Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

Crippled · 2018-11-03 04:16:18

I am using MX-17.1v Linux. I was going to add new icons and when I went to open Thunar to root it didn't open after entering my password but I heard it working. After it went silent I closed Thunar and tried again and it still wouldn't open to root. Opening Thunar regular works fine but not root. I had this happen earlier this year adding themes. When it happened I rebooted and ended up with a black screen with a blinking curse that time. I had to re-install MX Linux because of it. Please don't tell me to try rebooting. Any ideas how I fix this or why this happens?

Last edited by Crippled (2018-11-03 15:47:30)

Jerry3904 · 2018-11-03 11:17:19

This is a cross-post from the one you just put on the MX Forum, right? Since this terminal command works fine on MX-17.1

sudo thunar

I suggest the MX Forum is the more appropriate place to resolve your personal problem.

Last edited by Jerry3904 (2018-11-03 11:36:56)

Crippled · 2018-11-03 12:28:58

Yes on the post on the MX Linux forum and no on the terminal. It won't accept my password anymore. I did get this from your command suggestion. sudo thunar
sudo: /usr/bin/sudo must be owned by uid 0 and have the setuid bit set

Jerry3904 · 2018-11-03 12:39:51

Please post that response on the MX Forum, not here!

For anyone interested in this topic, here is the Forum link:

https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=46811

Crippled · 2018-11-03 14:19:26

This is a Thunar bug. After all the help on the MX forum it looks like when I open Thunar to root there is a cross connection bug between Open root Thunar here and Ownership to root. A confirmation box should be added to prevent this happening. Also the administrator should be able to change the permissions back to what they were.

Jerry3904 · 2018-11-03 14:32:25

One more time: this is not a cross connection bug inherent to Thunar. The MX Devs added those Custom Actions, and they will take a look at how to modify them to avoid a user error such as this in the future.

MountainDewManiac · 2018-11-03 15:21:30

Jerry3904 wrote:

One more time: this is not a cross connection bug inherent to Thunar.

In post #3 of that thread you linked to, that thread's OP gave evidence to that effect when he stated that he couldn't open a terminal window as root, either.

Authentication failure, is that tech-speak for "incorrect password?" If so, and if your drive isn't encrypted... If I remember correctly, there is a simple way - as in, enter a single command - to change one's password by using a live distro of your choice to boot the system "externally" and perform operations on it. I do not remember specifics, but "Google should know."

Oh. Reading further into that thread - I do not have an account there - I see that the OP has managed to screw up the permissions (of... many things?). Jerry, if these things can also be changed via terminal from a live distro, perhaps someone can explain to him how to do such a thing? From my read of the two threads, exact commands that he may safely copy and paste might be the way to go.

Additionally, I got the impression that MX's custom "ownership to root" command is available from a regular Thunar instance. I just checked on my (non-MX) system, and I see that my right-click menu is slightly different between a regular instance and one run as root. As that is the case, this ignorant linux user politely asks that you pass along my suggestion to the MX developers to "move" that custom action from "regular Thunar" to "root Thunar" - that way, user would have to go through TWO password-entry routines in order to mangle his system perform that action. My eyes and hands are both aging, so I can imagine myself accidentally picking the wrong action and not realizing it until it was too late.

Note: I am assuming that user must enter root's password to perform that custom action in the first place. If that is not so, that would be my first recommendation, lol, to bring things more in line with the "it's difficult to pooch a linux system without being root" that people have pointed to as a big plus over Microsoft's OS for years.

Apologies to the members, staff, and owner of THIS forum for posting the above in hopes that Jerry or someone who is a member at the MX forum would pass along my words/thoughts. I wouldn't have posted in such a fashion ordinarily, but when it's a case of something in a distro that allows users who are less than experts, who have less than perfect vision and/or hand-eye coordination, or both to significantly harm their ability to use their own system, well... (Feel free to delete this, but please give it a few hours to be read, first - thanks!)

Regards,
MDM

Jerry3904 · 2018-11-03 15:27:35

Thanks Dew--we have the CA now on our list to look at, and your comments will be useful. CLI help has already been offered in that thread, though in this instance I'm not sure myself that it would be the best way to go.

Crippled · 2018-11-03 15:35:42

Jerry3904 wrote:

One more time: this is not a cross connection bug inherent to Thunar. The MX Devs added those Custom Actions, and they will take a look at how to modify them to avoid a user error such as this in the future.

Yes it is a cross connection. Thanks to Kruppt suggestion on the MX Linux forum I solved that problem by deleting the Ownership to root bug.

MountainDewManiac · 2018-11-03 16:17:08

LOL, no.

Where are you getting the term "cross connection," anyway? It doesn't really make sense, in context.

Regardless, removing that custom action from your your Thunar's right-click menu will definitely prevent you from accidentally using it again, so that will keep you from messing things up (in this way, at least) again in the future. And, hopefully, your explanation of your experience over at your distro's support forum will cause its developer(s) to rethink the strategy of having that option available where just anyone can use it. It'd be a shame if someone else accidentally repeated your actions without meaning to.

I'm glad you have a working system again!

Regards,
MDM

Crippled · 2018-11-03 16:27:16

MountainDewManiac wrote:

LOL, no.
Where are you getting the term "cross connection," anyway? It doesn't really make sense, in context.
Regardless, removing that custom action from your your Thunar's right-click menu will definitely prevent you from accidentally using it again, so that will keep you from messing things up (in this way, at least) again in the future. And, hopefully, your explanation of your experience over at your distro's support forum will cause its developer(s) to rethink the strategy of having that option available where just anyone can use it. It'd be a shame if someone else accidentally repeated your actions without meaning to.
I'm glad you have a working system again!
Regards,
MDM

I get it from that it happened to me twice. I didn't accidentally click Ownership to root. I clicked Open root Thunar here and instead of Thunar opening to root, it bricked my computer because it decided to preform Ownership to root instead. That's where I got the cross connection. I had you re-install the distro.

MountainDewManiac · 2018-11-03 16:38:50

Respectfully, if that was actually the case, removing the option you had trouble with from the menu shouldn't have "fixed" the option you were trying to hit.

Also, unless you have other issues, something along the lines of a bad distro installation or flaky hardware, you'd see the effects of a bug consistently, as opposed to it happening once per year or so. Occam's razor, logic, simple common sense, whatever you choose to call it; computers do not have "moods."

No worries. You are back on your feet, so to speak, and have adult-proofed your system, so you won't experience this situation again.

Regards,
MDM

Crippled · 2018-11-03 18:01:20

No, not adult proof. I fixed it by deleting what shouldn't have been there in the first place.

MountainDewManiac · 2018-11-03 18:40:52

That's a subjective statement, like saying you no longer bleed whilst eating dinner because you chose to carry that "useless" steak knife in to the kitchen and throw it away. Or that you've removed that "useless" outer covering on your medication's cap so that you no longer have to find a kid to do the "push down and turn" opening process for you (which is what I meant by the term "adult-proof").

But I have already posted more than I meant to (or should have) in a thread that, strictly speaking, doesn't necessarily even belong on THIS forum in the first place. I suppose that I got a bit carried away upon seeing someone steadfastly insist on calling a feature a "bug," and then calling it a useless one when it turned out to not be of use to them. To be honest, I have been guilty of the latter - so perhaps this was my unconscious way of attempting to make up for it, lol.

Have a day,
MDM

Crippled · 2018-11-03 18:58:13

No, it's not. Thunar was broken. I fixed it by deleting Ownership to Root and Ownership to user as suggested by others since those two actions are not recoverable.

ToZ · 2018-11-03 23:15:28

Topic closed on request.

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#1 2018-11-03 04:16:18

Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#2 2018-11-03 11:17:19

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#3 2018-11-03 12:28:58

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#4 2018-11-03 12:39:51

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#5 2018-11-03 14:19:26

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#6 2018-11-03 14:32:25

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#7 2018-11-03 15:21:30

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#8 2018-11-03 15:27:35

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#9 2018-11-03 15:35:42

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#10 2018-11-03 16:17:08

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#11 2018-11-03 16:27:16

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#12 2018-11-03 16:38:50

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#13 2018-11-03 18:01:20

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#14 2018-11-03 18:40:52

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#15 2018-11-03 18:58:13

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

#16 2018-11-03 23:15:28

Re: Open Thunar to root broken [solved]

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