Thunar … and whilst we're mentioning Dolphin, how about an Open/Edit As Root option. I find it tedious to go to a command line when I need to edit something (xorg.conf for instance) or when drag 'n drop is all you should need to copy something. I understand the security benefits of restricted privileges, but open terminal → sudo this that and the other; pain in the proverbial. Obviously Open/Edit as root will open a password prompt allowing only the admin to do, well, admin stuff. What you want is to install a desktop entry file with the command prefixed by gksudo or the like. Copy the original desktop entry file from /usr/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications and edit it. Don't forget to change the name to “ as root”. Repeat this task for each application that you are used to run as root. sudo only run on console if you want a graphical sudo the option are gksu install gksu and change sudo for gksu and tell we Look at .desktop files syntax in /usr/share/applications , create a new one for your command ( gksudo thunar ) You don't need to edit menu, xfce will automatically add new .desktop files (xfce looks at Categories in .desktop file to put item in the right submenu) Adding a contextual menu item to open as root: 1. Open a terminal and type sudo su 2. Then type the following: gedit .gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Open\ as\ root 3. Now add the following to the open document and save the file: for uri in $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_URIS; do gksudo "gnome-open $uri" & done 4. Back at the terminal, type: sudo chmod +x .gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Open\ as\ root All set, now when you want to open a file as root, simply right click the file and select Scripts-> Open as root Note: You may need to restart to see the changes!