How do I run executable scripts in Nautilus?

Question

When I double-click on a script in Nautilus to run it, the script just opens in my text editor with no option to run it. Using Nautilus, how do I run executable text files and/or scripts?

Answer 1

1. Open Nautilus.

2. Open this from the menu bar:

   Edit → Preferences

3. Select the 'Behavior' tab.

4. Select "Ask each time" under "Executable Text Files".

5. Close the window.
6. Right click the file, and select "Properties.

7. Select the "Permissions" tab, and make sure "Allow executing file as program" is selected.

8. Close the window.

Now you can double-click your executable text file in Nautilus to be asked whether to execute or edit your script.

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Answer credit: Nur

Answer 2

Follow these steps:

• Install dconf-editor because it isn't installed by default.
• Hit Alt+F2, type dconf-editor and hit Enter.

• In dconfg-editor goto: org ➤ gnome ➤ nautilus ➤ preferences

  

• Click on executable-text-activation and from drop down menu select:

  launch: to launch scripts as programs.

  OR

  ask: to ask what to do via a dialog.

• Close dconf-editor. That's it!

Answer 3

I think this is a nuisance caused by Gnome people who decided to change that default behavior we were accustomed to.

To fix it, you can;

1. install (if you haven't already) and start dconf Editor,
2. go to: org > gnome > nautilus > preferences, and
3. change the value for executable-text-activation back to ask (or even launch, if you prefer).

If you want the same Nautilus behavior as Root as well you can repeat the steps above, starting dconf Editor this time as Root.

Answer 4

in a terminal

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences executable-text-activation ask

Answer 5

Using GUI

1. Depending on which Ubuntu version you have,

   • 14.04 or 16.04

     In Nautilus, open this from the menu bar:

     Edit → Preferences

   • 18.04+

     In Nautilus, open this from the menu bar:

     Files → Preferences

2. Then, in the 'Behavior' tab, select "Run them" (previously "Run executable text files with they are opened").

   Alternatively, select "Ask each time" instead if you would like a dialog (example) asking you whether to edit or execute the file.

   

Using Command line

If you prefer a command:

dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/executable-text-activation "'launch'"

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Note: Both GUI and command line methods work only for Nautilus (the default graphical file manager in Ubuntu).

Originally from another answer posted by me here.

Answer 6

You can do this for a single file by going into permissions in file properties and selecting "run this file as an executable".

Answer 7

For that I guess the best way will be to make .desktop launcher, make that launcher executable using

chmod +x blah.desktop

And after that you will be ready to run it via just clicking, and even more you can add it to launcher. To read more about how to make .desktop files look here. Main part of it is this

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon=/path/to/icon/icon.svg
Name=give-name-here
Exec=/path/to/file/executable

Answer 8

You can use the most upvoted answer in Fedora 20 + GNOME too:

Open Nautilus, check Preferences -> Behavior -> Executable Files, put as always ask

Answer 9

You have to check 3 points :

• Nautilus / Nemo configuration : https://askubuntu.com/a/286651/301025
• The script file must have executable permission : https://askubuntu.com/a/275714/301025
• The file system must allow execution :
  1. Type "mount" in a console
  2. Check if your file system has noexec flag
  3. Remove noexec flag in editing /etc/fstab and

Answer 10

right click on the file -> open with -> other application -> view all applications -> run software -> select

from now on shell scripts will be run on double click.

Answer 11

In Nautilus 45.0+, try this steps

1. Create desktop file at ~/.local/share/applications

[Desktop Entry]
.....
Exec=bash %f
Name=Script_launcher_1
NoDisplay=true
Terminal=true or false
.....

2. Create bash script file and make it executable

#!/bin/bash 
# with or without shebang line

# write commands
.....

3. In Nautilus, right-click the script file, click "Open with", select the created desktop entry name in the list, and check "Always use for this file type".

4. You can then run the script file by double-clicking it in Nautilus.

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To target specific file extension, for example *.ext1, try this steps also.

1. Create XML file for MIME type definition in

~/.local/share/mime/packages/my-custom-mime-types.xml 
or 
/usr/share/mime/packages/my-custom-mime-types.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns='http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info'>
        <mime-type type="my-custom-mime-types/custom-ext1-mime-type">
                <comment>My Custom EXT1 MIME Type</comment>
                <glob pattern="*.ext1"/>
        </mime-type>
</mime-info>

2. Update MIME database using one of following command

update-mime-database ~/.local/share/mime
sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

3. Result file is as follows

~/.local/share/mime/my-custom-mime-types/custom-ext1-mime-type.xml
or
/usr/share/mime/my-custom-mime-types/custom-ext1-mime-type.xml

Additional MIME types can be added to the my-custom-mime-types.xml file, then run the 'update-mime-database' again. For more details, see https://blog.robertelder.org/custom-mime-type-ubuntu/

Answer 12

The option to run a script by double-clicking it has been removed from Nautilus as of late 2020, following this bug report, enforcing the alternative #2 described in the bug report (right-click the script / click on "Run as a Program" from the context menu) as the only mean to run a script directly from Nautilus (the script must still be executable in order for this to work).

As a workaround, you can create a minimal .desktop file that will run the script, so that by double-clicking the desktop file the script will be run (again, the script must be executable in order for this to work):

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Script
Exec=/path/to/script.sh
Type=Application

After that, right-click on the .desktop file and click on "Allow Launching" from the context menu.

Answer 13

1. Open Nautilus. (File Browser)

2. 1. In Ubuntu 17.04, now we can cummulative bar so Preferences in available in Files.

   2. Open this from the menu bar:

3. Files → Preferences

4. Select 'Behavior' tab

5. Select "Ask what to do" under "Executable Text Files".

   

6. Close it.