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I installed Ubuntu 12.10, then installed Nemo. Now I would like to make Nemo the default file manager. I've searched the web for a solution but every time I restart my computer Nautilus come back.

Does anyone know an effective solution?

wjandrea
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BAD_SEED
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3 Answers3

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There is a much better way to do this without moving files and setting links. Just open a terminal with CTRL+ALT+T and perform this command:

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

Then set up Nemo to handle your desktop:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false
gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons true

Revert this changes:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true
gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons false
xdg-mime default nautilus.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search
user5950
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  • I found that this method doesn't set nemo as the default file manager when, for example, opening an external hard drive from the launcher. I used the other answer and it worked like a charm. – duxk.gh Oct 24 '13 at 15:37
  • @duxk.gh I do not use Unity, so can't test that. – user5950 Oct 27 '13 at 20:16
  • In my case with 12.04 LTS the other answer worked well, this one was still launching nautilus as file manager – danijelc Nov 09 '13 at 15:47
  • How would this work for Dolphin? Tried with [this one] but didnt work for me on a 16.04 – M. Becerra Feb 02 '17 at 19:53
24

Open your terminal with CTRL+ALT+T and then paste this: 

 sudo mv /usr/bin/nautilus /usr/bin/nautilus.back && sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nemo /usr/bin/nautilus

then try again, hope that helps.

Note that this will effectively make Nautilus inaccessible on your system unless you modify shortcuts to point to nautilus.back.

holocronweaver
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Raja G
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    this is a hack, yet very effective! :) – ihsan Apr 07 '15 at 05:44
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    @Raja, This is a great answer. It's the only one that I find that will work. Hopefully eventually setting your default file browser will become a workable feature as with setting the default web browser. With this resolution, if you have an occasion to want to call Nautilus you can call it with nautilus.back. – L. D. James Jun 27 '15 at 14:05
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    Thanks for the tip. Could you possibly put a command to reverse these changes for the sake of completion? Thanks! – Pablo Oct 25 '15 at 23:55
  • Interesting idea. But this doesn't seem to work in debian cinnamon. It runs nautilus ok from the terminal, but not from within cinnamon via Accessories | Files, nor via Package Manager | Extract | show files, and probably elsewhere too. Just does nothing in these two cases. – Elliptical view Sep 01 '16 at 00:21
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    Does not work on Ubuntu 18.04 at the moment – Hamman Samuel Apr 28 '18 at 12:43
  • this works, for Xubuntu 18 to replace thunar adjust the command replace /nautilus with /thunar because XFCE uses thunar – Pawel Cioch Jan 01 '21 at 16:44
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Here's what worked for me on 18.04 (source here):

If you have Nemo installed on your system and want to set Nemo as the default file manager, run this command in a terminal:

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

To revert this, enter

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

Nemo (the nemo.desktop app launcher to be exact) should now be the default file manager. To test the result, run this command:

xdg-open $HOME

That command should launch Nemo showing your home directory.

Waldir Leoncio
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