Clicking the nautilus icon for focusing a window of an external device opens a new window instead

[Greg Williams]

The Launcher icon for Nautilus (whether clicking on the icon or using the shortcut 'Super+1') does not work properly in Ubuntu 14.04 when an external Device is attached to the computer [i.e., when an item appears under the "Devices" heading in Nautilus' Sidebar (e.g., USB drive).]

With all applications except Nautilus, clicking a Launcher icon results in this behavior:
1) if the application is not open, the application is opened.
2) if the application is opened, focus is given to the already opened window.

Yet Nautilus does NOT behave this way when an external device is attached to the computer and Nautilus is viewing the contents of that device. For example, if a USB thumb drive is attached to the computer and user is viewing the contents, pressing Super+1 (or clicking the Nautilus icon) to bring focus to an already opened Nautilus window results in a new window being opened so there are a total of 2 Nautilus windows.

Some side-effects of this include making it IMPOSSIBLE to close the Nautilus application by clicking the X in the upper left corner of the window unless the user makes use of Alt+Tab to get to the already opened Nautilus window. To illustrate this, do the following:

1) Attach a USB thumb drive to the computer. (I have "Never start programs on media insertion" enabled so no windows automatically open on my computer).

2) To access the USB drive I just attached, I open Nautilus by clicking the icon in the Launcher. My HOME folder opens. I click on the USB device (that lists under DEVICES in Nautilus' Sidebar) to see what is on the USB drive.

3) I open Firefox by clicking on the Firefox icon in the Launcher.

4) I want to return to the Nautilus window I previously opened, so I click on the Nautilus icon in the Launcher. A NEW NAUTILUS WINDOW OPENS. The correct behavior here is for Ubuntu to give focus to the already opened Nautilus window.

5) If I then click the X in the upper left corner of the window to close nautilus, the window closes but Nautilus is still open. If I click the Nautilus icon to give focus to the open Nautilus Window, IT OPENS A NEW NAUTILUS WINDOW. Clicking the X in this window puts me back where I started.

A second window of an application should only be opened 1) if user right-clicks the Launcher icon and selects "Open a New Window" or 2) if user makes use of the Super+Shift+# shortcut. New windows should NOT be opened from standard left-clicks on the icon.

I am reporting this bug on a fully up to date version of Ubuntu 14.04.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[fcole90 (fcole90)]

Expected:
 Starting with no open application:
 1) Attach an external drive (usb pen for example)
 2) Click on the external drive icon on the unity launcher to open Files (Nautilus) on the usb drive path
 3) Open another app (a browser for example)
 4) Click on the Files (Nautilus) icon to get it in focus

What happens:
 Starting with no open application:
 1) Attach an external drive (usb pen for example)
 2) Click on the external drive icon on the unity launcher to open Files (Nautilus) on the usb drive path
 3) Open another app (a browser for example)
 4) Click on the Files (Nautilus) icon to get it in focus, but instead a NEW instance of Files (Nautilus) is opened (the default behaviour when Files (Nautilus) is closed and you open it first)

Additional informations:
If you have both a Nautilus window under "~", and another under the path of the external drive, when you click on the nautilus icon it behaves correctly and make you choose which of the two you want to focus. This doesn't happen if both windows are under an external drive (or partition) path, as in this case it opens a third Nautilus window instead (under ~).

It seems like Nautilus (or maybe Unity) is not able to recognize the windows of the external drives as instances of Nautilus itself.

[Greg Williams (greg2lapa)]

This bug also exists in ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet).

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

I can't reproduce this on wily, it works great.
Focused windows once hidden are reshow once nautilus icon is clicked.
Thank you for taking the time to report this bug. We have tried to recreate this on the latest release of Ubuntu and cannot reproduce it. This bug is being marked as Invalid. If you believe the problem to still exist in the latest version of Ubuntu please comment on why that is the case and change the bug status to NEW.

[Greg Williams (greg2lapa)]

This bug is still reproducible in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Nautilus 3.14.3. Note: this bug is NOT reproducible on Debian 8 running Gnome-Shell with Nautilus 3.14.1.

Can someone please take a look at fixing this long-standing bug in Ubuntu? It is incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Expected:
-only 1 window of the Nautilus application should open unless the user specifically asks for more than one window (e.g., by right-clicking or pressing Super+Shift+1).

What happens:
-multiple Nautilus applications are opened when dealing with an external drive.

Here is a recipe for reproducing this bug:
1) plug in an external drive (e.g., a usb stick)
2) press Super+1 to open Nautilus (assume user has disabled auto program start on media insertion for security reasons)
3) notice how Nautilus opens to the HOME directory. Since I just inserted a USB stick, I want to view it and I click on the Nautilus sidebar icon for the USB stick.
4) I view the USB stick contents and then open Gedit via the Launcher and proceed to type a new document.
5) I save the Gedit document onto the USB stick.
6) I press Super+1 to access Nautilus and view the contents of the USB stick. BUT NAUTILUS OPENS A SECOND NAUTILUS WINDOW FOCUSED IN THE HOME DIRECTORY INSTEAD OF TAKING ME TO THE ALREADY OPEN NAUTILUS WINDOW THAT IS FOCUSED IN THE USB DIRECTORY
7) Since Nautilus opened a brand new window (in the HOME directory), I have to click in the sidebar to view the USB directory.
8) Return to Gedit. And then press Super+1 to return to Nautilus again. AND A THIRD NAUTILUS WINDOW OPENS TO THE HOME DIRECTORY.

I now have 3 nautilus windows open when I should only have 1.

[Greg Williams (greg2lapa)]

This bug also exists in the just released Ubuntu 16.10 with Unity desktop.

1) attach an external harddrive via USB
2) tap Super+1 to open Nautilus and it opens to the Home directory, so click in the sidebar to view the contents of the external harddrive
3) open Firefox
4) tap Super+1 to switch back to Nautilus and a 2nd Nautilus window opens up to the Home directory. This is a bug. Tapping Super+1 should have switched the user back to the already open Nautilus window that is displaying the contents of the external harddrive. A 2nd Nautilus window should NOT have opened up.