Nemo in Cinnamon Edition

I have a question regarding Nemo in the cinnamon edition. When I open Nemo as root by right-clicking within a standard Nemo session, I want to be able to click View and check the “Show Hidden Files”, which I am able to do, but it doesn’t remember so the next time I go back into root, I have to check it every time I open Nemo as root. In other distros, Nemo opened as root has always remembered that the box was checked.

Also, when in a Nemo root session, if I go to Edit > Preferences, I am unable to change from Icon view to List view. The dropdown is there but when I try to alter any of the settings, they go right back to the loaded defaults. How can I change these? I Mint, Ubuntu, or Fedora, I’ve always been allowed to change the Preferences and they would get saved. Trying to open Nemo from the terminal using sudo or a root session behaves exactly the same way, I am unable to change the Preferences.

Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Hi,

You shouldnt do that.

It is a misuse of the file manager, can cause inadvertent permissions changes, creates security vulnerabilities, and the list goes on.

Some desktops and file managers even try to stop you from doing so. (ex: KDE, Dolphin)

Why do you think you need a root graphical file manager ?

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While I agree with @cscs from a philosophical standpoint, Nemo should also have an “Open as Root” action/feature. It may need to be enabled in Settings. Perhaps your view preferences will be retained when using that instead.

Edit: Unless, of course, this is what you’re already describing as a ‘root session’ in Nemo.

Cheers.

I have the same problem and remember it working when I was on Mint before. I would also really like an explanation as to why this is not working and how to fix it.

Just checked here and size and show hidden files are still ticked in open file as root. Exactly as set in preferences.

@coaxguy99 - I just installed Nemo temporarily in KDE.

Interestingly, using the ‘Open as Root’ action/feature does the same for me; the ‘show hidden files’ preference is not retained when ‘Open as Root’ is next used.

This is probably by design (under KDE). What I mean is that the root session is only temporary; as such, any preferences changed during that session should arguably be expendable. That these preferences were saved when using another Linux distribution is likely DE-specific; or even irrelevant – Especially when all it takes to achieve the desired outcome is a simple key combination: CTRL + H.

If after launching Nemo (as Root via Terminal) I’m not surprised that preferences can not be selected. I don’t recall the specifics but I remember active discussion on forums about whether launching a file manager in this manner should be allowed.

After doing your research please feel free to share your findings with us. Cheers.

I’m sure someone would be interested to know what distribution and desktop environment you use, that it works in.

Cinnamon, but I must stress hidden files are selected in non root nemo and then persist in root nemo perhaps as expected. Setting this in the nemo root does not persist again as the original author stated.

This is much as I expected; and is likely by design.

If the OP already had ‘Show hidden files’ selected prior to using ‘Open with Root’, the state would likely have been inherited for that session. At least, that’s my take on it. Cheers.

You should not use nemo with elevated permissions.

As @cscs mention You will likely create permission issues for configuration files located in your home folder.

If you must fiddle with system files as root - logout and login using root username and password

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Okay, thanks for pointing that out. I do wonder why the option is there when you’re not supposed to use it, but if you say so…

Responsible users can use Nemo with elevated permissions on system files. But using Nemo with elevated permissions on dotfiles in home folder is 99% likely to create permission (1% if you just look and nothing is modified)

Thunar file manager on Xfce has a custom action to open a folder as root using gksu or pkexec rather than sudo. Root Thunar does not show dotfiles by default and does not save view hidden folder setting, same as Nemo

IMO this is a good thing to prevent users that don’t know about Ctrl+H from breaking home folder configurations

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Okay, have many thanks :+1:

It’s so easy to configure Nemo to work with root privileges again.
I solved this with a small script that does the job.
However, the Manjar team is not able to do this; they need people who have IT knowledge.

Now you’ve made me curious…