Mounting fat, ntfs drives in KDE 4.2

[Sebin Jacob]

Hi,

I am using a dual boot laptop. Primary OS is Ubuntu Intredid Ibex. Out of curiosity, I installed KDE 4.2 today. There was a minor error - GPG key missing - which was overridden after I found solution from a little googling.  But now my problem is that, even though Dolphin is listing all of my FAT, NTFS partitions in its side panel, I am not able to mount them.

The error message I get is the following:

An error occurred while accessing 'NEW VOLUME', the system responded: org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.PermissionDeniedByPolicy: org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-fixed auth_admin_keep_always <--(action, result)

Here, the NEW VOLUME may be substituted with partition name like volume (vfat) or volume (ntfs)

How could I solve the error? As I am no geek, please explain step by step.

regards,

Sebin

--
...if I fought with you, if i fell wounded and allowed no one to learn of my suffering, if I never turned my back to the enemy: Give me your blessing! (Nikos Kazantzakis)

[Ashik S]

Sebin,

http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/01/05/policykit-and-kde-navit-and-more/

This link should help you . I myself am not able to replicate the issue ( I am
using KDE 4.2 on Arch Linux ). Do get back.

Regards,
Ashik S

[Sebin Jacob]

Ashik,

I read that post; but wasn't able to do accordingly as I could not find the application PolicyKit-kde either in installed programs or in synaptic.

Also, I am getting another error as i load gedit. I could use the application perfectly, but the Plasma workspace is crashing. Here is a screenshot of the error attached.

Regards,
Sebin

[Sebin Jacob]

Forgot to include the backtrace. It is attached here as a txt file.

regards,
Sebin

[Praveen A]

2009/1/30 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> I read that post; but wasn't able to do accordingly as I could not find the
> application PolicyKit-kde either in installed programs or in synaptic.

I don't think ubuntu use policykit by default. I can reprodce the
error. I normally mount it in the command line. The problem is with
the default security. Only users in the disk group are given access to
the drive apart from root.

sudo ntfs-3g -o uid=sebin /dev/sda1 /windows/c

from command line. Then it will work in dolphin.

OR [not recommended, but no commands involved, single step]

If you don't want to use commandline, run (Alt+F2)

sudo dolphin

Click on the partitions. Thats all !!! (Beware you will have to do
this every time, and be warned every action you take will be as root,
you can delete the entire filesystem with delete key - no turning
back).

(If you are OK with this solution, this is all you have to do, skip
everything below)

_________________________________________________________________

But if you are more adventurous or want to learn how I would do it
(also for more control freaks out there, who wants to tweak the last
option to the correct value), follow on, [Recommended, lots of steps
involved]

The root cause is ntfs is much more secure than vfat and on top of
that it is covered with many patents making development of a Free
Sofware driver difficult. But we have drivers now, but not integrated
with the kernel (the driver in the linux kernel can only read ntfs
last time I checked), it uses FUSE.

Install ntfs-3g from synaptic then

or sudo aptitude install ntfs-3g

[I assume the username is sebin, otherwise change it, if you want to
give access to more than one user, create a group (say ntfs), add all
users which you want to give access to ntfs partition, use
gid=groupname instead of uid=username in the commands]

1. Navigate to root folder

right click -> create folder
properties -> permissions

make owner and group as sebin (or group as ntfs)

Create as many folders you want depending on the number of partitions
you have. Give the same permissions to all directories.

sudo mkdir -p /windows/c
sudo chown -R sebin.sebin /windows

2. Add the patition to file system table
sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Copy and paste the following lines (change device name, shown in the
error message)

/dev/sda1 /windows ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0

3. Add sebin to group disk (since only root and users in group disk
have access to ntfs partitions)
(use command line or alt+F2)

sudo usermod -aG disk sebin

(don't know how to do it in gui, the disk group is mysteriously
abscent in the groups list)
sudo users-admin
select groups (see if disk is there)

4. Permit ONLY sebin to run ntfs-3g as root

sudo dolphin

browse to /usr/bin

change group to sebin or ntfs for ntfs-3g (from properties-> permissions)

sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)

chose forbidden for others. In advaced permissions, select set UID root.
sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)

Open dolphin normally and click on the partitions (you may not see it
after reboot, it would be mounted automatically).

If you don't want to automatically mount use
/dev/sda1 /windows ntfs-3g
defaults,users,noauto,uid=sebin 0 0

in /etc/fstab

Ask if any step is not clear.
--
പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍
<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)
Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now!
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

[Syam]

Can I suggest a simpler method that could work (it works for my RHEL 5 and Fedora).
Add an entry in /etc/fstab for mounting a partition on a directory where you have write access:
/dev/sda5               /mnt/d                  ntfs-3g defaults,umask=000  0 0

/dev/sda5 is my partition and /mnt/d is the mount point. On newer Fedora systems, it's sufficient to use just 'ntfs' and not 'ntfs-3g'.


--
Regards,

Syam
sya...@gmail.com

[Sebin Jacob]

Hi Pravin,

sudo aptitude install ntfs-3g

Done

[I assume the username is sebin,

Yes

otherwise change it, if you want to
give access to more than one user, create a group (say ntfs), add all
users which you want to give access to ntfs partition, use
gid=groupname instead of uid=username in the commands]

I am the only user, Thank you. 

 

1. Navigate to root folder

right click -> create folder
properties -> permissions

make owner and group as sebin (or group as ntfs)

 

Create as many folders you want depending on the number of partitions
you have. Give the same permissions to all directories.

sudo mkdir -p /windows/c
sudo chown -R sebin.sebin /windows

Here is where, I have some doubts. Should I create the directories by the same name of the partitions or should I use another name (like dir0, dir1, dir2 etc) ? If I should take the same name of the partition, there is a little problem. The names of the partitions are duplicating. There are three partitions by name <Volume (vfat)>, one partition by name <Volume (ntfs)> and another by name <New Volume>

I think, the rest should be done only after covering this far.

Also, I would like to use command line only. So no need to describe the GUI steps.

Thanks and regards,
Sebin

[Ashik S]

Sebin, you can give to the directories you like :)

[Syam]

On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Ashik S <aas...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sebin, you can give to the directories you like :)

I'm pretty sure Ashik wanted to say that you can use whatever directory names you like.. he he..

--
Regards,

Syam
sya...@gmail.com

[Sebin Jacob]

As I have five partitions listed in the side panel as i said in the previous mail, I created five directories in root namely dir0, dir1, dir2, dir3 and dir4
 

2. Add the patition to file system table
sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Copy and paste the following lines (change device name, shown in the
error message)

/dev/sda1       /windows            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
            0       0

I took fstab. Its current value is:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda8
UUID=7c46a6b3-59d4-4d58-add3-60af2b267d4e /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/sda6
UUID=2f3dcb80-e32c-4363-9577-033b875b34a6 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

Should I append what you have given to this?
 

3. Add sebin to group disk (since only root and users in group disk
have access to ntfs partitions)
(use command line or alt+F2)

sudo usermod -aG disk sebin

I gave this command in terminal. The log is attached here as disk.txt
 

(don't know how to do it in gui, the disk group is mysteriously
abscent in the groups list)
sudo users-admin
select groups (see if disk is there)

Disk is not here.
 

4. Permit ONLY sebin to run ntfs-3g as root

sudo dolphin

When I give this command,  the result is like this>

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo dolphin
sudo: dolphin: command not found

browse to /usr/bin

change group to sebin or ntfs for ntfs-3g (from properties-> permissions)

In GUI, I don't see any group. 

sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)

chose forbidden for others. In advaced permissions, select set UID root.
sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)

Here are the results for these commands>

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ cd /usr/bin
sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chmode 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
sudo: chmode: command not found
sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

Or should I substitute the folder name instead of 'which' ?
 

Open dolphin normally and click on the partitions (you may not see it
after reboot, it would be mounted automatically).

 No way.

If you don't want to automatically mount use
/dev/sda1       /windows            ntfs-3g
defaults,users,noauto,uid=sebin                0       0

in /etc/fstab

Ask if any step is not clear.
--
പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍
<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)
Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now!
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

[Sebin Jacob]

Apart from this, I am having yet another problem with KDE 4.2. I cannot automatically connect to my available wifi connection in it, unless i first logon @ Gnome and then logout to re-login in KDE nightly neon.

[Praveen A]

2009/2/1 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>

> Should I append what you have given to this?

yes

>> 3. Add sebin to group disk (since only root and users in group disk
>> have access to ntfs partitions)
>> (use command line or alt+F2)
>>
>> sudo usermod -aG disk sebin
>
> I gave this command in terminal. The log is attached here as disk.txt
>
>>
>> (don't know how to do it in gui, the disk group is mysteriously
>> abscent in the groups list)
>> sudo users-admin
>> select groups (see if disk is there)
>
> Disk is not here.

ls -l /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-01 21:09 /dev/sda1

See what group it belongs to. In my system (debian sid) it is disk,
you may have a different group.

>> 4. Permit ONLY sebin to run ntfs-3g as root
>>
>> sudo dolphin
>
> When I give this command, the result is like this>
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo dolphin
> sudo: dolphin: command not found

That is strange? How did you install kde? (is it official packages?)

what is the output of the following commands (output from my system is
shown below)

which dolphin
/opt/kde/bin/dolphin

whereis dolphin
dolphin: /usr/bin/dolphin /opt/kde/bin/dolphin

>> browse to /usr/bin
>>
>> change group to sebin or ntfs for ntfs-3g (from properties-> permissions)
>
> In GUI, I don't see any group.

see the attachment. There group is j4v4m4n. Change that to sebin.

>> sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
>>
>> chose forbidden for others. In advaced permissions, select set UID root.
>> sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
>
> Here are the results for these commands>
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ cd /usr/bin
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chmode 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
> sudo: chmode: command not found
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

typo :-( extra 'e'

[Sebin Jacob]

On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Praveen A <pra...@gmail.com> wrote:

2009/2/1 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>

> Should I append what you have given to this?

yes

I am copy pasting from your first mail:

Copy and paste the following lines (change device name, shown in the
error message)

/dev/sda1       /windows            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
            0       0

Now, I have already said that the device names in error message are repeating. There are five drives other than the ubuntu installation drive among which one is "New Volume", one is "Volume (ntfs) and three other drives are carrying the same name "Volume (vfat)". I want to access all these drives. Now instead of "/windows", should I enter "/New Volume" and then repeat the procedure four times to include "/Volume (ntfs)" and thrice "/Volume (vfat)"? The directories, I have created in root as per your instruction is named dir0 to dir4. ie, it does not carry the name of the drives. Also, should /dev/sda1 be unchanged all these times?


Another thing I want to confirm is that, from where should I give instructions in command line, ie, where should I stand?

you have said to go to root. this is how i did it>

sebin@sebin-laptop:~$ cd /root
sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ ls
Desktop
sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$

Now when I check it in dolhin, I found that, I am standing really at /root/root and not at /root. That is why, only desktop is listed. So how to go to /root?

I tried typing sudo root:

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo root
[sudo] password for sebin:
sudo: root: command not found
sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$

I tried with su root:

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ su root
Password:
su: Authentication failure
sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$

The password for administrator and user are the same. I haven't changed it. But still, it happens so. Don't know whether I gave the correct command or not. As I am just exploring it without much knowledge in command line, please excuse me for any such mistakes and correct me.

While I checked with the screenshot you have provided, the file ntfs-3g is @ /usr/bin or to be specific, its in root>usr>bin. Am I correct?

But in my system, I haven't found it in /usr/bin. Instead I found it @ /bin or in dolphin, root>bin

So my steps in installing ntfs-3g itself may have been flawed.
 

>> 3. Add sebin to group disk (since only root and users in group disk
>> have access to ntfs partitions)
>> (use command line or alt+F2)
>>
>> sudo usermod -aG disk sebin
>
> I gave this command in terminal. The log is attached here as disk.txt

I repeated the command today also. no log appears.

 

>
>>
>> (don't know how to do it in gui, the disk group is mysteriously
>> abscent in the groups list)
>> sudo users-admin

some log appears in terminal.
 

>> select groups (see if disk is there)

A window opened, screenshot of which is attached herewith. What should I do with this?
 

>
> Disk is not here.

ls -l /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-01 21:09 /dev/sda1

See what group it belongs to. In my system (debian sid) it is disk,
you may have a different group.

Here is the result:

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ ls -l /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-03 16:36 /dev/sda1

how to check, which group is it?

 

>> 4. Permit ONLY sebin to run ntfs-3g as root
>>
>> sudo dolphin
>
> When I give this command,  the result is like this>
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo dolphin
> sudo: dolphin: command not found

This error is repeating.
 

That is strange? How did you install kde? (is it official packages?)

It is official packages. I had kde 4.1 installed in my system. I upgraded it to 4.2 using instuctions found over net.
 

what is the output of the following commands (output from my system is
shown below)

which dolphin
/opt/kde/bin/dolphin

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ which dolphin
/opt/kde-nightly/bin/dolphin
 

whereis dolphin
dolphin: /usr/bin/dolphin /opt/kde/bin/dolphin

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ whereis dolphin
dolphin: /opt/kde-nightly/bin/dolphin
 

>> browse to /usr/bin
>>

sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ cd /usr/bin
sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

Yea, I am at  it.

>> change group to sebin or ntfs for ntfs-3g (from properties-> permissions)
>

I dont know how to find it.
 

> In GUI, I don't see any group.

see the attachment. There group is j4v4m4n. Change that to sebin.

okay. as already i have mentioned, ntfs-3g is found at /bin and not at /usr/bin
the group is already sebin
 

>> sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
>>
>> chose forbidden for others. In advaced permissions, select set UID root.
>> sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
>
> Here are the results for these commands>
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ cd /usr/bin
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chmode 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
> sudo: chmode: command not found
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

typo :-( extra 'e'

Now nothing happens:

sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)

sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

Sorry, If I am disturbing you too much. I would like to study it as well as to be able to use it.

regards,
Sebin

[Praveen A]

2009/2/3 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> Copy and paste the following lines (change device name, shown in the
> error message)
>
> /dev/sda1 /windows ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
> 0 0
>
> Now, I have already said that the device names in error message are
> repeating. There are five drives other than the ubuntu installation drive
> among which one is "New Volume", one is "Volume (ntfs) and three other
> drives are carrying the same name "Volume (vfat)". I want to access all
> these drives. Now instead of "/windows", should I enter "/New Volume" and
> then repeat the procedure four times to include "/Volume (ntfs)" and thrice
> "/Volume (vfat)"? The directories, I have created in root as per your
> instruction is named dir0 to dir4. ie, it does not carry the name of the
> drives. Also, should /dev/sda1 be unchanged all these times?

/dev/<something> is the device name, "New Volume" is the label that
dolphin gives.

please give the output of

sudo fdisk -l

Give me the contents of /etc/fstab (the last lines you added)

It should look something like

/dev/sda1 /dir0 ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0
/dev/sda2 /dir1 ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0
/dev/sda5 /dir2 ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0
/dev/sda6 /dir3 ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0
/dev/sda7 /dir4 ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
0 0

If you don't want all files in '/'

you can make directories in /windows

sudo mkdir -p /windows/dir0

sudo mkdir -p /windows/dir1

...

and giving /windows/dir0 instead of /dir0 in /etc/fstab.

> Another thing I want to confirm is that, from where should I give
> instructions in command line, ie, where should I stand?

It does not matter.

> you have said to go to root. this is how i did it>
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:~$ cd /root
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ ls
> Desktop
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$

Not required. You can give commands from any location.

> Now when I check it in dolhin, I found that, I am standing really at
> /root/root and not at /root. That is why, only desktop is listed. So how to
> go to /root?

Not needed. '/' is also called root, so it might be confusing. '/' is
what is normally called as root. /root is the home directory of the
root user.

> I tried typing sudo root:
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo root
> [sudo] password for sebin:
> sudo: root: command not found
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$
>
> I tried with su root:
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ su root
> Password:
> su: Authentication failure
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$

command to gain root access is
sudo su -

> The password for administrator and user are the same. I haven't changed it.
> But still, it happens so. Don't know whether I gave the correct command or
> not. As I am just exploring it without much knowledge in command line,
> please excuse me for any such mistakes and correct me.

No problem, every one starts as a newbie.

> While I checked with the screenshot you have provided, the file ntfs-3g is @
> /usr/bin or to be specific, its in root>usr>bin. Am I correct?

Yes.

> But in my system, I haven't found it in /usr/bin. Instead I found it @ /bin
> or in dolphin, root>bin

OK, that is why we gave $(which ntfs-3g)

it will find out the location and use that. (for any command you can give

which <command name>

to find the location of the executable file.

> So my steps in installing ntfs-3g itself may have been flawed.

I don't think, ubuntu may be following a different approach.

> I repeated the command today also. no log appears.

> A window opened, screenshot of which is attached herewith. What should I do
> with this?

Click on manage groups. Look for the group disk (you may not see
there, I don't see either - but most of the groups in the system is
shown there)

The same thing we did with

sudo usermod -aG disk sebin

(we added user 'sebin' to group 'disk' - whereby granting write access
to the partitions)

>> > Disk is not here.
>>
>> ls -l /dev/sda1
>> brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-01 21:09 /dev/sda1

fist character is type of file, in our case 'b' means a block file or
a partition.
'-' means normal file, 'd' is directory...

rw- means read and write permissions and no execution permission.
First 3 is for the owner (in this case root), the second is for group
(rw- for members of group 'disk', now sebin is a member and he gets
write access to the device/partition).

>> See what group it belongs to. In my system (debian sid) it is disk,
>> you may have a different group.

> Here is the result:
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ ls -l /dev/sda1
> brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 2009-02-03 16:36 /dev/sda1
>
> how to check, which group is it?

'root disk' - means owner is root and group is disk.

>> > sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ sudo dolphin
>> > sudo: dolphin: command not found
>
> This error is repeating.

because KDE is installed in a different place than normally found.

try sudo $(which dolphin)

>> That is strange? How did you install kde? (is it official packages?)
>
> It is official packages. I had kde 4.1 installed in my system. I upgraded it
> to 4.2 using instuctions found over net.
>
>>
>>
>> what is the output of the following commands (output from my system is
>> shown below)
>>
>> which dolphin
>> /opt/kde/bin/dolphin

> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ which dolphin
> /opt/kde-nightly/bin/dolphin

sudo does not look in /opt/kde-nightly/bin for dolphin, it looks in
/usr/bin as is the case normally. I think ubuntu did this to
accommodate kde 3 and kde 4 side by side.

So you can give the full path to sudo

sudo /opt/kde-nightly/bin/dolphin

or as I said earlier

sudo $(which dolphin)

in that case you shell (bash) first finds dolphin and give full path to sudo.

>> whereis dolphin
>> dolphin: /usr/bin/dolphin /opt/kde/bin/dolphin
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ whereis dolphin
> dolphin: /opt/kde-nightly/bin/dolphin

> sebin@sebin-laptop:/root$ cd /usr/bin

> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$
>
> Yea, I am at it.
>>
>> >> change group to sebin or ntfs for ntfs-3g (from properties->
>> >> permissions)
>> >
>
> I dont know how to find it.
>

> Now nothing happens:
>
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chown root.sebin $(which ntfs-3g)
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$ sudo chmod 4750 $(which ntfs-3g)
> sebin@sebin-laptop:/usr/bin$

That means the command was successfull. You should be all set now.

> Sorry, If I am disturbing you too much. I would like to study it as well as
> to be able to use it.

No problem at all. I hope we will be able to do it more easily in
future versions (ntfs support is a very late comer in the scene thanks
to MS patents). Since we did not have good write support until
recently with ntfs-3g, by default ntfs support is disabled in most
distros to prevent data corruption.

[Sebin Jacob]

Praveen,

I managed mounting two of the ntfs drives. But still, I am not able to mount vfat drives.

The result of fdisk -l is:

isk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0f7d0f7c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        3347    26884746    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            3348       12571    74091780    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3           12572       16395    30716280    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda4           16396       19457    24595515    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda5            3348        7809    35840511    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6           12273       12571     2401686   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7            7810       10970    25390701    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8           10971       12272    10458283+  83  Linux

The lines, I have added to fstab is:

/dev/sda1       /dir0            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
       0       0

 /dev/sda3       /dir1            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
       0       0
 /dev/sda4       /dir2            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
       0       0
 /dev/sda5       /dir3            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin

       0       0
 /dev/sda7       /dir4            ntfs-3g defaults,users,uid=sebin
       0       0

Now, the copy of error message

An error occurred while accessing 'Volume (vfat)', the system responded: NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda4': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda4' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around?


This same error message repeats with

/dev/sda3 and /dev/sda7 as well.


How could I overcome this?

- Sebin

[Ashik S]

From fdisk output , your FAT32 partitions are :
/dev/sda3
/dev/sda4
/dev/sda7

Just replace "ntfs-3g" in the fstab line correspnding to the above partitions
with "vfat"

Regards,
Ashik S

[Sebin Jacob]

I did as recommended by Ashik. Now, I am able to access all the drives. But now, another problem surfaces. These drives are now not listed in the side panel of dolphin. Instead i should navigate to root and then click in the newly made directories. Is there a way to place them in the sidepanel so that, I could access the drives directly from there?

Apart from this, there is something else too that i would like to know. In Gnome, I am able to see an icon of a network manager that does the job of automatically connecting to the internet. But if I am logging directly in KDE nightly, the system does not connect to the internet and I do not know from where to find the network manager. As I am really in love with the new KDE interface, this is a bit awkard. Now, what I do to get around is to first login using Gnome which connects to the internet directly and then logout and re-login with KDE nightly. Once, Gnome connect itself to internet, the connection does not cut off and I am able to get it in KDE too.

Thanks for the tips, Praveen A and Ashik S.

[Santhosh Thottingal]

On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 12:42 PM, Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is there a way to place them in the sidepanel so
> that, I could access the drives directly from there?

Navigate to the folder you want to add to side panel. Then drag and
drop that folder to side panel.

> I do not know
> from where to find the network manager.

You can get gnome network admin application by running sudo network-admin
command

-Santhosh

[Sebin Jacob]

Navigate to the folder you want to add to side panel. Then drag and
drop that folder to side panel.

>  I do not know
> from where to find the network manager.

You can get gnome network admin application by running sudo network-admin
 command

-Santhosh

Thank You Santhosh.

[Sebin Jacob]

Once again, I thank you all for the wonderful help that I got. This community is nothing less than wonderful and by every passing day, I am becoming more and more, a fan of this great Idea of FLOSS.

regards,
Sebin

[Praveen A]

2009/2/7 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> Apart from this, there is something else too that i would like to know. In
> Gnome, I am able to see an icon of a network manager that does the job of
> automatically connecting to the internet. But if I am logging directly in
> KDE nightly, the system does not connect to the internet and I do not know
> from where to find the network manager. As I am really in love with the new
> KDE interface, this is a bit awkard. Now, what I do to get around is to
> first login using Gnome which connects to the internet directly and then
> logout and re-login with KDE nightly. Once, Gnome connect itself to
> internet, the connection does not cut off and I am able to get it in KDE
> too.

I'm using wicd (wicd.sourceforge.net). There is a plasma applet front
end for network manager being developed. There is a debian package,
don't know the status in ubuntu. I have not used it though.

> Thanks for the tips, Praveen A and Ashik S.

You are welcome, its a pleasure.

[Sebin Jacob]

I'm using wicd (wicd.sourceforge.net). There is a plasma applet front
end for network manager being developed. There is a debian package,
don't know the status in ubuntu. I have not used it though.

I just checked the download page of wicd. It says "Please note that this will remove network-manager, which is the default GNOME network manager and may cause loss of network connection temporarily". As I am not completely writing off the use of Gnome, is this advisable? Or is it that, the network manager would only be removed from the KDE and still might be used in Gnome?

[Praveen A]

2009/2/8 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> I just checked the download page of wicd. It says "Please note that this
> will remove network-manager, which is the default GNOME network manager and
> may cause loss of network connection temporarily". As I am not completely
> writing off the use of Gnome, is this advisable? Or is it that, the network
> manager would only be removed from the KDE and still might be used in Gnome?

wicd is a complete substitute for network manager. It works in gnome,
kde and everywhere else. I simply love it. If you don't like you can
go back by installing network-manager later.

btw the plasma applet is in playground-base module, which I'm trying
to build right now.

[Sebin Jacob]

I tried installing wicd.

As per the instructions in the download site,

To the third party repository index in synaptic, I had added
deb http://apt.wicd.net intrepid extras

(It is written hardy instead of intrepid in the instructions)

Then I gave the following commands in a terminal:

wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -o-

sudo apt-key add -

The results I got was this:

W: GPG error: http://apt.wicd.net intrepid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY FEC820F4B8C0755A

The same had occured before while trying to update open office to its newest verison by adding deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main to the third party depositories index.

W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 60D11217247D1CFF

So in both the cases, the system is not able to access the GPG keys. How could this be done?

Sebin

[Praveen A]

2009/2/8 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -o-
>
> sudo apt-key add -

are you sure you gave the two commands in the same line? That was a
shortcut to simplify two commands and not to have the file lying
around. It takes the output from first command and pass it to the
second command if given in a single line.

try this.
wget http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg

this will download wicd.gpg to current directory.

then sudo apt-key add wicd.gpg

now try
aptitude update

> The results I got was this:
>
> W: GPG error: http://apt.wicd.net intrepid Release: The following signatures
> couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY
> FEC820F4B8C0755A
>
> The same had occured before while trying to update open office to its newest
> verison by adding deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu
> intrepid main to the third party depositories index.
>
> W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid Release: The following
> signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available:
> NO_PUBKEY 60D11217247D1CFF
>
> So in both the cases, the system is not able to access the GPG keys. How
> could this be done?

pravi@parimbrath:/tmp$ gpg --recv-key 0x60D11217247D1CFF
gpg: requesting key 247D1CFF from hkp server subkeys.pgp.net
gpg: key 247D1CFF: public key "Launchpad PPA for OpenOffice.org
Scribblers" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
pravi@parimbrath:/tmp$ gpg --export --armor 0x60D11217247D1CFF | sudo
apt-key add -
OK

gpg keys are used to ensure the authenticity of the packages. You can
ignore those if you trust the source and sure no one is trying
mischief (some repositories does not give signed packages, be careful
with them). But it always good to verify. The next step is the web of
trust, physically verify the identity of the owner and sign their gpg
keys. Its starts with you trust someone, he trust andother ... and you
can trust the chain.

Read more about it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust

Debian has one of the largest web of trust, with signatures from two
existing debian developers being mandatory for a new debian developer.

[Sebin Jacob]

On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 2:46 PM, Praveen A <pra...@gmail.com> wrote:

2009/2/8 Sebin Jacob <sebin...@gmail.com>:

> wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -o-
>
> sudo apt-key add -

are you sure you gave the two commands in the same line? That was a
shortcut to simplify two commands and not to have the file lying
around. It takes the output from first command and pass it to the
second command if given in a single line.

try this.
wget http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg

this will download wicd.gpg to current directory.

then sudo apt-key add wicd.gpg

now try
aptitude update

This much is done.

Then I also gave

sebin@sebin-laptop:$ gpg --recv-key 0x60D11217247D1CFF

and some error came.

after which, I cannot access synaptic from dolphin. So i accessed synaptic by giving which command in terminal:

sudo $(which synaptic)

and have installed wicd from the list.

Before these actions, I was able to load synaptic using GUI. Now how could I re-enable it? Also, the problem with downloading of OO.o 3.0 remains.