[SOLVED]Files locked, unable to change permissions

[Jupiter_Spunk]

I upgraded to Mint 13 yesterday and I'm having a problem with my NTFS shares, and My backup files.

I'm showing the following permissions on all my original files.

drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Sep 26 2011 stuffbackup
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 May 24 16:41 TV

If I su to root and sudo chmod or sudo chown the files. It acts like it applies but does not change.

If I try to change the permissions through nautilus as root. It says I am not the owner of the files.

I have been able to add these drives back in using ntfs config on all previous version installs.

What am I missing?


Thanks.

[altair4]

I don't understand the nature of the problem since both of the directories you posted are world accessible.

Forgetting the "If I su to root and sudo chmod or sudo chown the files" part which I also don't understand, you can't change Linux permissions on an ntfs partition with a chmod or chown since they have no Linux bits to change. Instead, an ntfs partition is normally mounted with a "view" that gives it the appearance of having Linux permissions but those permissions are immutable and persistent throughout the partition.

If you want permissions that are more restrictive than what you have then let us know what you want and please post the output of the following commands:

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cat /etc/fstab

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sudo blkid -c /dev/null

[Jupiter_Spunk]

I'm unable to change or modify any files on the ntfs partitions. I can't create a file in any of the folders and I can't change or delete any of the current files
I plan to switch to linux partitions in the future, but right now I don't have the space to do so.

I believe the problem is with NTFS config. I don't believe it properly created the "fake" set of permissions.
Unfortunately I now can't get ntfs-config to run. it just sits there.

I have removed the previous entries in fstab and rebooted. then tried running ntfs-config again.

When I ctrl-c out of it I get


^CTraceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/ntfs-config", line 102, in <module>
main(args, opts)
File "/usr/bin/ntfs-config", line 75, in main
app = NtfsConfig()
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/NtfsConfig.py", line 59, in __init__
self.disk = FstabHandler(FSTAB, parent = self.dialog_main, external_change_watch = True)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/FstabHandler.py", line 77, in __init__
MntFile.__init__(self, filename, fd = fd, naming = naming, backend = backend)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/Fstab.py", line 334, in __init__
i = info.search_device(entry[0], ignored = False)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/DiskInfo.py", line 300, in search_device


I'm going to try uninstalling and reinstalling ntfs-config.
return self.search_reverse(entry, ignored)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/DiskInfo.py", line 284, in search_reverse
self.load_database()
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/DiskInfo.py", line 114, in load_database
self[i] = self._get_device_info(devices[i])
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/ToolsBackend.py", line 209, in _get_device_info
(sts, result) = self._exec(cmd)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/NtfsConfig/Fstab/ToolsBackend.py", line 48, in _exec
sts = process.wait()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1291, in wait
pid, sts = _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 478, in _eintr_retry_call
return func(*args)
KeyboardInterrupt

[altair4]

Stop running ntfs-config.

Please post the output of the following commands:

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sudo blkid -c /dev/null

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cat /etc/fstab

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mount

[Jupiter_Spunk]

I completely uninstalled and re-installed ntfs-config.

It took 20 minutes for it to start. but once it did It correctly gave me the option to set read/write options.

So, now everything is working.
I also understand how it works quite a bit more.

Thanks for all the help.

[altair4]

I'm glad you got it to work - seriously - I am.

But I find it fascinating that people would spend that much time trying to get a discredited application to work rather than adding an entry in fstab manually. You have to admit it's one confused little application. First it asks you if you want to enable write support. Write support has been enabled by default since Hardy so .........

Then depending on how you answer the question it will generate a line in fstab that has as a file type either ntfs or ntfs-3g. But in Debian/Ubuntu/Mint ntfs = ntfs-3g:

>> ls -l /sbin/mount.ntfs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 30 13:57 /sbin/mount.ntfs -> mount.ntfs-3g
>> ls -l /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 30 13:57 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g -> /bin/ntfs-3g

So finially as I recall it leaves you with something like this ( and that's only recently since before it had no idea what a UUID was ):

UUID=DA9056C19056A3B3 /media/sdxy ntfs-3g defaults 0 0

Can you read and write to the partition: Yes
Can you send something to the Trash: No - becasue root owns the mounted partition not you. SO then you have to change it so you are the owner:

UUID=DA9056C19056A3B3 /media/sdxy ntfs-3g defaults,uid=1000 0 0

OK, so let's say you dual boot. Well there might be a problem there becasue you can save from Linux a file with a name that windows can't interpret so when you boot into it it throws it away. So now you have to fix it again:

UUID=DA9056C19056A3B3 /media/sdxy ntfs-3g defaults,uid=1000,windows_names 0 0

I don't know - maybe it's just me - but I find the manual way easier

[Jupiter_Spunk]

That does sound like a mess.
Do you have good, step by step, simple instructions for the manual way? I would be happy to use them, and backup my fstab.

[altair4]

Templates!

This is assuming you are starting from the beginning. Since you already have a line in fstab you don't want to just add another one. Either adjust the one you have to match the template or comment out the old one and add the new one.

Here are the templates - one for each type of format:

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UUID=DA9056C19056A3B3 /media/WinD ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=000,uid=1000,windows_names 0 0
UUID=C4DB-C1B0 /media/WinE vfat defaults,utf8,umask=000,uid=1000 0 2
UUID=076426af-cbc5-4966-8cd4-af0f5c879646 /media/Data ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2

[1] To find the correct UUID number for your partitions:

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sudo blkid -c /dev/null

[2] You will have to make the mount point yourself either graphically though "gksu nautilus" or by CLI, for example:

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sudo mkdir /media/WinD

[3] Edit fstab as root:

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gksu gedit /etc/fstab

[4] Add the appropriate template for your format substituting the correct UUID and mount point.

[5] If any of the partitions are presently mounted unmount them.

[6] Then run the following command:

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sudo mount -a

That command will do 2 things:

* It will test the lines you added in fstab and if there are any errors it will let you know.
* If there are no errors it will mount the partition with the new instructions in fstab without requiring you to reboot.

It may seem like a lot of steps but most of that is just for clarity. In my mind it's a lot safer to do it this way since you are alerted before a reboot of any problems and you can always rework it or just comment the line out if there are issues.

The Ubuntu forum is littered with people seeking help after using things like ntfs-config, PySDM, mountmanager, DiskManager, etc ... Each one of these programs have issues. From one end you have ntfs-config which doesn't allow you to modify the preset defaults. On the other end is mountmanager which allows the user to pick so many options that if the user knew what every one of them did he would not need a separate application. All of them are old, some of them are no longer maintained only repackaged, the majority of them don't know what a UUID is, and some have missing options like "windows_names"