How to set Thunar as a default file manager?

Is it possible to make Thunar my default file manager in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS?

I've installed Thunar and I must say there's really visible performance difference compared to gnome-shell default manager.

How can I make this my preferred file manager?

Solution 1:

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t).
Run the following command:
```
exo-preferred-applications
```
Next, go to Utilities > Default File Manager, and choose the file manager that you want to use as your default.

The setting from Kevin Bowen's answer is not enough for all scenarios:

~$ xdg-mime query default inode/directory
nautilus-folder-handler.desktop

So applications using xdg (or another interface to .desktop files) to open directories will still use Nautilus. Run this¹ to change to Thunar:

xdg-mime default Thunar.desktop inode/directory

Note bene: using gio mime seems to be equivalent.