Failed to open home directory

There is a bug report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunar/+bug/754618

You can try unmounting the directory or a reboot.

sudo umount ~matt/.gvfs

I have the exact same problem with Xubuntu 12.04 LTS vanilla (Xfce 4.8) and also with Xubuntu 12.04 with Xfce upgraded to 4.10; both with home folder encrypted

This is a bugger since I was running away from Gnome and Unity resource consuming and Nautilus bug crashing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

After reading about the bug Xfce not unmounting .gvfs at logout, i figured out it could be automatically unmounted at login, as i was doing mannually.

This is what I did and so far it works:

I created a file with leafpad within my home directory: .umountgvfs.sh

placed the following script to unmount .gvfs

#!/bin/bash
/bin/fusermount -zu "$HOME/.gvfs"

in terminal gave it execution permision

chmod 777 .umountgvfs.sh

then created an autostart application, selecting the corresponding script at: configuration -> configuration administration -> session start -> autostart applications

Name: umountgvfs Comment: script to unmount .gvfs on login Command: /home/YOURUSER/.umountgvfs.sh

Since this solved the problems most of the times, but not always, i guessed the script was being called before time, so i added a sleep command (bash -c "sleep 5; command") where 5 is the seconds it delays the script at login, in terminal:

leafpad /home/YOURUSER/.config/autostart/umountgvfs

and edited in the Exec line adding: bash -c "sleep 5; "

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=umountgvfs
Comment=script to unmount .gvfs on login
Exec=bash -c "sleep 5; /home/YOURUSER/.umountgvfs.sh"
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

Replace YOURUSER with your user name.

Aditional resources:

Delaying the script: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1119945

hope this helps