Thanks for info, after seeing emel script i realized i wanted this too. Since this gives emelfm2 power to let you mess up your system, i'd only recommend for advanced users, but you can also do this : Edit (as root) /etc/sudoers and add : user ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL (if you want user 'user' to sudo anything) -or- user ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/emelfm2 (minimum i think... didnt test) Then edit (as root), the /usr/share/applications/hildon/emelfm2.desktop and set the exec line to read : Exec=sudo /usr/bin/emelfm2 That should launch emelfm2 as root. Edit : Fixed sudo line as pointed out by qwerty12 below