Adding run as root for nautilus in unity

I am seeking for a way to make run as root option shown in "Files" context menu of Unity so, I get rid of using terminal every time I want to access nautilus as a root.

I found the original concept here, except for I didn`t find the file need to edit: How do I start Nautilus as root?

To add the option to run as root to the nautilus (Files) launcher:

1. Copy the .desktop file, representing nautilus in the launcher, from the global directory /usr/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications

   which is on 14.04 and 14.10 : nautilus.desktop:

   cp /usr/share/applications/nautilus.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
   

   and on 15.04 and 15.10 : org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop

   cp /usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
   

2. Open the file with (e.g.) gedit, look for the line:

   Actions=Window;
   

   Change it into:

   Actions=Window;Open as root;
   

   Add to the very end of the file:

   [Desktop Action Open as root]
   Name=Open as root
   Exec=gksu nautilus
   

   Save and close the file.

3. Install gksu, to be able to enter your password via GUI:

   

   sudo apt-get install gksu
   

4. Finally, log out/in to make Unity "aware" of the local, edited .desktop file.

   

That's about it.

Note

In some cases, you might have some doubts on what is the correct .desktop file to edit. This question on nautilus is a good example, since nautilus represents itself in a different .desktop file in the launcher on different Ubuntu versions, while nautilus has multiple .desktop files in /usr/share/applications.

To be sure to edit the correct one, simply run:

gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites

which will output a list of current .desktop files, used in the launcher.

Use pkexec instead of gksu

The use of gksu and gksudo is not recommended any more. The recommended method is to use Polkit. The easiest way to add Polkit files for Nautilus is to install nautilus-admin

To install nautilus-admin in Ubuntu, open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T and use the following command:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin

The rest involves editing the `nautilus.desktop file and adding the correct command:

1. Copy the nautilus.desktop file, representing nautilus in the launcher, from the global directory /usr/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications

   cp /usr/share/applications/nautilus.desktop ~/.local/share/applications

2. Open the file with (e.g.) gedit, look for the line:

   Actions=Window;

Change it into:

Actions=Window;Open as Administrator;

Add to the very end of the file:

[Desktop Action Open as Administrator]
Name=Open as Administrator
Exec=pkexec nautilus

Save and close the file.

The added bonus of installing nautilus-admin is that within Nautilus you will also get Open as Administrator / Edit as Administrator items for folders / text files in the right click context menu. See How do I start Nautilus as root? for more details.

Hope this helps

For me under Ubuntu 16.10 the relevant .desktop file for nautilus was

/usr/share/applications/nautilus.desktop

Even though gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites returned application://org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop

Also note, that in order for the above gsettings command to print nautilus at all, nautilus needs to be locked/pinned to the launcher.