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I want to change the default file explorer from nautilus to Thunar. I searched hours around the web and followed all the advices but nothing did work.
What my expected result is: When double-clicking on a folder on the desktop Thunar should open.

My system is VERSION="18.04.3 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"

What I've done so far:

  • I changed all some files (so all files in which nautilus was set to open folder) in /usr/share/applications/ to use Thunar:

    user@computer:/usr/share/applications$ grep -i Thunar * (and exclude the Thunar-Files itself)
    backup-mimeinfo.cache:inode/directory=org.gnome.baobab.desktop;nautilus-folder-handler.desktop;org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop;Thunar-folder-handler.desktop; defaults.list:inode/directory=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop
    defaults.list:x-directory/normal=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop
    mimeinfo.cache:inode/directory=org.gnome.baobab.desktop;nautilus-folder-handler.desktop;org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop;Thunar-folder-handler.desktop;
    nautilus-autorun-software.desktop:TryExec=thunar
    nautilus-autorun-software.desktop:Exec=thunar
    nautilus.desktop:Exec=thunar
    nautilus.desktop:Exec=thunar
    nautilus-folder-handler.desktop:Exec=thunar
    nautilus-home.desktop:Exec=thunar
    nautilus-home.desktop:Exec=thunar
    org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop:Exec=thunar
    org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop:Exec=thunar
    thunar-volman-settings.desktop:Exec=thunar-volman-settings

  • I changed the Mime-Association

    sudo xdg-mime default Thunar.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search

  • I checked the mimeinfo.cache:

    user@computer:/usr/share/applications$ grep inode mimeinfo.cache inode/directory=org.gnome.baobab.desktop;nautilus-folder-handler.desktop;org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop;Thunar-folder-handler.desktop;

  • I changed mimeapps.list in my home-directory:

    user@computer:~/.config$ cat mimeapps.list
    [Added Associations]
    application/x-nautilus-link=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop;
    inode/directory=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop;
    [Default Applications]
    inode/directory=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop
    application/x-gnome-saved-search=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop

But it's still not working. So in principle my only question: How does ubuntu decides what to to when double-clicking on a folder placed on the desktop?

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  • You might have some settings to configure default applications from a GUI, depending on what desktop environment you're using. If you're on KDE Plasma, then there should be an application called "Default Applications." Dec 5, 2019 at 16:37
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    You need to set thunar as the file manager that handles the desktop. Currently, it is still nautilus that handles the desktop.
    – vanadium
    Dec 5, 2019 at 17:20

1 Answer 1

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Ok, thanks to the hint of user vanadium I found out that thunar can not handle the desktop: Question at stackexchange.com

So I have to deal with it...

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