# Start at sdb to avoid system harddrive.
KERNEL!="sd[b-z][0-9]", GOTO="media_by_label_auto_mount_end"

# Import FS infos
IMPORT{program}="/sbin/blkid -o udev -p %N"

# Get a label if present, otherwise specify one
ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}!="", ENV{dir_name}="%E{ID_FS_LABEL}"
ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}=="", ENV{dir_name}="usbhd-%k"

# Global mount options
ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options}="relatime"
# Filesystem-specific mount options
ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="vfat|ntfs", ENV{mount_options}="$env{mount_options},utf8,gid=10$

# Mount the device
ACTION=="add", RUN+="/bin/mkdir -p /media/%E{dir_name}", RUN+="/bin/mount -o $env{mount_options}$

# Clean up after removal
ACTION=="remove", ENV{dir_name}!="", RUN+="/bin/umount -l /media/%E{dir_name}", RUN+="/bin/rmdir$

# Exit
LABEL="media_by_label_auto_mount_end"

This didn't play well with thunar-volman which I can only assume decided not to do anything with the device because it had had been mounted by udev.
Once I modified this rule so that the USB devices were no longer being mounted by udev, everything worked as expected, when I plug in a USB stick the device is mounted and a file manager window opens showing the content.

I have been trying slim and xwm and multiple methods of invoking xfce, I have reveiwed policykit and consloe kit settings etc but realize now that this isn't my problem because the USB stick is correctly mounting under /media presumably by udev.

Someone is placing an icon on the desktop (can someone please tell me which component does this to aid my diagnosis?) I know it's not volman because if I uninstall volman the icon still appears with the status of "Not Mounted".
Can someone please suggest how I should continue my diagnosis? I am more than happy to try anything!

P.S. I noticed that some posts recommend revoving udisks because it's not compatible with thunar-volman however it is required for xfce4-power-manager, perhaps this is information is also outdated?

When I insert an external USB drive :-
o The drive is correctly mounted by udev under /media/disk-label
o an icon appears on my desktop
o no thunar window opens showing the content
o If I double click, or right click open on the desktop icon, nothing appears to happen

I found the page http://thunar.xfce.org/documentation/C/ … -and-media
At the bottom of the page there is a section titled "Troubleshooting the Volume Manager"

It suggests I run "run thunar-volman --device-added <udi-of-your-device> in a Terminal window" in a terminal window passing the UDI address which I should obtain by running "lshal or hal-device". Unfortuately hal has been depricated, is no longer required by thunar-volman and is not installed on my system.

How do I determine the UDI of the external USB device without hal?
Is UDI the same as UUID? If I list the external USB drives UUID i get 00EE883BEE882ACC
But running

$ thunar-volman --device-added 00EE883BEE882ACC

I get

thunar-volman: There is no device with the sysfs path "00EE883BEE882ACC".

So I am guessing they are not the same.
Many thanks in advance for any help that is offered.