Q: attaching a partition to a VM vs. attaching the whole disk

[Ulrich Windl]

Hi!

I have an effect I'm wondering about:
May USB stick has partitions on it, one being FAT having a KeePass DB in it.
When I attach that partition to a VM (eg. vault) and try to access the
partition, I see no mountable disk in the file manager (e.g. from
KeePassXC).
However when I attach the whole stick to the VM, I see all partitions
being offered to mount in the file manager under "Other locations".

Is this the way it should be? I'd like to attach only the partition
needed, but usability forces me to attach the whole stick...

Regards,
Ulrich

[unman]

It is how it should be.
As you are attaching a partition there is no disk for the "file manager"
to identify, and scan for partitions.

Your usability concern could be addressed by automounting /dev/xvdi..,
or by using a helper script in dom0 to mount at a custom mount point
when you attach that partition to vault.

[David Hobach]

On 1/3/21 3:53 PM, unman wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 02, 2021 at 06:18:52PM +0100, Ulrich Windl wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> I have an effect I'm wondering about:
>> May USB stick has partitions on it, one being FAT having a KeePass DB in it.
>> When I attach that partition to a VM (eg. vault) and try to access the
>> partition, I see no mountable disk in the file manager (e.g. from
>> KeePassXC).
>> However when I attach the whole stick to the VM, I see all partitions being
>> offered to mount in the file manager under "Other locations".
>>
>> Is this the way it should be? I'd like to attach only the partition needed,
>> but usability forces me to attach the whole stick...

You can mount the partition only on the command-line, maybe it's a UI issue by the file manager you use.

Possibly interesting for your use case: https://github.com/3hhh/qcrypt