Not sure which conf this is pointing to but you can better add on top:
from filebrowser.conf import REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME
and then:
if REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get():

Here this is the home directory aka on the home lage that contains the user documents (/home), so this is unrelated to File Browser. Could you update the specific storage filesystem home dir in File Browser instead?
cf. the jira, the idea is to have for example a default landing S3 bucket

And also fix the refresh icon of the left assist file browser

Nice!
And any chance to add a small test?

nit, add an example? (also to update in both inis):
Optionally set this if you want a different home directory path. e.g. s3a://gethue

If it gets too long, feel free to add a variable each time?
e.g.
home_path = (REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() if REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() else 'S3A://').encode('utf-8')

Also note the extra encoding. Does it work when specifying a bucket (and having only S3 configured?)
remote_storage_home=s3a://demo-gethue

ditto

remote_storage_home=s3a://gethue
?

Ship It!

Wouldn't it be better to move the logic into `get_home_directory()` instead?

Could you also add something similar to
https://github.com/cloudera/hue/blob/master/desktop/core/src/desktop/templates/global_js_constants.mako#L121
REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() if hasattr(REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME, 'get') and REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() else user.get_home_directory()
to avoid the problem when the app is blacklister

import to remove too

Notes:
- Please use a fresh review next time (after the first commit is pushed, we should close the review and use fresh ones for the follow-ups, it is much clearer)
- To test it with file browser out, in the [desktop] section of the ini, app_blacklist=filebrowser:

e.g.

[desktop]
app_blacklist=filebrowser

For the record, if it repeats a lot, better to have the setting name = None, e.g. https://github.com/cloudera/hue/blob/master/desktop/libs/notebook/src/notebook/connectors/hiveserver2.py#L68
Even better, maybe just extrac the value once on top:
remote_home_storage = 

REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() if hasattr(REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME, 'get') and REMOTE_STORAGE_HOME.get() else None

and then:
home_path = remote_home_storage if remote_home_storage else self.user.get_home_directory().encode('utf-8')
....

Note (for in the future): at some point we should have a get_home() for each fs)

Move to line 1918? (surrounded by new lines)

(Thay way it is scoped only in the function, not global)