Toplevel;
Name=xfdesktop
- Install xfdesktop:
sudo apt-get install xfdesktop4
- reboot.
a third way...
If you don't want to run the xfdesktop - then follow the recipe above, but dont disable pcmanfm in /etc/xdg/lxsession/Lubuntu/autostart
and you also dont need to autostart xfdesktop
.
Obviously you are still left with the folder on desktop launching pcmanfm issue - but if you can live with this, this is a worthy compromise.
-
shouldn' there be some "standart" way in LXDE? I was searchng but yesterday lxde.org was not available.– БеровOct 28, 2011 at 9:12
-
A while back thunar was the default file manager for lubuntu. However I cant find any info on how the devs did the switch. I'll keep looking and post back if I find anything.– fossfreedom ♦Oct 28, 2011 at 9:25
-
-
@arno - apart from thunar - you need xfdesktop4 as per the instructions.– fossfreedom ♦Jul 29, 2012 at 18:56
-
@fossfreedom, re. edit the file /etc/xdg/lxsession/Lubuntu/autostart, it looks that file isn't there in 13.10. There's now a folder called
autostart
.– user25656Oct 18, 2013 at 13:47
For how to change and restore Default File Manager, check the link: