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Is there any way to open root file browser in raspbian (like gksudo nautilus in ubuntu)?

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  • 1
    What are you trying to do with a root file browser? It may be easier and potentially safer from the command line. Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 11:21
  • You can always install gksudo on Raspbian: sudo apt-get install gksu should work. Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 11:23
  • I need to modify some system file. @SteveRobillard Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 11:33
  • I tried the command gksu but it is saying 'Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display ":1.0".' Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 11:42
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    try this from the command line sudo nano filenametobemodified obviously using the file you need to modify Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 11:49

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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Typing gksudo in Terminal and then hitting enter. A window named Run program will pop up.

Then typing pcmanfm on the Run text field. Pressing ok.

That worked for me.

img 1

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  • Excellent. Good for file renaming and such. However, when you click to open a file in vi or leafpad it still won't save back to it. Commented Oct 29, 2017 at 1:30
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  1. Open the Terminal
  2. Type sudo pcmanfm

The root file manager opens.

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You will find that 'mc' ( midnight commander ) is the fastest for browsing and file operations - CTRL+o will give you a root shell prompt to view output of commands. On a Pi, it's lightweight. You don't want to swap to your microSD. Invoke `apt-get -y install mc' . A number of common operations are 'hit-one-key-and-presto!' on the Function keys .

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Just start your file manager as root.

Let's say your file manager is pcmanfm, then you should run these commands

pi@mypi:~$ sudo su [sudo] password for pi: root@mypi:/home/pi# pcmanfm 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
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    why not simply sudo pcmanfm? Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 10:20
  • In the case of accessing Environment Variables of root, user space should be changed. We can not know which variables are needed by the running process (i.e. pcmanfm). Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 10:24
  • Actually we can know that if we check man pcmanfm. Your approach will replace desktop and menu entries with the ones from root user, if corresponding variables are configured in /root/.bashrc. I don't really see the benefit. Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 10:48
  • I don't mean that we can not know variables specifically required by pcmanfm. I mean that to forget about this kind of concerns for ANY process we want to run, we should run it after sudo su in a generic/nonspecific manner. Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 10:58
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Running sudo file-manager should be enough to start whatever file manager you have configured. Depending on your setup, you may need to run xhost + as the user who owns the desktop, to allow root processes to connect to it.

Finally, if your X configuration is really bizarre, you might need to tell the file manager which display it should use, i.e. sudo DISPLAY=:0 file-manager. Note that this should not be necessary in a normal setup.

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