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I'd like to have Terminator replace the default terminal. For instance, when right-clicking inside a folder then selecting "open terminal", I'd like Terminator to open instead of the default.

How can I achieve this using Xubuntu?

Matthias Braun
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Running Turtle
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    Do not install terminator from Ubuntu software. Install it via `sudo apt update` `sudo apt install terminator`. This will make terminator a default terminal – ToTenMilan May 24 '20 at 18:57
  • @ToTenMilan is correct. Installing `terminator` from the command-line automatically makes it the default terminal--a behavior which I hate even though I like using terminator *selectively*, for certain things. So, here's how to UNset it from being the default once it makes itself the default without your permission: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1096329/how-to-change-my-default-terminal-to-gnome-terminal-rather-than-terminator. – Gabriel Staples Jun 20 '20 at 17:25

7 Answers7

230

From within a terminal, try

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

Select the desired terminal from the list of alternatives.

devnull
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    Does not work, although I get this: ------------------------------------------------------------ * 0 /usr/bin/terminator 50 auto mode 1 /usr/bin/koi8rxterm 20 manual mode 2 /usr/bin/lxterm 30 manual mode 3 /usr/bin/terminator 50 manual mode 4 /usr/bin/uxterm 20 manual mode 5 /usr/bin/xfce4-terminal.wrapper 40 manual mode 6 /usr/bin/xterm 20 manual mode – Running Turtle May 29 '13 at 10:12
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    I realize the comment above may not be very readable ... So: after I run the command, default terminal still shows up, eventhough terminator seems to be selected. No difference after reboot. – Running Turtle May 29 '13 at 10:15
  • Maybe your window manager is overriding the defaults. What's your window manager? – devnull May 29 '13 at 10:19
  • windows manager is xfce – Running Turtle May 29 '13 at 10:24
  • Also having same issue as Running Turtle. – prolink007 Mar 12 '14 at 02:18
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    Same issue (LXDE). Running `sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator` doesn't seem to be enough: `update-alternatives` switches to the new terminal emulator in manual mode, but the old one is still on auto mode. In the end, it's the old one that keeps starting. Something else is needed. – Nickolai Leschov Jan 18 '16 at 05:11
  • This worked for me fine on Ubuntu 16.04. – Ken Aug 06 '17 at 23:36
  • causes problems with GUI and gdm3 stops working while right clicking the terminator icon. Also, multiple instances come as multiple icons on dock. – Mukul Anand Jun 24 '20 at 12:41
  • What if our desired terminal doesn't show up in that select screen for a terminal like alacritty? I just built it from source on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS – Burak Kaymakci Aug 23 '20 at 22:35
  • Doesn't work on Ubuntu 21.10. – Neon Warge Apr 02 '22 at 06:07
118

change Settings Manager >> Preferred Applications >> Utilities

user2805885
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61

Copy-paste the following into your current terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec /usr/bin/terminator
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec-arg "-x"

This modifies the dconf to make terminator the default program. You could also use dconf-editor (a GUI-based tool) to make changes to the dconf, as another answer has suggested. If you would like to learn and understand more about this topic, this may help you.

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Akyidrian
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    commands didn't work for me, but dconf-editor did on linux mint 17. – ara.hayrabedian Mar 07 '15 at 10:03
  • What does the second line do? Just running the first line worked for me. – Luce May 18 '20 at 06:58
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    For future readers: "DEPRECATED: This key is deprecated and ignored. The default terminal is handled in GIO." – M. Reyes Oct 10 '21 at 18:22
  • @M.Reyes It works well for me, on Ubuntu Gnome 20.04. This changes the default terminal, e.g. the one that opens up when you CTRL+ALT+T or "Open In Terminal". – vmemmap Sep 26 '22 at 06:41
  • And obviously this works only for Gnome. – vmemmap Sep 26 '22 at 06:41
  • setting `exec-arg` to `-x` differs from the typically desired configuration. The default for `x-terminal-emulator` is `-e`, which is also supported by `terminator`. So, most people will not want that second command. – BLuFeNiX Dec 10 '22 at 21:47
35

devnull is right; 

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

works. See here and here, and some comments in here.

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WillC
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open dconf Editor and go to org > gnome > desktop > application > terminal and change gnome-terminal to terminator

Natwar Singh
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In xfce (e.g. on Arch Linux) you can change the parameter TerminalEmulator:

 TerminalEmulator=xfce4-terminal

to 

TerminalEmulator=custom-TerminalEmulator

The next time you want to open a terminal window, xfce will ask you to choose an emulator. You can just pick /usr/bin/terminator.

System Defaults

/etc/xdg/xfce4/helpers.rc

User Defaults

/home/USER/.config/xfce4
Jonathan Komar
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    Can confirm that for xfce (and xfce-related apps, such as thunar) copying the helpers.rc default file from /etc to ~/.config and changing the TerminalEmulator value to the desired one works. Tested for xfce to use gnome-terminal in Arch. – Meiogordo Jan 18 '20 at 14:59
  • I already had `custom-TerminalEmulator` set but was still getting the message. I'm on i3 so maybe the mechanism to prompt me for my preference isn't configured. I just directly set my terminal `TerminalEmulator=kitty` in the user config and it works. – Tom Saleeba Jun 03 '21 at 15:13
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The only way that worked for me was

  1. Open nautilus or nemo as root user gksudo nautilus
  2. Go to /usr/bin
  3. Change name of your default terminal to any other name for exemple "orig_gnome-terminal"
  4. rename your favorite terminal as "gnome-terminal"
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RicardoUlloa
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