(nautilus:13581): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:

Question

Just installed gksu to use gksu nautilus.

When running this command the output after entering password is

(nautilus:13581): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: 

Not sure what caused this but i need to edit the usr folder.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Running sudo nautilus output was

error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.

(nautilus:15545): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:

This is running in Terminal not over SSH

Solution

I can easily duplicate your results by opening a terminal via CTRLAltF1 rather than CTRLAltT from within an Xwindows session. nautilus is a graphical application which must run under Xwindows. if you need a file manager to run in a terminal and aren't running Xwindows you might try using mc aka Midnight Commander.

If any part of this answer is unclear, drop me a comment and I'll add clarity as necessary.

Comments

[Cbhihe]

Actually, before you install new things (mind you synaptic is highly recommendable), can you try something from terminal ? .... (A) to open a Gnome terminal window, type in CTRL+ALT+T ; (B) type in sudo nautilus then enter your sudo-password - report whether nautilus opens or any error message. (C) still in terminal, type in nautilus --version and report on the version number you get for Gnome Nautilus.

[Cbhihe]

BTW I run Trusty 14.04.3 LTS and I have no problem opening nautilus with gksu. No matter. Since you are new here, to report, you can just edit your own question: At the end of your original question, write "EDIT: [whatever additional detail you want to add. Write precisely if you can.]". Tx

[Carter Roeser]

@Cbhihe Version output is: "GNOME nautilus 3.10.1"

[muru]

Are you running over SSH or something?

[Cbhihe]

@muru: Yes, the fact that XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not correctly set to /run/user/[dddd] has caught my attention too. It looks like the command is parsed on a different machine or at least in an environment different from that of the user emitting the command. Somehow I doubt that SSH 's being used though. It seems we are missing something important.

[Carter Roeser]

@muru I am running directly off of Ubuntu Terminal.

[Carter Roeser]

A couple nautilus packages needed to be upgraded but that didnt fix the problem.

[al0s]

Did you reinstall it or just upgrade? I suggest you to reinstall. If you get no chance after that just reinstall all nautilus. It must be work.

[Carter Roeser]

I'll look into that and see if anything helps.