Changing the Default File Manager in Gnome

Disclaimers
This tutorial has not been updated since Ubuntu 6.06, and it will most likely never be updated here again. If you would like to copy this tutorial to the community site and update it, please feel free to do so. You have my blessing in advance.

Both the scripts on this page and the files they download are transparent—you can see everything each script is going to do (they're just text files). They are presented as-is, though. If you are unsure of what a command in the script does or need to verify (for your own peace of mind) the content of the files downloaded by the scripts, please consult members of the Ubuntu Forums.

Introduction
It doesn't come up very often, but every now and then, someone on the Ubuntu Forums wants to know how to change the default file manager in Gnome from Nautilus to something else. It's all been a big mystery until now. Special thanks to forum member ciscosurfer for starting to unravel the mystery. I'm hoping these scripts will finish the job, even though they don't work perfectly.

Changing from Nautilus to Thunar
Step 1: Download this script to your desktop.

Step 2: Paste these commands in the terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x defaultthunar.sh
./defaultthunar.sh

Changing from Nautilus to Konqueror
Step 1: Download this script to your desktop.

Step 2: Paste these commands in the terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x defaultkonqueror.sh
./defaultkonqueror.sh

Changing from Nautilus to Krusader
Step 1: Download this script to your desktop.

Step 2: Paste these commands in the terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x defaultkrusader.sh
./defaultkrusader.sh

Restoring Nautilus as the default
If you wish to restore Nautilus as the default file manager in Gnome, download this script to your desktop and paste these commands in the terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x restorenautilus.sh
./restorenautilus.sh

Note: the restoration script will work only if you used one of the above scripts to make Nautilus not the default in the first place.