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It's possible to open a file with VLC by first opening VLC and then opening the file "from within" VLC, but double clicking a file (to play in VLC) doesn't work ("VLC is not supposed to be run as root"). How can I fix this?

There are answers such as this, but that's greek for us mere mortals who are not familiar with "hex editors" or IT in general. Can anyone explain step-by-step how to run VLC the way I want?

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Erik Vesterlund
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    Where are you double-clicking the file? Ex: on the Desktop, in a folder you opened from the terminal, absolutely anywhere, etc. – anonymous2 Jun 22 '16 at 22:08
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    You are logged in as root? This is not usual or safe practice, but perhaps you have a specific need to do this? – andrew.46 Jun 22 '16 at 22:10
  • Well I am logged in to my user account, if that's what you mean. Do you suggest I only use guest session, always? – Erik Vesterlund Jun 22 '16 at 22:12
  • @ Erik Vesterlund No, but the error message: VLC is not supposed to be run as root suggests that you are using root privilege to use vlc :). This needs a specific compiler option to be set when building vlc and is only intended for use with embedded devices, not for every day computer usage. – andrew.46 Jun 23 '16 at 02:15
  • An option if you wish elevated privilege is to use vlc-wrapper which might be what you are after.... – andrew.46 Jun 23 '16 at 02:19
  • It's not that I wish for any certain kind of privilege, it's rather that like many others, I'm sure, I just wanna be able to do things in Linux the way I'm used to doing them in Windows - log in to account, access programs without issue. – Erik Vesterlund Jun 23 '16 at 02:22
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    Odd though, you should be able to run vlc exactly as you describe and certainly this is the case for own setup. Can you 1. Describe where these media files are, if on Hard Drive, external drive, $HOME directory, /usr/local etc. 2. Can you give the results of this command as well: ls -l /usr/bin/vlc. Hopefully there can be some resolution :). If you answer this message with: @andrew.46 I will get notification... – andrew.46 Jun 23 '16 at 06:01
  • What version of Ubuntu are you using? – mchid Jun 23 '16 at 07:20
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    How did you install VLC, which account owns the media files that you want to play back and what are the permissions on them? – David Foerster Jun 23 '16 at 10:20
  • @andrew.46 Thanks very much for your efforts, but I decided to go with a different OS. – Erik Vesterlund Jun 24 '16 at 06:03
  • @ErikVesterlund And I hope that vlc is running beautifully on this OS :) – andrew.46 Jun 24 '16 at 07:15

1 Answers1

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If I understand correctly then you are trying to use VLC Media Player as default application for playing the video(s). Please follow the given steps to make VLC your default media player:

  • Go to the video file you want to open.
  • Right click on it and go to properties.
  • Now in the properties go to the "Open With" tab.
  • If you have VLC installed then it would be there in the list.
  • Click on the VLC icon.
  • Now go to the bottom right corner of the dialogue box and click on "Set as default".

All Done.......... Cheers...

PS: Check the image below if anything is not clear

enter image description here

RD017
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