[Quick Tip] Add ‘Open as Administrator’ in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

gnome shell

This simple tutorial shows how to add ‘Open as Administrator‘ option to file browser right-click menu in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Need to open or edit files with Administrator (root) user privilege directly from file browser in Ubuntu desktop? There’s an extension nautilus-admin can do the job in the default Gnome desktop.

1. Open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu.

2. When terminal opens, run command to install the extension:

sudo apt install nautilus-admin

You may replace nautilus-admin with caja-admin or peony-admin if you’re running with MATE or UKUI desktop.

Once installed, run command nautilus -q or log out and back in to apply changes.

Note the extension only adds Administrator privilege to open folders or edit files. There’s no ‘Run as Administrator’ option to run program as super user privilege.