That's because the desktop is drawn by... Nautilus. I think there is ongoing work to split desktop drawing out of Nautilus, but I don't know if that will solve this bug.
** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu) Status: New => Confirmed -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to nautilus in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1095869 Title: Folders on desktop are opened with Nautilus although my default file browser is Thunar To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/1095869/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs