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Enable “Open as Admin” in Nautilus File Browser

Last updated: February 15, 2018

gnome shell

It’s been a long time last time I wrote about how to enable “Open as root” or “Open as Administrator” in Nautilus’ context menu.

A Nautilus extension called Nautilus Admin has been created for a period of time. It’s a simply Python script that adds some administrative actions to the right-click menu:

  • Open as Administrator: opens a folder in a new Nautilus window running with administrator (root) privileges.
  • Edit as Administrator: opens a file in a Gedit window running with administrator (root) privileges.

To install the Nautilus extension:

The extension is available for all current Ubuntu releases: Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Simply open “Terminal” either via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher. Then run command:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then restart Nautilus via command:

nautilus -q

That’s it. Open nautilus file browser again and enjoy with new context menu options!

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    3 responses to Enable “Open as Admin” in Nautilus File Browser

    1. eridani February 15, 2018 at 11:04 pm

      Really handy, it should come installed by default with the system, of course deactivated.

    2. Tom February 16, 2018 at 10:57 am

      Thanks! I have installed it just now.
      I probably won’t need it very often, but it’s great to have these additional options.